When gluten free fails
Have you tried a gluten-free diet but seen no benefit? Maybe you’ve even been diagnosed with celiac disease and gone gluten-free but still have symptoms?
A recent study found that a shocking number of people in this situation had another underlying cause.
31% of the patients with celiac disease who did not improve on a gluten-free diet tested positive for SIBO
SIBO stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and can manifest with many of the same symptoms as celiac disease or IBS. There’s often lots of bloating, gas, abdominal pain, and either constipation or diarrhea. Lets understand first what is Gluten, many think they are gluten free when in fact they often include foods that may still contain gluten.
What is Gluten?
Gluten is a type of protein found in most cereals, grains, and breads. It is contained in food processed from wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and kamut. Gluten helps bread to rise, giving it a chewy texture. Not all foods from the grain family contain gluten. Some examples of non-gluten grains include: regular and wild rice, buckwheat, quinoa, corn, millet, oats, etc.
A Gluten-free diet is a diet completely free of all foods derived from these gluten grains. Unfortunately, gluten shows up unexpectedly in many processed foods that contain food additives, flavourings, stabilizers, or thickening agents.
What is Celiac Disease?
Celiac disease is a condition that causes many digestive symptoms due to difficulty in digestion of gluten. Those with celiac disease must avoid gluten-containing foods 100% of the time. Certain foods, such as oats, that do not contain gluten should be used carefully due to cross contamination that can occur while growing in fields near wheat or during processing on the same machines
Wheat or gluten sensitivity
Certain individuals who do not have celiac disease have been found to be sensitive to wheat or to all gluten-containing foods. Often this is the result of eating wheat or gluten foods many times daily, every day, for many years or due to gut permeability. Sensitivities develop that only will improve with the removal of wheat or all gluten for a period of time. Often, wheat can be reintroduced into the diet, as long as it is eaten infrequently (once every 4-7 days). Others find that symptoms return any time they eat wheat.
What grain foods and starches are acceptable on a gluten-free diet?
There are many grains to choose from, but most are not common or always readily available. Because gluten is the protein that helps bread to rise, breads made without gluten have a different texture. They also can be quite costly.
The most common gluten-free starchy foods include corn, potatoes, and rice, but there are other non-gluten whole grains that are more nutritious. Some, such as quinoa, are not actually grains but are treated as such because they are satisfying and taste like grains!
Other less common grains and starches to try on a gluten-free diet include: millet, sorghum, tapioca, arrowroot, teff, amaranth, buckwheat. Even bean and nut flours may be used in gluten-free baking! Some examples include garbanzo bean flour, soy flour, chestnut flour, coconut flour, hazelnut or almond meal, or chia seed. These tend to be higher in protein and dietary fibre than wheat flour. When buying products made from these flours, it is important to be careful of other possible sources of gluten. For example, pastas that contain buckwheat or amaranth also may contain wheat flour. READ LABELS!
Gluten free list below
If you are trying to get to the root cause of mysterious digestive problems, please call me. We will do a comprehensive assessment and order lab tests if necessary. We’ll use the most natural therapies possible to help you recover your gut health for good. You may even feel better in just a few days.