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Having trouble losing weight and/or those last 5-10 pounds? - Gluten Sensitivity

Having trouble losing weight and/or those stubborn last 5-10 pounds? I have found that the gluten factor can play a big role in weight loss both with my own personal results and with my clients. I would highly recommend taking 2 weeks out of your life and going gluten free and journal how you feel. It just might be the key to unlocking that frustrating weight loss battle!

 Below is a great article on gluten sensitivity and I have listed a bunch of extra links for additional info and gluten free recipes. I would love to hear your results after 2 weeks of going gluten free :)

Your Fit Body Coach,

Danni

ReJuv Wellness

 

Coping with Gluten Intolerance

~ by Jo Jordan

Are you gluten intolerant? You could be if you suffer with bloating, constipation and/or diarrhea, fatigue, weight gain, bone or joint pain, dental enamel defects, depression, infertility, anemia, alopecia areata (hair loss), migraines, multiple sclerosis (MS), psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, or any of the dozens of other symptoms now believed to be connected to gluten intolerance.

If you have difficulty digesting gluten – which means you have a sensitivity to wheat, rye, barley, and oats – vitamin deficiency could become a serious, long-term health problem unless you incorporate a daily multi-vitamin into your health regimen.

While the best way to test for gluten intolerance is to eliminate wheat, rye, barley, and oat products from your diet, many people find this a struggle without the aid of good information about gluten substitutes.

Ultimately, getting the necessary nutrients from food intake alone is nearly impossible for most people. This problem is magnified for those with malabsorption issues, which is why a daily multi-vitamin and mineral supplement is vital for the gluten intolerant.

Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance

There are dozens, possibly hundreds, of gluten intolerance symptoms. Unfortunately, no one symptom is specifically characteristic of this common ailment. The majority of people with gluten intolerance (and celiac disease) have intestinal symptoms as well as many others. Common manifestations include:

• Bone, joint, muscle pain
• Delayed/disrupted menstrual cycles (amenorrhea/delayed menarche)
• Dental enamel hypoplasia (enamel defects) 
• Fatigue
• Gastrointestinal distress (gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, reflux)
• Headaches (including migraines)
• Inability to concentrate
• Infertility
• Moodiness, depression
• Mouth sores
• Seizures
• Short stature
• Tingling numbness in the legs
• Weight loss/gain

 Most often, the best way to determine whether or not you are gluten intolerant is to eliminate gluten from your diet for a two-week period – and actually feel the effects.

Step 1: Food Limiting – Implementing a Gluten-free Diet

If you have a gluten allergy, when you ingest wheat, rye, barley, or oats your gut will become irritated, and your immune system functioning will turn to dealing with the gluten. Rather than focusing on your immune system, your system will be fighting off a perceived attack.

Further, your system will take the information about the irritant, and spread it throughout your entire body – to your joints, or your brain, where it can manifest as multiple sclerosis, or a myriad of other unpleasant illnesses.
In short, the allergy can go anywhere in your body capable of having an autoimmune response. Remember, if you are gluten intolerant, your system interprets the ingestion of wheat, rye, barley, and oat products similar to how it would respond to any invasion: with inflammation.

But miracles really can and do happen when you alter your diet to suit your body's changing needs. If you believe you may have gluten intolerance, begin by removing gluten-containing foods from your diet, and monitor your responses. Rest assured that there are many wonderful alternatives to wheat, rye, barley, and oats.

The good news is that between fifty and ninety percent of gluten intolerant people who choose to implement a gluten-free approach respond very positively when they eliminate gluten from their diets. Many people report feeling better in just one or two weeks. Often, all symptoms disappear within six to eight weeks.

Step 2: A Daily Multi-vitamin

Once the irritant is removed, care and repair of the body is essential. Many with gluten intolerance suffer from greatly reduced intake of nutrients in their diets. They may skip meals when they are feeling unwell, and the damaging results of gluten on their intestines affects nutrient absorption.

For this reason, people with gluten intolerance ought to supplement their diets with a high-quality, easy-to-absorb multi-vitamin – taken with food – to ensure adequate nutrient intake.

In addition, your body may have become weakened by its struggle with gluten intolerance, and you may have become especially sensitive, and more intolerant, to processed foods. Some people experience bouts of diarrhea. For others, there is an overall, negative cumulative effect. Many people develop secondary lactose intolerance as a result of dealing with gluten intolerance.

However, once wheat, rye, barley, and oats are omitted, and the bowel begins to heal, lactase – the enzyme that breaks down lactose – usually returns to an adequate level, and the lactose intolerance disappears.
L-glutamine is a powerful restorative, an amino acid known to work wonders at healing the bowel. Aloe vera is also recommended for bowel repair. In the meantime, it's important to ensure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs, as well as ensuring regular bowel movements.

Step 3: Digestive Enzymes

If you are struggling with gluten intolerance, malabsorption occurs because the cells can no longer absorb nutrients properly. A digestive enzyme supplement may prove helpful since your body may have become deficient in digestive enzymes.

It is important to define two categories of gluten intolerance in order to understand how the illness is affected by enzyme action in the gut.

Celiac sprue is an autoimmune condition, a genetic inflammatory disorder of the small intestine. When gluten proteins break down during digestion, they fragment. These protein fragments are called peptides.
In celiac sufferers, an inappropriate immune system response in the small intestine is initiated by one type of peptide, and the intestinal cells are damaged.

A second type of gluten intolerance results when the gut is injured by something other than celiac disease – the negative effect of a bacteria or yeast infection, for example, resulting in the loss of the intestinal enzymes which in turn leads to poor gluten digestion.

Using specific enzymes can be effective in minimizing the need for a gluten-free diet for those with gluten intolerance due to gut injury. While supplementing with enzymes can be beneficial to celiac sufferers, they must remain gluten-free because the damage to their intestines is caused by the gluten fragments, rather than as a result of injury.

CELIAC AND GLUTEN INTOLERANCE RESOURCES:

•    www.celiacchicks.com  – This resource features recipes, products,
archives, and more to guide you towards a hip and healthy gluten-free
lifestyle.
•    www.celiac.org  Here, you will find answers to all your celiac-
related concerns, including diet, children, events, and more.

•    www.celiac.com This resource offers a state by state listing of
health professionals specializing in celiac disease and gluten
sensitivies.

•    www.celiachandbook.com – With this resource, you will be able to
find a restaurant in your area that understands the importance of
offering delicious gluten-free menu items.  Use this handbook whether
you live in the US or internationally.

•    www.gfdelights.com  – This site is dedicated to finding restaurants
that provide gluten-free meals in a comfortable dining environment and
ones that abide by the gluten-free pledge—to be informed about the
requirements of the gluten-allergic and accommodate their special
requests.

•    www.glutenfreeregistry.com  – This source features 17,000 gluten-
free restaurants, bakeries, caterers, and grocery stores nationwide.
Search options are also available for your mobile phone or iPhone.

•    www.glutenfreetravelsite.com – Safe and delicious gluten-free dining
may be right under your nose. Visit this site and see where you can
eat to satisfy both your salivary glands and your gut.

•    www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com This blog features scrumptious
recipes, wise gluten-free substitutions, and helpful advice from
people like you who have experimented with gluten-free cooking.

•    www.livingwithout.com – This website has recipes for many delicious
gluten-free options, including Italian flatbread, zucchini pancakes,
and strawberry rhubarb pie.