THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO TELL if you are gluten intolerant: an elimination/reintegration diet and blood tests. But first, let’s talk about what gluten is and why it’s a problem for so many people.
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut, and oats. It is hidden in pizza, pasta, bread, wraps, rolls, and most processed foods. Clearly, gluten is a staple of the American diet.
Unfortunately, it’s also linked to many diseases and conditions; a review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 “diseases” that can be caused by eating gluten. These include osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases.
Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, dementia, migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy (nerve damage). It has also been linked to autism.
Gluten sensitivity is actually an autoimmune disease that creates inflammation throughout the body, with wide-ranging effects across all organ systems including your brain, heart, joints, digestive tract, and more. It can be the single cause behind many different “diseases.” To correct these diseases, you need to treat the cause – which is often gluten sensitivity – not just the symptoms.
To find out if you are one of the millions of people suffering from an unidentified gluten sensitivity, just follow this simple procedure.
The Elimination/Reintegration Diet
While testing can help identify gluten sensitivity, the only way you will know if this is really a problem for you is to eliminate all gluten for a short period of time (2 to 4 weeks) and see how you feel. Eliminate the following foods:
- Gluten (barley, rye, oats, spelt, kamut, wheat, and triticale – see www.celiac.com for a complete list of foods that contain gluten, as well as often surprising and hidden sources of gluten.)
- Hidden sources (soup mixes, salad dressings, sauces, as well as lipstick, certain vitamins, medications, stamps and envelopes you have to lick, and even Play-Doh.)
For this test to work you MUST eliminate 100 percent of the gluten from your diet – no exceptions, no hidden gluten, and not a single crumb of bread. Then eat it again and see what happens. If you feel bad at all, you need to stay off gluten permanently. This will teach you better than any test about the impact gluten has on your body.
There are also gluten allergy/celiac disease tests that are available through Labcorp or Quest Diagnostics. All these tests help identify various forms of allergy or sensitivity to gluten or wheat.
This is only part of the story. Read the full article here: Gluten: What You Don’t Know Might Kill You.
Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below – but remember, we can’t offer personal medical advice online, so be sure to limit your comments to those about taking back our health!
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
When I see Dow Chemical showing ads on TV saying they they are ‘helping make delicious breads that are gluten free’ it just tells me that American Agribusiness has now taken over this new health fad and will poison us in a new and possibly even more dangerous way. I’ve read the list of foods that are ‘bad’ because they contain gluten. It is long and contains foods that humans have eaten for centuries. Anyone who tells me to give up my steel-cut oats for breakfast every day has a tough sell. I’ve lost 30 pounds and feel great on a plant-based, whole foods diet, which I’m sure contains gluten as nature intended it.
oats do not inherently contain gluten…this is something that is fallaciously stated over and over…
it is that oats are usually processed in an area where wheat and other gluten containing grains are also
processed and can become cross contaminated …so you can eat oats but have to look for oats that
say gluten free because they are processed in their own space…steel cut oatmeal may be processed
separately anyway…you should contact the company to see if that is so…
Raptor – I think there may be a misunderstanding. I don’t think gluten containing foods are bad unless one has a sensitivity to them. I wouldn’t go on a gluten free diet unless gluten made me sick, which it does in my case. If you feel great and have none of the the symptoms of gluten intolerance, then I say keep eating your steel cut oats! If anyone says all people should not eat gluten containing grains, then that is silly. Some people shouldn’t eat gluten containing grains and if they had the problems I did this information will change their life for the better.
Gluten isn’t inherently bad for everyone, but for people with compromised gut health (and that includes most people eating the Standard American Diet) it is problematic more often than not. If you are eating gluten and feeling great you probably don’t have a gluten intolerance. But if you have any of the health issues Dr. Hyman mentioned you certainly should try a gluten-free challenge. Often, people are so used to feeling bad they never connect what they are eating to their symptoms. Yes, people have eaten gluten for many generations, but they haven’t eaten the vast amount of junk food most people now consume. And don’t be fooled into thinking gluten-free junk food is OK. Junk is still junk.
