Posted on 2/5/2013

 Over the past decade in particular, people are becoming sensitive to gluten, found in wheat based products. 

The top 3 are wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is a protein molecule.The general name is Prolamis a protein function found in grains. Prolamis that are harmful are :

1. Gliadin -Wheat

2. Secalin-Rye

3. Hordein-Barley

This is why you see a sudden rise in gluten-free products.

Prior to our consumption of mass grains, our food consisted of wild game, sea food, worms/insects, seasonal fruits, vegetables, nuts & seeds.  It's only been with in the 5,000 to 10,000 years that we started eating grains with the advent of farming.  Within this time period degenerative diseases escalated significantly.  More and more often, our traditional diet has been replaced with high processed foods that are usually grain based.  Grains have become the main staple in people’s diets.  The problem with this is that we are eating the wrong grains.  Imagine that when you eat the right grains you feel better and with the wrong ones

you feel worse.  Some experts say that it may be upwards of 40-60% of people that are gluten sensitive and don’t even know it.   Some of the symptoms include skin disorders, gas, diarrhea, constipation, cramps, ADD, and chronic fatigue. 

Our consumption of wheat and other innutritious grains can be traced back to the days when Oklahoma was a brand new state, and the over-farming of fertile grasslands led to catastrophic dust bowls. 

Avoid highly processed grains and eat whole grains.  Good grains are rice, corn, buckwheat and millet.  A good exercise to try would be to eliminate gluten from your diet for 2 weeks and see how you feel.  If you notice that you feel better off of highly processed grains, it is likely that you are sensitive to some bad grains, that are not good for you in the first place.  You just have to listen to your body, it will tell you exactly how it feels about what you just ate, good or bad.  Don’t eat the bad stuff and eat the good stuff.  How funny is that!  It's too bad that the bad stuff taste so damn good.  

 There are 4 different types of gluten responses.  

Sensitivity - reaction to wheat

Allergy - immune response

Intolerance - unable to tolerate (this is long term effects, and excessive stress to the intestinal track.)

Celiac Disease- this is a genetic intolerance 

(long time damage to intestinal track, the nervous system, the hormones, liver, blood system, muscle/skeletal system) 1 in 150 people have Celiac disease and only half or less are diagnosed.

 All of this causes the small intestine to become inflamed which causes the villi to flatten.  Villi are like long fingers that have the ability to absorb nutrients properly.  When your villi are flattened its like a closed fist without fingers and your ability to absorb nutrients properly is reduced.  

If you feel like you have any of the side effects listed above your villi could be inflamed, and when this occurs it is difficult for your body to digest diary, a good idea is to avoid consuming dairy for the same time period that you are eliminating gluten.   

If you belief you may be gluten sensitive these are some helpful tips:

Eliminate gluten

Eliminate dairy

Read labels

Avoid highly processed grains and sweetened foods