by Vic Shayne, PhD

If you have a chronic health problem that just won’t go away, you should seriously consider getting off gluten.

What is gluten?
It’s a protein substance found in grains, including barley, wheat and rye. If you realize that wheat flour is in thousands of foods, you’ll start to understand that if you have a sensitivity to gluten, you’re getting attacked almost every time you eat.

What does gluten do?
If you have gluten intolerance, as do millions of people, gluten it attacks your small intestines by destroying the villi (finger-like projections on the intestinal surface) and leads to the formation of tiny holes in your intestines. The result is that food particles leak into your bloodstream and your body’s natural defense system sees these particles as “foreign invaders.”  This creates two major problems:
1. You can’t absorb important nutrients, and
2. Your body seems to attack itself

What are the symptoms?
Symptoms of gluten intolerance range widely, but as time passes, researchers are finding more and more links to gluten and chronic illnesses. Symptoms may include one or more of the following, plus symptoms not listed:
• leaky gut, celiac disease
• skin problems (chronic rashes, itching, sores, inflammation)
• allergic reactions of many sorts
• bowel problems, including cramping
• bloating
• mouth sores (mouth ulcers)
• eczema
• low immunity to disease
• neurological dysfunction
• headaches

If you have a chronic skin condition, there may be a link to gluten intolerance.

How can I have a gluten problem now, if I didn’t have one before?
Quite often, symptoms of gluten intolerance take a while to manifest. More frequently than realized, many people have had gluten problems their whole life yet never noticed or connected their symptoms. As we get older the intolerance may get worse and even manifest as different symptoms or diseases. You may have had bowel problems as a child but today you have skin problems.

Is there any hope at all? What do I have to do?
There is no way to state this strongly enough, but if you suffer from gluten intolerance, you need to avoid gluten completely. Not partially or once in a while, but completely in the same way an alcoholic needs never again to drink alcohol or in the same way a diabetic can never eat a lot of sugar. You have to see that for you gluten is a poison that endangers and ruins your health.

That being said, you need to stop eating gluten altogether. Carefully read every label and ask questions at restaurants. If you are not sure, DO NOT EAT the food. Gravies, sauces, condiments and desserts often contain gluten, so you have to know for sure. If you don’t know then avoid that food. Fortunately, there are now hundreds of non-gluten, tasty substitutes for commonly eaten foods, such as cake, cookies, crackers, cereal, pasta, pancake mix, breads and so forth. Switch to these varieites.

Next, you have to realize that it takes a good six months for your body to recover somewhat from gluten damage. This is why you cannot get off of gluten for two weeks and then give up. It’s not enough time for your villi of your small intestines to rebound. YOU HAVE TO GO THE FULL SIX MONTHS AND BEYOND.

Beware the trick of the mind. Avoid this trap…
Be careful once you are off of gluten and feeling better. Too many times people think they are cured and they go back to eating gluten foods and feel fine. Yet, what’s happening inside their bodies is gradual destruction to the point wherein they will end up right back where they began: with health problems galore. Stay off gluten FOR GOOD!

Supplement Schedule:
In addition to including the mentioned iron-rich foods in your diet, add these to your daily routine:
1. CalMag, 6 tablets per day
2. Ultimate Defense: 4 tablets per day
3. Evening Primrose Oil: 4 capsules per day
4. Fish Oil capsules: 2 capsules per day
5. DigestPlex: 1 tablet with each meal

Sources:
1. Corcoran, Julie, Gluten intolerance can damage your health, and it’s hard to spot, Columbia News Journal, Columbia University, Jan 07
2. Bardella MT, Fredella C, Saladino V, Trovato C, Cesana BM, Quatrini M, Prampolini L., , “Gluten intolerance: gender- and age-related differences in symptoms,” National Institutes of Health 08
3. Sensitivity To Gluten May Result In Neurological Dysfunction; Independent Of Symptoms; ScienceDaily, Apr. 30, 2002

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