The big G...

Gluten is found in wheat, rye, barley, oats, rice, spelt and other flour producing grasses and substances. If you eat bread, cereal, pasta, doughnuts, cake, wraps, croissants, waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, grits etc you are eating gluten.

Some people have no adverse side effects to eating gluten and it passes through their system happily and goes on its way. For others, (Celiac Disease sufferers and other gluten-related disorders) it causes a
severe allergic reaction which is made apparent with stomach cramps, diarrhoea, headaches, nausea or some/all of these symptoms. For most, there are no obvious, gut-related symptoms but gluten slowly causes a myriad of reactions in the body that get worse over time (this could be silent Celiac Disease or other
gluten-related disorders). Others will suffer from headaches, arthritis, eczema, brain fog, acne, PCOS etc and never realise that this is caused by gluten. 

The problem is that we are not meant to eat gluten - the Egyptians thought they were being very clever when they made it so effective, but at the same time the quantity they ate was miniscule compared to the volume
consumed in today’s (Western) society. Gluten creates a domino-effect of responses in the body and it is likely that everyone reacts in one way or another.

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein molecule; it is made up of a chain of amino acids in a specific order. Imagine a pearl necklace where each pearl is an amino acid. All proteins (chicken, beef, cheese, eggs etc) require enzymes to
digest them into absorbable, single unit amino acids (individual pearls) so that they can cross the membrane of the intestine into the blood stream. The issue with gluten is that we do not have an enzyme that breaks it down. As such, gluten is only partially digested into chains of amino acids but never into single unit amino acids. For some, this is not a problem because the body just allows the gluten to pass through. For others, there is an immune response whereby the chains of amino acids cross through the membrane (with the help of a substance called ‘Zonulin’) and into the blood stream in the hope that our brilliant immune system’s white blood cells will take care of this foreign substance. This immune response is not such a worry if it happens infrequently but in modern times, our bodies are bombarded with gluten every few hours. Consequently, we have a great deal of white blood cells attacking gluten-related amino acid chains in our blood.

Now, this is the interesting part.

Our DNA is partially the same as gluten’s amino acid chains. So the body attacks both the gluten chains and the body itself. This is why symptoms might appear elsewhere e.g. in the thyroid (Hashimoto’s), the skin (eczema, scleroderma etc), the heart, the sinuses etc.

Well…that’s a scary thought isn’t it?! So if you suffer from headaches, asthma, depression, nausea, bloating, IBS etc, you might be sensitive to gluten. My advice is to get a food sensitivity test (IgA response) as well
as blood tests to check for other autoimmune markers e.g. IgE and IgG. The science is rapidly enabling these tests to come closer to the root cause of each problem. For example, I do not have Celiac Disease. I do not have a really bad response to eating gluten-related products but it makes my eyes foggy and I
get quite grumpy after eating cheap gluten. I love gluten-products! Unsurprisingly as it is more addictive than nicotine and cocaine. But I can live without it. I eat rice, quinoa, buckwheat and oats quite happily instead but sometimes allow myself a treat in one gluten-related form or other. These days I eat sourdough toast in the morning and then refrain from gluten products for the rest of the day.

It is important to remember that not all produce is the same in terms of nutritional value; the way gluten (and all other produce) is farmed, manufactured and treated is extremely important too and ought to be taken into consideration. Who knows, you might actually be allergic to one of the pesticides, herbicides or preservatives they are treating gluten-related products with rather than the gluten itself and by switching to ORGANIC, you go back to normal.

If you have any questions about this, or would like more information, drop me an email! And make sure you are following me on social media for daily inspiration, diet tips, mumma advice and general stuff!