“Why does everyone want to be gluten-free now?”

I hear these questions quite often.  My usual answer is an abbreviated explanation [...]]]> “What is gluten-free?”

“Why does everyone want to be gluten-free now?”

I hear these questions quite often.  My usual answer is an abbreviated explanation involving the inflammatory nature of this grain-protein.  Quick mention of the insidious gut-destruction.  When I try to whittle it down to a real elevator-type answer it sounds something like, “research shows that gluten, which is a protein in wheat and other grains, has multiple undesireable effects on the human body and most people feel much better, heathier and energetic when they stop eating it”.

There is another reason to avoid gluten.  If you are stuffing yourself with gluten all the time you are missing out on the nutritious foods.  Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, and eggs.  Perhaps the real down side of a gluten-packed diet is that those gluten-laden foods are not all that nutrient-dense and when you eat bagels, you aren’t eating as much eggs and spinach.

This issue is becoming more significant as grocery stores are filling up with gluten-free breads, cookies, cake mixes, cereal and crackers.  I see myself falling prey to it with my son’s school lunches.  If I pack a true Paleo lunch for him it is a nutrient power house: olives, macadamia nuts, cold chicken, toasted seaweed, grapes, a carrot-cabbage slaw, leftover salmon, frozen blueberries etc…  If I get behind in my food prep and run to the store I could end up with gluten-free bread, gluten-free tortilla chips, gluten-free crackers, gluten-free cookies.  I am still happy to have kept gluten out of his body, but those gluten-free foods are not nutritious.  How is he going to keep growing, not get sick, and out lift me on a diet of rice bread and cookies made with potato starch?

This short article is a helpful primer on what the label “gluten-free” actually means.  It is also a helpful answer to the “are oats gluten-free” question.

]]> http://www.crossfitworks.com/archives/3695/feed 0 http://www.crossfitworks.com/archives/1242 http://www.crossfitworks.com/archives/1242#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:05:51 +0000 Jen http://www.crossfitworks.com/?p=1242 What will I eat if I don’t eat bread and cereal and pasta?

How about the 20min-Faster-than-a-frozen-pizza ITALIAN STEW?

I keep all these things in my freezer/cupboard at all times.  One stop Paleo meal shopping at Trader Joe’s.

2 packages of basil chicken sausage (chop it up and start sauteeing it).  Chop a [...]]]> What will I eat if I don’t eat bread and cereal and pasta?

How about the 20min-Faster-than-a-frozen-pizza ITALIAN STEW?

I keep all these things in my freezer/cupboard at all times.  One stop Paleo meal shopping at Trader Joe’s.

2 packages of basil chicken sausage (chop it up and start sauteeing it).  Chop a bag of frozen green beans and a bag of frozen asparagus (they snap in pieces easily when they are frozen).  Open a can of ripe black olives and if you feel like it, slice them, otherwise you can leave them whole.  Open a can or two of artichoke hearts packed in water and pull them apart into pieces.  Once your chicken sausage is beginning to brown, add everything, a can of crushed tomatoes and about 2-3c of water.  I usually throw in some Italian dried herbs (I keep an Italian seasoning blend on hand) like basil, oregano, thyme.  If you need some more fat drizzle on some olive oil at then end over your bowl.

Let’s see what the dudes at CrossFit Football have going…

Paleo Snack for The Power Athlete – Canned Salmon, Avocado, Olive Oil, Tomato and Red Onion

I have been sparing you all a constant repeated discussion of eating paleo on this blog, but I think it is time for a reminder.  I still have a sense that most of you think changing your diet is only if you really need to lose weight or get super leaned out.  I’ve heard in the background chatter (I have alien ears when it comes to picking up all discussions of nutrition) that some of you feel like cutting out grains is only if you want to lose weight.  There is even this strange notion out there that some people “adapt” to eating grains and if you “feel fine” then you should keep eating them.  Thanks to a heads-up from the enormously strong, super fit, excellently intelligent coaches at CrossFit Football I read a nice article by Dr. Mark Hyman on gluten.  How about you all read some of it too?  I pasted an excerpt from the article here or you can click on “The Dangers of Gluten” subtitle and see the whole thing.

The Dangers of Gluten

A recent large study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people with diagnosed, undiagnosed, and “latent” celiac disease or gluten sensitivity had a higher risk of death, mostly from heart disease and cancer. (i)

This study looked at almost 30,00 patients from 1969 to 2008 and examined deaths in three groups: Those with full-blown celiac disease, those with inflammation of their intestine but not full-blown celiac disease, and those with latent celiac disease or gluten sensitivity (elevated gluten antibodies but negative intestinal biopsy).

The findings were dramatic. There was a 39 percent increased risk of death in those with celiac disease, 72 percent increased risk in those with gut inflammation related to gluten, and 35 percent increased risk in those with gluten sensitivity but no celiac disease.

This is ground-breaking research that proves you don’t have to have full-blown celiac disease with a positive intestinal biopsy (which is what conventional thinking tells us) to have serious health problems and complications–even death–from eating gluten.

Yet an estimated 99 percent of people who have a problem with eating gluten don’t even know it. They ascribe their ill health or symptoms to something else–not gluten sensitivity, which is 100 percent curable.

And here’s some more shocking news …

Another study comparing the blood of 10,000 people from 50 years ago to 10,000 people today found that the incidences of full-blown celiac disease increased by 400 percent (elevated TTG antibodies) during that time period. (ii) If we saw a 400 percent increase in heart disease or cancer, this would be headline news. But we hear almost nothing about this. I will explain why I think that increase has occurred in a moment. First, let’s explore the economic cost of this hidden epidemic.

Undiagnosed gluten problems cost the American healthcare system oodles of money. Dr. Peter Green, Professor of Clinical Medicine for the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University studied all 10 million subscribers to CIGNA and found those who were correctly diagnosed with celiac disease used fewer medical services and reduced their healthcare costs by more than 30 perecnt. (iii) The problem is that only one percent of those with the problem were actually diagnosed. That means 99 percent are walking around suffering without knowing it, costing the healthcare system millions of dollars.

And it’s not just a few who suffer, but millions. Far more people have gluten sensitivity than you think–especially those who are chronically ill. The most serious form of allergy to gluten, celiac disease, affects one in 100 people, or three million Americans, most of who don’t know they have it. But milder forms of gluten sensitivity are even more common and may affect up to one-third of the American population.

Why haven’t you heard much about this?

Well, actually you have, but you just don’t realize it. Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity masquerade as dozens and dozens of other diseases with different names.

Gluten Sensitivity: One Cause, Many Diseases

A review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 “diseases” that can be caused by eating gluten. (iv) These include osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, (v) and rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric (vi) and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, (vii) schizophrenia, (viii) dementia, (ix)migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy (nerve damage). (x) It has also been linked to autism.(ix)

We used to think that gluten problems or celiac disease were confined to children who had diarrhea, weight loss, and failure to thrive. Now we know you can be old, fat, and constipated and still have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Gluten sensitivity is actually an autoimmune disease that creates inflammation throughout the body, with wide-ranging effects across all organ systems including your brain, heart, joints, digestive tract, and more. It can be the single cause behind many different “diseases.” To correct these diseases, you need to treat the cause–which is often gluten sensitivity–not just the symptoms.