{"id":63264,"date":"2012-01-19T13:15:06","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T18:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=63264"},"modified":"2012-01-19T13:16:44","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T18:16:44","slug":"the-gluten-weight-gain-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/01\/the-gluten-weight-gain-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gluten Weight Gain Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aimee E. Raupp is the author of Chill Out and Get Healthy– a no nonsense guide for women on improving their health now. As well she is a licensed acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist with a masters of science in Traditional Oriental Medicine. For more information visit AimeeRaupp.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Everyone\u2019s talking about gluten these days. Is it just hype or are wheat and other gluten containing foods bad for us? The short answer is yes.<\/p>\n

Let me explain. Gluten is a large, water-soluble protein that makes doughy things doughier. It is comprised of two proteins: gliadin and glutenin and is found in grains like wheat, rye and barely (click here<\/a><\/strong> for a concise list of gluten containing foods.) As well, since gluten is such a good thickener, these days we can find it in most packaged and processed foods and candy. Gluten has become a staple of the American diet<\/a><\/strong> and our health is suffering because of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow?\u201d You ask.<\/p>\n

Gluten is a very inflammatory substance that is difficult to digest and causes damage to the walls of your intestines. When this damage occurs, your intestinal walls become leaky and are unable to carry out their expected task of digesting necessary nutrients and filtering out toxins and hence, toxins make their way back into your bloodstream causing an autoimmune reaction. This autoimmune reaction manifests differently in each person, but ultimately, it predisposes you to many diseases and often leaves you feeling unwell, bloated and fatigued.<\/p>\n

When it comes to gluten reactions, there are people with Celiac disease<\/a><\/strong> and there are people with gluten intolerance. About 1% of the population has Celiac disease\u2014a genetic condition of severe gluten intolerance and then there are the other 30-40% of the population who have a more mild form of gluten intolerance.
\n<\/p>\n

So could gluten be the reason you\u2019re not losing weight? Quite possibly. The way I describe this issue: if you are eating something every day that your body can\u2019t digest and get nutrients from \u2013your body simply thinks it being starved for nutrients so it will hold onto weight as a protective mechanism.<\/p>\n

Gluten intolerances have many more deleterious effects on our health than just weight gain, such as diabetes, autoimmune diseases (like Hashimoto\u2019s and rheumatoid arthritis<\/a><\/strong>), migraines, anxiety, depression, vitamin D deficiency and even cancer and infertility. Not to mention, if you have a thyroid disease (which approximately 12 million Americans do) eating gluten<\/a><\/strong> can dramatically worsen your condition. Clinically, I find that many health care conditions\u2014from infertility to unexplained weight gain and thyroid disease\u2014improve when gluten is removed from a patient\u2019s diet.<\/p>\n

Why is gluten intolerance so prevalent these days?<\/p>\n

Bluntly put, because it\u2019s cheap and in everything. Mainly, we get gluten from wheat\u2014and the modernized strain of American wheat we are exposed to has a much higher gluten content than those found in other countries.<\/p>\n

What to do? You can get tested either through bloodwork or a stool sample for gluten intolerances, with stool testing being more accurate. Or, a simpler way is to remove gluten from your diet for a minimum of 4 weeks keeping a journal tracking changes in your digestion, weight, mood and skin. Then reintroduce gluten and see how you feel. I bet you\u2019ll see that you feel a lot better (and less bloated and leaner) off of gluten. Go gluten free<\/a><\/strong>\u2014your health will thank you.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Guest Blog Series:<\/strong> Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on DietsInReview.com<\/em><\/a><\/strong>. See other posts in the <\/em>Guest Blog series<\/em><\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Diets<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please <\/em>contact us<\/em><\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aimee E. Raupp is the author of Chill Out and Get Healthy– a no nonsense guide for women on improving their health now. As well she is a licensed acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist with a masters of science in Traditional … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3695],"tags":[9355,3245,9226,23,234],"class_list":["post-63264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","tag-aimee-raupp","tag-gluten-free-diet","tag-gluten-free","tag-guest-blog","tag-weight-gain"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63264"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63284,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63264\/revisions\/63284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}