Six signs you might have gluten sensitivity and not know it

Recognition of gluten sensitivity and the consequence of Celiac Disease is that if sensitivity is ignored it is not so easy to determine early. Medical tests fail often enough, turning up negative while people who are gluten intolerant continue to suffer a plethora of symptoms.

Those people are often told it's all in their heads after testing shows up negative. But traditional gluten intolerance blood testing looks for only one of six polypeptides in wheat, gliadin.

There are five others: wheat germ agglutinin, glteomorphin, gltueinin, prodynorphin, and omega gliadin. Any one or a combination of these five can cause anyone to have reactions to wheat.

Symptoms alone can be attributed to several other issues. Even gluten intolerant or Celiac Disease sufferers will manifest a variety of different symptoms. It's rather complex.

Sometimes these symptoms appear right after meals and don't last long. In other cases, the symptoms can last for weeks or even chronically, which then often leads to a diagnoses of an autoimmune disease instead of gluten intolerance.

Six common symptoms of gluten intolerance

(1)  Obviously, there are gastrointestinal (GI), stomach, and digestive problems. These can include one or some of the following: Gas, bloating, queasiness, abdominal cramping, constipation, diarrhea, or an alternating combination of both - IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).
 

(2) Headaches and/or migraines.

 

(3) Fibromyalgia is not a disease, it's a syndrome. Getting a medical diagnoses is bogus. You don't need to be told you have muscular and connecting tissue aches and pains. That's what fibromyalgia means. Fibro= Connective Tissue; Myo= Muscle; Algia= Pain. Thus fibromyalgia.

 

(4) Emotional issues involving chronic irritability and sudden, irrational mood shifts.

 

(5) Neurological issues, including dizziness, difficulty balancing, and peripheral neuropathy affecting nerves outside the central nervous system and resulting in pain, weakness, tingling or numbness in the extremities.

 

(6) Fatigue, whether chronic or almost after every meal. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is, like fibromyalgia, a syndrome, not a disease. If that's what you're diagnosed with, it means your doctor can't locate the cause of your fatigue.

Yes, all of the symptoms are common to other health issues and diseases. That's why symptoms alone as a diagnoses is perplexing.

Go on a gluten-free diet for 60 days. If you feel you can't, that may already indicate you're addicted to gluten. We are often addicted to things we're allergic to.

That gluten-free diet would eliminate wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, oats, and triticale which are grains with gluten. Quinoa, buckwheat, and sorghum grains are gluten-free. So is rice.

Packaged foods have different ways of sneaking in gluten. Read those labels carefully. Here's a reference site and source for all foods (http://www.celiac.com/). This can be simplified by ignoring processed foods, sauces, and salad dressings and preparing meals from bulk items.

After the 60-day period, go over your notes and see how many of your symptoms remain. If they are mostly gone, you might decide to stick with your gluten free diet. If you're uncertain, go back to your former diet to see if those symptoms come back with a vengeance.

Dr. William Davis, author of Wheat Belly will be on the Dr. Oz show Monday December 3, 2012. This should be interesting and informative to watch. 

Healthy life.

Suzanne

Diabetes, Obesity and Sugar

There has been a lot information in the news, online and books about the hazards of eating sugar.
The newspapers are saying that there is an epidemic of diabetes that will be out of control very soon.

Mark Hyman newest article: http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/05/03/sugar-babies-how-to-stop-the-genocide-of-our-children/?utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=drhyman+newsletter+issue+%2372&utm_content=Get+the+story

Gary Taubes (author of the 2011 best-seller Why We Get Fat) has just published an article in Mother Jones http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/10/sugar-industry-lies-campaign. 
He along with Cristin Kearns Couzens (a dental health administrator) wrote about the sugar industry's duplicity.
In fact, a growing body of research suggests that sugar and its nearly chemically identical cousin, HFCS, may very well cause diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of people every year, and that these chronic conditions would be far less prevalent if we significantly dialed back our consumption of added sugars. Robert Lustig, a leading authority on pediatric obesity at the University of California-San Francisco made this case last February in the prestigious journal Nature. In an article titled "The Toxic Truth About Sugar," Lustig and two colleagues observed that sucrose and HFCS are addictive in much the same way as cigarettes and alcohol, and that over consumption of them is driving worldwide epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes (the type associated with obesity). Sugar-related diseases are costing Americans around $150 billion a year, the authors estimated, so federal health officials need to step up and consider regulating the stuff. He also has a Youtube video "Sugar: Bitter Truth"

