Is the gluten-free diet just a fad or are there real dangers of gluten?
I've mentioned gluten a little bit here before, but today we've diving in to some big deal stuff about this term that's being talked about a ton these days.
There's a lot more I need to learn–and a lot more I would like to share with you.
Let me just start with some facts and a little about my family's history with gluten.
What is Gluten?
Gluten is a substance in wheat, and some other grains: barley, rye, and spelt.
It gives these grains, and particularly wheat, its stretchiness (and it taste great in our mouths too :)).
It's made of 2 proteins: gliadin and glutenin.
Regardless of what it's called, this substance is something us Westerners love to eat.
But it seems to not be loving us back.
There is sooo much I would like to write about this, but much will have to wait 'til later.
For now, here are some things to get your introduced to My Story and what the real deal is with gluten.
Gluten and Our Family
We've given up gluten at various times in the past and present. And I've been doing a TON of thinking and reading about this.
I'll write more on these later, but here is our brief history.
1. Me: I went off wheat before I was married when I suffered severe fatigue and brain fog that I traced clearly to excessive wheat consumption. I later started eating wheat again, but in smaller amounts, and mostly whole grains only.
2. My son: About 6 years ago our oldest was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. There is a lot of compelling evidence (anecdotal and otherwise) that autistic people tend to have intolerances to gluten and casein (one of the proteins in milk products). We took our son off gluten a number of years ago. We noticed not a complete healing, but a definite improvement in symptoms.
3. My Husband: He went off gluten (for the most part) about 3 years ago after suffering from severely low ferritin. (He was basically almost dead.) Adding iron to his diet didn't do enough but taking gluten out of his diet was one of the things that got his blood results almost back to normal.
4. Me again and “The Whole Fam”: Recently I have been dealing with some new puzzling healthy symptoms. More on the whole deal later (when I have time to put all of my thoughts down) but I am now totally gluten-free. I wasn't eating much–just samples at Costco (which are VERY tempting). I'm working on my youngest and my husband too. Read on to find out why.
Is Gluten-Free Just a Fad?
Some people think that eating gluten-free is just a fad. Or a way to lose weight. There are a lot of folks claiming that going gluten-free helped them lose weight. And you know how that works.
Talk about something helping you lose weight and:
1. People jump on the bandwagon 'cause they want to lose weight too OR
2. When people find out that YOU are gluten-free, they assume you are doing it to lose weight.
Well, I would love to not have to fight a few extra pounds (I am not really overweight, but I do need to watch it), but I assure you that I wouldn't go totally gluten-free just to keep 1-5 pounds off. And I don't think an occasional slice of wheat bread or pizza is going to keep that much weight on me.
Believe me—this is NOT a fad.
Dangers of Gluten
1. Gluten and Poison Dart Frogs
This is soooo bizarre. Did you know that after awhile of being off gluten and casein, substances called dermorphin and deltophin are found in the urine of autistic children? These substances are the same substances on the backs of poison dart frogs in rainforests. Really—ick!!! Anyhow, these substances are found in the blood of autistics and they come out after being on the gluten and casein-free diet. Ummmm—-what's going on here?
2. Mental Disorders
– Reduction in wheat consumption during WWII led to a reduction of schizophrenia, plus antibodies to gluten are more prevalent in schizophrenics (Source)
– This article goes more into schizophrenia and wheat.
3. Autoimmune Disease
Gluten is clearly linked to autoimmune disease with correlations up to 40%. (Source)
4. Infertility
Gluten sensitivity is linked to miscarriages and PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). (Source)
5. Death
Yes–gluten really could be a silent killer. Rates of mortality increased up to 75% with gluten-sensitivity. We're not even talking celiac here folks! Check this out.
Now do you think gluten-free is “just a fad.”
You have such a great blog and thank you for so much useful information. I have been totally gluten free for the past 3 years due to many health issues. (Not because of a fad.) I saw a remarkable difference in the first 24 – 48 hours of being off of gluten. Brain fog was gone, almost daily migraines were beginning to improve, gut inflammation was significantly decreasing among other signs. I knew immediately that I never wanted to feel that way again and haven’t looked back! Also, the bloodwork that for years showed very high counts for an autoimmune disease, all of a sudden returned to normal without the gluten in my system. It’s amazing that so called “specialists” in the medical field couldn’t figure this out.
Because of my great success, I switched my two autistic children to a gluten free eating plan [notice I didn’t use the term “diet” here? :)] and the difference was drastic! Not a cure, by any means, but a huge improvement. They both know how gluten makes them feel and act and they realize that they don’t like feeling that way. Given the choice of a gluten free snack or a gluten filled snack, they happily choose Gluten Free. So, for many of us, Gluten CAN actually be a silent killer. Somewhat scarey, but knowledge is power and we need to obtain the knowledge to make the right choices for our bodies so that we can live longer, healthier lives.
Again, thank you for all of the wonderful information on your blog!
Sharon
Thanks so much Sharon and so glad to hear about the good effects you are seeing!!!
I had almost the exact same issues as Sharon. Chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain, irritable bowel, fatty liver, pre-diabetes, you name it. My bloodwork for several years showed high inflammation numbers, high auto immune indicators, high liver enzymes. I was seeing an RA Doctor, Immunologist, Endocrinologist, and Gastro Doctors, $60 co pay a pop, at least once a month, host of medicines I could not tolerate. I had several different diagnoses, Lupus, Sjorgens, Fibromylagia, Fatty Liver (NASH), Anemic, etc. On my own I started a low carb diet to lose weight. I felt better! I told the PA at my RA that cutting carbs made me feel better, and was told to try cutting out gluten. GLUTEN? Never heard of it. Well I tried it! One year gluten free! Last week all my blood work numbers and counts have gone from RED to black. High/Abnormal to NORMAL. ALL of them. Nothing red now. I want to shout from the rooftops! It’s not (put diagnosis here) it’t GLUTEN.
