More and more people are turning toward a gluten free diet to help improve mysterious medical conditions. This new awareness of the gluten free lifestyle is definitely very positive. The problem however lies in the foods being sold as gluten free replacements. The gluten free food industry has blossomed into a multi-billion dollar business. With this, we see a rash of unhealthy, highly processed foods being used as replacement fillers.
Breaking The Cardinal Rule of Nutrition
It is in this that the
cardinal rule of nutrition is being broken. What is the
cardinal rule? Simple – one cannot achieve or maintain health eating unhealthy foods. Now all we have to do is define
healthy. This is where a lot of confusion sets in. Healthy for one, many not be healthy for another. I have had patients react to blueberries and broccoli. So part of how we define healthy for an individual is by following the next three rules –
- Don’t eat foods that you are allergic or intolerant to (get tested to avoid confusion)
- Don’t eat it if it makes you feel bad.
- If you can’t pronounce the terms on the ingredients label without a biochemistry degree or lots of practice, then it is not healthy.
Digging Out of an Unhealthy Hole
The average person who identifies gluten as an issue is already sick. Therefore, removing gluten for someone with gluten sensitivity, removes a food that creates inflammatory damage, removes a food that overstimulates the immune system, removes a food that changes the
good bacteria in the intestine, and removes a food that causes
leaky gut (AKA – intestinal permeability). All good things. However; replacing gluten based foods with other processed junk food does nothing to help the body recover from years of gluten induced damage. In fact it stops the healing process in its tracks. This is one of the major reasons why people going on a
traditional gluten free diet do not heal.
Health restoration requires care and attention to diet and other lifestyle components. Remember, going gluten free may improve how you feel, but it doesn’t guarantee full recovery from illness, especially if you are trading one unhealthy food for another.
Starting The Healing Process
In my experience treating thousands of patients, the best place to start is a
functional medicine approach. Get with a doctor oriented in this style of practice. Gluten Free Society has started a
training program for doctors and health care providers. You can check our database of certified practitioners
>>here<< Ask him/her to help you identify chemical, physical, and mental imbalances in your lifestyle that are blocking your path to good health.
Lab Tests To Customize Your Health Needs
The following labs work up should be done to obtain personalized treatment/guidance options for you:
I hope this information was helpful to you on your road to recovery. You can learn even more with my online
Glutenology Health Matrix program. Please feel free to share it with someone who needs help.
All the best,
Dr. Osborne – The Gluten Free Warrior
10 Responses
I definitely get sick from eating gluten but my acid reflux has gotten worse sincenstopping gluten around a year ago.
I’ve just started reading your blog. Love the info. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Gluten free is the way to go that’s why I use Yoli products. Gluten free. Soy free. Sugar free. All natural ingredients.
Thank you again Dr. Osborne. I thought I had a sweet tooth, until I eliminated all foods that have ingredients that I do not recognize. I also abide by Dr. Osbornes True Gluten Free standards. It’s so very easy. I do not want to eat or have any desire to eat junk foods, including sugary foods. I feel great and have lost 61 pounds fairly effortlessly. Life if so much easier and healthier living True Gluten Free.
p.s. If there is a food you are craving, it’s probably a food you should eliminate. The cravings will stop and you will feel better.
ok, now i’m confused… i’m following the PCOS diet, which specifically says no corn or corn products. but it also says truvia is the only approved sugar substitute. it can’t be both!
so so helpful thanks
This is so awesome to read! Thank you so much for sharing. I have had my doubts about corn, as it usually passes through in it’s whole form… yikes…TMI?!
Thank you again, very informative.
Herbalife shakes may be gluten free, but they contain sucralose! And for instance the vanilla AROMA, means it is NOT natural vanilla, but either vanilin or ethylvanilin. These additives are made of rotten timber… So it is not natural vanilla flavour. This is not REAL food in my opinion. Read the label and check ALL the ingredients, don’t just focus on the fact that it is “gluten free”.
In addition to all Dr Osborne has said, avoiding all sugary food and even sour fruits help d intestine heal faster.Thank you Dr Osborne.
This is for Michael – acid reflux is often from Dairy – do you consume dairy?
I have been mostly gluten free for two years. (With the exception of things I didn’t know at the time had some gluten in them–I am getting better at detection!) It has been a hard two years. I was genetically tested and found I had 3 markers for celiac and gluten intolerance. My main complaints were digestive issues. Those have gotten a lot better, but the whole time I have felt like something is wrong with this whole idea that humans are not meant to eat wheat and gluten! Our ancestors ate wheat, mine were farmers who grew wheat! My daughter-in-law gave me a book that told why gluten is causing us in this day to have problems with gluten. Yes, GMO’s are definitely a problem with all of our food supply, but the main problem with gluten is that we are preparing our grains improperly! Our ancestors soaked them and used a natural yeast leavening that required the dough to soak for many hours giving time for the phytic acid to be inactivated and for the yeasts to change the nature of the gluten. Without soaking, Phytic acid binds up the nutrients that normally would be held for creating a new plant. Soaking stops it from binding those nutrients! And gluten needs to be changed for human consumption so it doesn’t cause an allergic reaction. In the proper preparation it’s properties are changed! I have gone out on a limb and have been making sour dough bread and having really good results so far. I am still watchful for any problems. The very first thing I noticed is that soaked wheat bread doesn’t cause my gut to be acidic — thus, acid reflux and indigestion! I still read labels so I don’t get gluten that has not been “changed” with natural yeast. Therefore, the only wheat I eat is that which has been properly prepared, but at least it gives me more freedom than I ever had since going gluten free!
I believe that wheat was made for man to be the staff of life. That is the thing I have had such a hard time accepting–that wheat is inherently bad for us! I do believe that we need to heal our damaged guts first, however, and I feel like being off gluten for so long has given my gut a chance to do that. Time will tell how it will all pan our for me, but for now, it is a sign of hope that I don’t have to eat all the other alternatives exclusively. Don’t get me wrong, I have always been careful not to gorge myself on any of the alternative grains and flours in an attempt to sidestep the effects of gluten, but no other grain is like wheat–in taste or how it behaves and bakes! How marvelous if we could go back to doing things in a healthy way like our ancestors did it and enjoy the benefits of this God-given food! I can see that so many people are so invested in the gluten free concept that I wonder if anyone will seriously consider that there is actually a safe way to eat it! I sure wish there was more study and research into this by the supposed experts of nutrition and health. There just has to be a better way than total avoidance. I don’t think God made a mistake!