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The Gluten Gremlins, Part II

If your gut is compromised from eating gluten when you are sensitive, then you can easily develop dysbiosis and leaky gut. Dysbiosis is a word that refers to opportunistic ofttimes commensual bugs in your gut that have overgrown and are now out of control and don't belong there anymore. Because digestion is now so poor (because we continue to eat gluten and other foods we are sensitive to) we are unable to muster up the appropriate acids and enzymes to kill exogenous bugs anymore, like parasites, molds, giardia and 100's of other critter that can enter our orifices and make us miserable.

I will enumerate other disturbing news about Gluten Intolerance. 1) Being on a Gluten Free diet does not appear to normalize microflora levels. We need extra help for a long time. 2) There is a very long healing process of the inflammation caused by GI, which involves being very, very good about avoiding gluten. 3) Introducing pre and probiotics is essential. 4) Someone who has GI may also have an increased chance of being lactose and casein intolerant, so there goes milk and milk products. 5) Because our guts are a mess, we allow interlopers in and soon we are overrun with bugs and feeling pretty awful much of the time because our gut is leaking.

Leaky gut is the end result of this havoc created by 1) continuing to eat gluten when we are intolerant 2) developing, over a period of time, poor digestion 3) not having the appropriate digestive fire and therefore, 4) developing an inflamed gut. This is a hallmark of leaky gut. By now, in your leaky gut, the matrices of your gut are so huge that they allow the escape of large protein molecules which then migrate all over your body via the blood stream creating disparate illnesses such as arthritis, eye disease, tinnitus, bladder infections, you name it.

If you have leaky gut, you will express the end result in your own individual way, but if you don't feel well a lot of the time and find yourself grabbing your stomach to self-soothe and purchasing and eating TUMS on a regular basis, you probably have leaky gut. We are supposed to feel well, pain-free, reasonably happy and content and in addition, we should be able to digest our food completely. Do you ever see undigested food in your stool? That's another hallmark of poor digestion and leaky gut.

Did you know that over 75% of your immune system is in your gut? So, what do you think happens when you have compromised digestion? Yep. Your immunity goes to straight to hell. Let's fix your gut before the next flu season.

Then there are the known sequelae of celiac disease and gluten intolerance: There is a very long list of what could appear, from alopecia to vasculitis with epilepsy, MS and scleroderma falling somewhere in the middle of the alphabet, but here are a few of the more common: GERD, iron deficiency anemia, B12 anemia, vitamin D malabsorption, calcium malabsorption with resulting bone disorders like osteoporosis and arthritis, thyroiditis and depression.

To treat your GI, you must avoid most packaged foods like cookies, crackers, cakes, bagels, sourdough breads, English muffins, Triscuits, Ritz crackers, Saltines, Wheat Thins etc. and most desserts, especially those purchased at non-organic chains like Safeway. Everything is made with wheat there. You are better off shopping at the GF aisles in Whole foods. In order to successfully avoid wheat, you will have to go through your cupboards and get rid of everything with wheat in it. Read labels scrupulously. Then go to WF's and buy your self some substitutes. There is no reason why you can't eat mostly like you ate pre-GF with just a little tweaking of products. What's hard is going out to eat. So far, most restaurants do not cater to GF patrons, but I can see that coming, especially in Boulder. Until then, say no to the bread basket and order meat, salad, and veggies.

Pastas: The best I have found and more "to the tooth" than any other is Tinkyada brand. I usually buy their penne.

Crackers: Anything in the GF aisle, plus rice crackers, rice cakes, nut thins.

For your sweet tooth: Learn how to and make the time to bake! Go on www.elanspantry.com and check out her recipes. Her baked goods are mostly made with almond flour, and are delicious and healthy. I routinely make her muffins and breads. There are also Pamela's products, but they are so full of sugar, use judiciously.

Cereals: Please see my amaranth-millet cereal recipe. It's a winner and full of protein. Go to my website, www.drbea.com, click on Hot News, then scroll down until you reach Osteoarthritis, Part II. At the end of this Hot News is the recipe for Yummy Hot Cereal. Then there are lots of store-bought GF cereals. Don't be fooled by Cheerios, which is probably the most famous oat cereal out there. It is made with wheat. However, Oatio's doesn't have wheat in it. By the way, GF patients can sometimes eat oats. The jury is out on oats and whether it has gluten, so I take that on a case by case basis. Then there is Nature's Path, Mesa Sunrise, which is made with flax, amaranth and corn. Bob's Red Mill also has an 8-grain wheat-less (but not oat-less) hot cereal.

Breads: Whole Food's has an entire frozen case devoted to GF bakery products, including bread. I find them too sweet, but they are fine for GF purposes. I send away for my bread to a place in Florida. Their website is www.samisbakery.com. I get their millet-flax products: bread, bagels, lavash and croutons  6 at a time - and freeze until use. Great Harvest has GF bread on Wednesdays. I find it pretty dense and sweet, but again, it's GF. Breadworks has an occasional GF muffin, too and Rudi's has come out with a GF bread, too.

Learn how to cook acceptable grains: 1) Short grain organic brown rice: Rinse 2 C. of rice in a saucepan, squeezing and swirling the rice with your hands, adding fresh water until the water loses its milky color. Pour off all milky water and Bring 3 ½ C. new water to a boil. Add the 2 C. rice and simmer on the lowest possible heat  covered (no peeking), for about 50 minutes. I use a non-stick 3 quart saucepan dedicated to grain cooking. 2) Quinoa and Millet: Quinoa is 1 C. to 2 C. water, like rice. Be sure and rinse well, or you will have a bitter end product. Cook quinoa for 15 minutes or maybe more. Peek after 15 minutes. Millet: 1 C. to 3 C. water. Cook for about ½ hour or until fluffy.

And, don't forget potatoes, polenta and yams in addition to all of the acceptable grains.

Geeky Factoid: A six year study of 34,000 participants revealed that men who drank 5+ glasses of water daily had up to 51% fewer heart attacks than those drinking less than 2 glasses. Regarding the women of the group, those who drank 5+ glasses per day had 35% less heart attacks.

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