So you ask what can you eat and feed your loved ones. There are many good books to help you. Some that were an eye opener for me was Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, Elaine Gottshall's Breaking the Viscous Cycle, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride Gut and Psychology Syndrome also known as the GAPS diet. These are good guide books to help heal and teach us a better way of eating.

We have to stop and think what we are feeding our children and grandchildren. We are not being kind or generous when we give them pop and candy. They should have fresh fruit, vegetables, good fats and treats that are healthier for you from a very young age. Stop buying and eating the prepackaged food.

I advocate no sugar, no wheat and no dairy after weaning. We are the only mammals that drink the milk from another mammal.http://www.notmilk.com/ There are so many good choices and a lot of good cook books to guide us.
Healthy life.
Suzanne




 

Easy Pumpkin Pudding with Molasses Cookies

Pumpkin is one of those vegetables that is almost emblematic of fall – it makes us think of harvest, of holidays, of frost, of lengthening nights and the oncoming winter. And yet, the only way it usually gets to the table is in a store-bought pie, or perhaps a can of pie filling that goes in a pie we made ourselves. But pumpkin can be so much more -- and since pumpkin keeps for 6 months whole or for years in a can, it can be a year-round addition to our diets.

Pumpkin is chock full ‘o goodness. You can tell by its bright color that it’s going to be going to be good for you. Not only is pumpkin loaded with vitamin A and antioxidant carotenoids, particularly alpha and beta-carotenes, it’s a good source of vitamins C, K, and E, and lots of minerals, including magnesium, potassium, and iron. http://www.bewellbuzz.com/nutrition/pumpkin-health-benefits/

Easy Pumpkin Pudding

Easy Pumpkin Pudding:
1 can 28 oz. pumpkin
1 can coconut milk (not lite)
Whisk these two together in a large bowl.
Add 1/2 cup coconut sugar, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 2 tsp. ginger, 2 tsp. cinnamon and 1 tsp. nutmeg.
Whisk until well combined. Put a plastic wrap over and let it get cold in the fridge for awhile.

Meanwhile make the lovely crispy ginger cookies below.

Molasses Spice Cookies
 3 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup grapeseed oil or melted butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup yacon syrup http://www.superfoods-for-superhealth.com/yacon-root-syrup.html
You could also use organic molasses.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Stir together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl.
Mix wet ingredients into dry.
Scoop and roll dough into a ball and press onto a  parchment lined baking sheet 1 tbsp. at a time.
Bake 350 for 12 minutes
Cool and serve.
You can also crumble them on to the pumpkin pudding.

This makes 24 cookies.
Healthy life.
Suzanne

Stevia - Beat Sugar Addiction NOW!

Why Is Sugar Addictive?

For thousands of years, humans ate sugar found naturally in their food. Sugar was not a problem; it was a treat. But now more than one-third of the calories we consume come from sugar and white flour added by food processing. Our bodies simply were not designed to handle this massive load.
Many of you have already noticed that although sugar gives you an initial high, you crash several hours later, and this leaves you wanting more sugar. In fact, sugar acts as an energy loan shark, taking away more energy than it gives. Eventually, your "credit line" runs out and you find yourself exhausted, anxious, and moody.
The Long-Term Consequences of Sugar Addiction
In addition to the immediate fatigue and emotional problems, sugar also causes many long-term health problems. For example, our consumption of high-fructose corn syrup has risen 250 percent in the past fifteen years--and our rate of diabetes has increased approximately 45 percent during the same time period. Although the sugar industry sometimes tries to confuse the public by claiming that corn syrup is not sugar, it is a form of sugar as far as your body is concerned--and more toxic than cane sugar. 