Dr. Wyman – I am one happy female camper. Thanks to you, your books, your programs and my perseverance to remain healthy and vertical at 83 years of age, I am losing weight (about 1+ lbs. per week) and feeling better than I have in years. First step was to cut out all dairy, then to go non-gluten. Plenty of good, filtered water, a fist full of supplements to cover all the bases, nuts and seed for snacking and a whole new way of preparing meals. I know now that a successful diet is finding the real “rainbow” veggies that you love, chopping them roughly, tossing with very good quality extra virgin olive oil and a top grade (interesting flavor) vinegar, a fist full of chopped parsley – Spread out on a cookie sheet and roast at 375 for 35 minutes. WOW! A bowl of this with non-gluten crackers, dipped in guacamole and you’re good to go. I eat this every day with a few hearty spoons of black, white or red beans. (Protein with every meal!)
I’ve settled into knowing exactly what I will be eating every morning for breakfast. At lunchtime, a salad of greens, tomato, olives, beans, onions, broccoli tops, celery, cukes – topped with cold Wild Salmon or cold sliced chicken and drizzle that great olive oil on with the flavored vinegar – WOW! Again – a winner. A tall glass of ice cold filtered water is a must with every meal.
Can you tell I’m excited about this? It all started with my Dr. here in Boothbay telling me my blood sugar was slightly elevated. A mystery as I’m eating a proper diet. We found the answer – no exercise. Now that weather is great again, I’m back on the golf course every week. Also do some “moving my bod” exercises while I watch the morning news.
Thanks, Dr. Hyman – Pat Young
I think we need to look also at the way in which most gluten containing grains came about. Intense farming of one strain of wheat is not a good thing, with loss of biodiversity on the earth and on your plate. How we treat the earth is invariably how we are treated. Considering the way we farm wheat it is no wonder we have become intolerant. I also think the ground up version of the grain is a problem. It acts like glue in kidneys and joints and mixed with the bad fats probably in your arteries too. Eating whole wheat might not be as bad; you probably eat less that way.
HI I am concerd about my maybe being gluten intolerant. I have toureetes syndrome and latly its been pretty bad. when i eat eggs sometimes i get diareha and when i have whole wheat bread with peanut butter that can ruin a whole day. where can i ge treated to see if i am gluen intolerant. my grandmother and her sisters were and im getting curious.
Hi Robin,
Have you heard of Dr Hymans The UltraMind Program? This would provide a safe program for effectively eliminating gluten and allergens and well as pointing you in the direction of how to work with functional testing.
http://store.ultramind.com/
To locate a doctor near you who practices functional medicine like Dr. Hyman, go to http://www.functionalmedicine.org/practitioner_search.aspx?id=117 and scroll down to where it says “locate a practitioner” and enter your location. Progress accordingly from there. Thanks!
I have enteritis and work with a nutritionist regarding this problem. It seems to me it is much like celiac. I was asked to try crackers which are made with rice flour and I noticed that it was much easier for me to digest these crackers then others. I then tried gluten-free bread which again made my life a little easier. Now I just bought a book on how to cook gluten-free foods. I am trying this only because I’ve noticed this small change in my digestion. I am thinking that anything that can help relieve digestion problems for me is something I should pursue.
As a baby I had a serious problem —(constipation) — I’m 60 years old now. By the time I was 3 years old –I remember being put in a bath tub naked on my back to be given enema’s. A Nurse came to our house to give them to me on and off for years. My dad died when I was 4 —and my 9 year old sister was left in charge when the nurse came to the house. I often tried to run away –or hide under a bed to avoid those experiences. —-but I had a problem which still continues to this day. (nobody has ever considered asking me about my diet –tried to get to the cause of my problem).