Gluten is toxic to the human body. I am living proof. Yes, doctors need to take this more seriously. I had a major turn around, seriously feel 20 years younger! Get Rid of GLUTEN.
I am so interested to learn more about this. I’ll admit, I have to this point ignored most of the gluten free talk, as it overwhelms me for some reason. But after my 5 year old dd has had constant stomach issues since she was born, and all the testing is coming back negative, we were recommended to drop gluent from her diet to see if it helps. So as of Friday, or family is now gluten free. We are still adjusting, and it is still overwhelming, I don’t know what to eat from one meal to the next, but we are learning. I hope this is the answer, for her.
I hope it helps you too. Did you see the Heal Your Gut course I’ve written about? Not sure when it’s coming back but might be good to think about.
While I think that our society eats way too much wheat, I just cannot believe that everyone needs to completely stop eating it. My husband has Crohn’s disease so I have given this a whole lot of thought and have read quite a bit. People have been eating gluten for thousands of years. I know that our food is not like the food in past history, but people have been eating gluten.
I would be willing to try it if I could get flours that are safe for my peanut/tree nut allergic child. I have yet to find any gluten free flours that are safe.
Hi Linda. The more I read about gluten the more concerned I am about it. I would seriously check out the summit and hear what they have to say. The Weeding Out Wheat book is fabulous as well. I buy my grain whole and grind it and it has no contamination issues. Have you checked this brand? (affiliate link) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013HVAN0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0013HVAN0&linkCode=as2&tag=whnemo-20
I have never seen that brand, but I am trying to stay away from a lot of rice because of the arsenic issue. Most gluten free recipes I’ve looked at call for almond flour, which I cannot use. Who wrote the book you mentioned? A doctor?
I know about that. I don’t know where the rice is grown but in CA is better than the south of the US. Here is my info on GF Baking. The book is written by a blogger friend but I can say she did a GREAT job. Of course, the summit folks are really big in their field (many of them). The book is based on a bunch of research. There are many “not so good” ebooks out there but this one is top notch.
Enjoyed the article. I put a lot of time and effort into preparing healthy meals for my family. I have heard people going gluten free, but have not looked into it extensively since we do not currently have any health issues. I am now more interested into looking into it if it is important for ones overall health. What whole grains do you use that are gluten free? I currently use a lot of flour made from wheat berries that my mom grinds for me – would those contain a lot gluten?
Yes, they have a lot. I use buckwheat, brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth. sorghum has no gluten but I don’t have that often. Oh, and teff. There are some AMAZING teff waffles on my site (no photo) but you will LOVE them. I have to get a photo. Oh – GF oats too! Enjoy! There’s a great post here about going GF w/ baking tips: https://wholenewmom.com/kitchen-tips/gluten-free-baking-tips/
I highly recommend the book Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread by Jessie Hawkins.
Hi April. I know that book. I have done a lot of digging into that (well some, at least) and it is problematic. The premise is great but recreating that kind of situation in the home kitchen is very difficult so many will have reactions likely and/or exposure to gluten without meaning to. I really appreciate your bringing it up but I do need to make that caveat. Thanks.
Did you read the entire book? It is very well researched and the author is NOT saying that you should use that method to bake bread with that method if you have a gluten intolerance. What the book does show is that wheat and gluten are NOT bad for us (those of use with no allergies or Celiac) and that by going on a gluten free diet is not necessary. She spent 3 years researching the book and it is well annotated with clinical studies. 🙂
Hmmm… I will have to talk to a few folks. I didn’t read the whole thing. Have you checked out the Weeding Out Wheat book? You do have to buy it but it is REALLY good.
Yes, please read then entire book, it is quite fascinating and I’ve heard the author speak before. She is well versed in this area and the research is quite thorough. I did a search on Weeding out Wheat but was unable to find it on Amazon. Here is a link to some info published by the author of Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread , if you are interested: https://jessiehawkins.com/myths-half-truths-and-realities-about-bread/
I ran this by some friends who are very much up on this gluten fermentation debate. They said clearly that it would be impossible or near so to recreate the situation that Jessie puts forth in her book and that if one is trying to stay away from gluten that this isn’t the way to go. Thanks!
Somehow I think we have a miscommunication. Although I do believe that it is very possible to get a gluten free bread by her method (in fact, in speaking to her directly, she actually personally uses this method). What I AM trying to communicate is that by the sourdough fermentation process, not only do you get a lower gluten bread, but also a bread that is low glycemic with more bioavailable nutrients…… a person who is not Celiac, gluten intolerant, or allergic to wheat does not need to go on gluten free diet. I’m sure that Jessie would be glad to answer any questions about her book.
Thanks. I can try to contact her but I was trying to work on something w/ her for my blog and someone I wasn’t getting communication back. Not sure what happened. I think the carbohydrate effect is great but of course that happens w/ GF flours as well. I am very very cautious about recommending this method to anyone trying to stay away from gluten. That’s my point. The more I learn the more I want nothing to do with it. And I had a killer whole wheat bread recipe that I was told by a baker’s daughter that I could “make money with.” sigh.