Is Gluten Making You Fat?

The biggest advice I can give in regards to following a healthy diet is to listen to your body. While I will never give a blanket statement that says everyone needs to cut out gluten or avoid dairy to lose weight, I will say you need to listen to what these foods are doing to your body.

Part of any healthy eating plan involves listening to your body and eating foods that make you feel satisfied, nourished and light. It is equally as important that you avoid all foods that make you feel heavy, bloated and unwell. For many people gluten and dairy products do exactly that.

Unless you've been hiding out in a bag of bread or under mountains of pasta, you've undoubtedly heard that eliminating wheat and gluten from your diet is a sure fire way to lose weight.

But what exactly is gluten? Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Wheat however is significantly higher in gluten than any other grain, with refined wheat having a gluten content of around 45%. For this reason wheat causes more adverse food reactions than any of the other gluten containing grain.

Gluten Intolerance

ntolerance to gluten is becoming more and more common. Note I said intolerance, not allergy as there is a significant difference. A food intolerance is more common but less severe than a food allergy. Reactions are usually limited to poor digestion of a substance that causes discomfort such as bloating, cramping and gas. Anything that causes poor or incomplete digestions will damage your health and add pounds to your weight.

In gluten intolerant people, eating it may trigger a host of symptoms including irritability, headaches, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, increased appetite, joint pain, mental fatigue or weight gain.

When gluten sensitivity goes untreated, malnutrition and chronic inflammation are often the result. Gluten-induced inflammation will damage the lining of your gut wall, allowing harmful endotoxins called lipopolysaccharides to enter your blood stream. When your immune

system responds to these endotoxins it causes further inflammation, oxidative damage, depression, insulin sensitivity and weight gain. In fact chronic inflammation is a major cause of obesity.

Plus chronic inflammation is known to trigger various autoimmune and neurological disorders. One such autoimmune condition linked with gluten intolerance is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (HT). HT will slow down your thyroid function causing a sluggish metabolism and weight gain.

Testing for Gluten Intolerance

Blood tests are an accurate way of determining if you have coeliac disease, but are not 100% reliable at detecting gluten intolerance. Dr Kenneth Fine is amongst many current scientists who concur that better test results are needed to assess gluten sensitivity. Because of the short-comings of blood tests and the inconclusive evidence of biopsies, evidence of immune reactions to gluten needs to come from a test for antibodies located where the food comes into direct contact with the tissue, such as inside the intestinal tract or the mouth.

A simple stool test has been proven to be a more effective way of determining gluten intolerance. Dr Fine has compared hundreds of tests on people with microscopic colitis. He found that only 7% of these people test positive for gluten antibodies in blood tests, while 76% test positive through stool test. He also found that 77% of patients with autoimmune disease and 57% with irritable bowel test positive to gluten antibodies in a stool test.

Another simple way to determine if you are gluten intolerant is to do an elimination program. For more information you can check out my blog Feel Great – Eliminate!

Feel Great – Eliminate!

The good news is that much of the damage caused by gluten can usually be reversed by following a gluten-free diet. A gluten-free diet means completely avoiding foods that contain wheat, oats, rye, spelt and barley. Foods and products made from these grains must also be avoided including many pastas, cereals, beers and processed foods.

Is Gluten Making You Fat?