I once went to 6-day-survival-type-mountain course-(very physical) camp in Tahoe when I was in my 20′s —we were served an organic low fat veggie diet. I did not ‘poop’ those entire 6 days. I drank at ‘least’ 8 glasses of water a day —but I could not go.
It wasn’t until I ate some junk food (chocolate brownies I think it was) –after leaving camp when I finally was able to ”go”.
I was tested for Celiac about 10 years ago —the doctor said –’nope’…. I’m fine. I’ve told him my problems —(i’m thin to normal weight) — but I have ‘extreme’ problems —- I’m sick of it. I have a hunch it ‘is’ gluten — ‘and’ other problems — I fight and on and off again battle with sugar — (also with te moods of depression when the yucky eating returns — (I’ve read Mark’s book –its made a bigger dfference to me than ‘all’ others) —I did GREAT for about two months –(not perfect –but much better) —- then something happened (who know what) — Chanuakah blues? Xmas hype? my close friend having Cancer? or just being angry at myself for lost of control with my quality eating? I watched myself dive right into those ‘expensive’ -no-trans-fat- whole-foods chocolate chip cookies like a shark. —a dozen a day — (breakfast-lunch and dinner) —my mind became a complete rebel — I lost my taste for whole-clean food —I lost my desire to participate with the things I ‘really’ love — I felt like CRAP. —
Today is a little better: I’m on vacation for the next 10 days in peaceful Calistoga with my husband. — (I’m trying again— I ate NO gluten yesterday —didn’t eat ‘snacks’ before falling asleep — (I still needed to give myself an enema this morning –as I do every day to be honest) —-but things went easier –ad my mind feels more clear –and I slept almost 8 hours — I’m happy and sad…. its exhausting being on my own roller coaster of clean eating —then falling again –to angry or frustrated eating —-(its also exhausting ‘period’) —clean or junkie eating —I seem to have poop problems — (but its ‘better’ with clean eating). I continue to read Mark’s e-mails which come —because he has been a personal inspiration –I don’t really want to give up.
Elyse, it might also be that you need more vitamin C & magnesium (though it could be any one or a combination of a dozen or more possibilities). My oldest son has had a chronic infection for most – possibly all – of his life. Whenever he starts having trouble having a bowel movement, we’ve figured out that it’s because his immune system is fighting something & is using up his vit C faster than it is being replaced. I’ll give him extra C at those times & things will return to normal – and we’ll usually see symptoms of a cold or virus over the next day or so. I’ve known several people who have been able to regularize their bowel problems with supplementation of C and magnesium. We have also added glucomannan (konjac root) for that purpose. Anyway, look into supplementation if you haven’t already!
P.S. I also struggle with the cycle you describe & I have found it helpful to look for recipes of healthier versions of my “cheats”. For some reason, it’s easier for me to get back on track when I do that. Unfortunately, when we travel & I eat out at restaurants, that’s when I tend to fall back into the whole vicious cycle again.
Check out my website for gluten free recipies.
http://mytasteofhealth.blogspot.com
Lina
I was just diagnosed with Celiac disease and Hashimoto’s disease. Within days of starting the thyroid medication and cutting out all gluten, I have lost 8 lbs of bloat, am sleeping through the night for the first time in over two years, and am not having any of the body aches/headaches/fatigue that I have been suffering with.
Even if your thyroid levels are within the normal range, I encourage you to continue to advocate for yourself with your doctor. It took me two years, three doctors and a lot of misery before I got a doctor to believe me. She sent me to the endocrinologist who immediately noticed my enlarged thyroid, sent me for a sonogram and more blood work. Within ten days he had the results back to me and told me the good news it wasn’t Lupus as we had feared. But, as it is, it’s a huge lifestyle change. I am okay with that since I am feeling better than I have since I started menopause!
I enjoyed reading this. My thanks for taking the time. I’ll check again to see what’s new and inform my neighbors about this site.