Gluten Free Diet Helps Resolve Elevated Triglycerides and Helps with Weight Loss

One of the most common questions I get asked is – Does a gluten free diet help with weight loss? My reply is usually this: It depends on the person. For some people going gluten free helps with weight loss, for others, going gluten free helps them gain weight. You see, everyone is affected by gluten differently. Much the same as the following analogy – If you give 1000 people the same medication, will they all have the same side effects? No. People can have different reactions to the exact same substance. Gluten is no different. Some people have issues with hormones, others develop celiac disease, some have migraines or nerve damage… The list goes on and on. Read this article on the gluten spectrumto learn more on this.

Does a Gluten Free Diet Help Lower Triglycerides?

I recently had a patient who put this question to the challenge. After a functional medicine approach to her treatment, she was able to normalize her triglycerides, improve her energy levels, lose 20 pounds, lower blood pressure, and avoid the need for life long medications. All this in less than 6 months time. The bigger question here is why don’t all doctors take this approach to improving their patient’s health? In this case, a gluten free diet combined with other food modifications and nutritional applications probably saved this women from years of chronic degenerative heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and many other health related issues.

Compare the Above to the New “Free Healthcare Bill”

Under the new free health care bill, everyone will be entitled to free treatment. The same free treatment that Casey (above) would have received had she followed her original doctors advice. What was that? Go take these medications for the rest of your life and accept being ill. Just remember that free doesn’t mean valuable, meaningful, or useful. It doesn’t really even mean “free”. If Casey had chosen the “free” road, she would have ended up sick and dependent on multiple medications that did nothing to treat the origin of her disease. The costs for her medications, extended hospital visits, and the treatment of her health complications would have cost thousands of dollars over her lifetime. You as an American taxpayer would have foot the bill. If as a country, we don’t start taking diet and lifestyle choices more seriously, the majority of under educated Americans will be led down a “free” path toward extended disease and a deteriorating quality of life. Please consider diet change as a tool to help reduce the risk of future disease. Going gluten free is a great place to start.