Some chronic medical problems associated with excess sugar in our diet include:

Fatigue and pain

Weight gain

Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia

Chronic sinusitis

Irritable bowel syndrome and spastic colon

Cancer

Metabolic syndrome with high cholesterol and hypertension

Heart disease

Hormonal problems

Candida and yeast infections

ADHD

Anxiety and depression 

 

Enter Stevia, it is a South American herb used as a natural sweetener for centuries. The leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant have a refreshing taste, zero glycemic index, zero calories and zero carbs. It is 25-30 times sweeter than sugar, and far more healthy!

The http://www.sweetleaf.com/ is the only one I have found that I can tolerate.
 
I made this protein bar to take for work and school.



Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Protein Bars
 Makes 16 small bars or 8 large bars
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup almond meal/flour
2 scoops chocolate protein powder (I used Garden of Life)
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 packets stevia (I used Sweet Leaf)
2 ripe banana, mashed
1 t. vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk (from a can, not light)
2-3 T. mini chocolate chips
Optional: shredded coconut and extra chocolate chips for topping
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×8 pan with cooking spray or coconut oil. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, then add wet ingredients. Once everything is incorporated into a batter, stir in the chocolate chips. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.
***After the bars are finished baking, you can top with shredded coconut and more chocolate chips and toast in the toaster oven for a minute. Or, you can add the coconut towards the end of baking.

I do believe in moderation when it comes to stevia. We know it has been used for a long time in Japan.

http://healing.about.com/cs/uc_directory/a/uc_stevia_jones.htm

Healthy Life
Suzanne

Celiac Brain: What Doctors Don't Know About Drugs: Part 2, Evide...

Celiac Brain: What Doctors Don't Know About Drugs: Part 2, Evide...: Gluten sensitivity and drug reactions go together. As doctors how can we safely prescribe medications to all our patients? We can read the...

Here is the second part of Dr. Powell's blog.
Healthy life.
Suzanne

Celiac Brain: What Doctors don't know About Drugs: Part 1, The Psychiatry and Gluten Sensitivity Disconnect

Celiac Brain: What Doctors don't know About Drugs: Part 1, The Psychiatry and Gluten Sensitivity Disconnect
I am linking to this article about the hazards of visiting a doctor about mental health issues.
Gluten, dairy and sugar causes inflammation in the body that leads to not only diabetes but schizophrenia,  anxiety, insomnia and many other illnesses of the brain and body. Let food be thy medicine.
Suzanne

Health Benefits of Flax

I love to bake and I bake almost everyday. I don't eat them all. I have a husband, young adults, co-workers with whom I share these with.  Our family can't have gluten, dairy or sugar. Most of the commercial goods are off our list. So I bake with honey, coconut sugar and maple syrup. Still sugar but in small amounts. One of the things I like to add to some of my baked goods is ground flax. You’d be hard-pressed to find a food higher in fiber -- both soluble and insoluble -- than flax. This fiber is probably mainly responsible for the cholesterol-lowering effects of flax. Fiber in the diet also helps stabilize blood sugar, and, of course, promotes proper functioning of the intestines.It helps balance the added sugar in the cookies.

  It may be tiny, but it’s mighty: The flax seed carries one of the biggest nutrient payloads on the planet. And while it’s not technically a grain, it has a similar vitamin and mineral profile to grains, while the amount of fiber, antioxidants, and omega 3 fatty acids in flax leaves grains in the dust.

Additionally, flax seed is very low in carbohydrates, making it ideal for people who limit their intake of starches and sugars. And its combination of healthy fat and high fiber content make it a great food for weight loss and maintenance -- many dieters have found that flax seed has been a key to keeping them feeling satisfied.Check out this website for more information.

 http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/flaxinfo.htm

So this morning I made a large batch of cookies so I wouldn't have to bake for a few days. Right???
Here is the recipe:

Double Chocolate Mocha Cookies

3 cups almond flour

1 ½ cup ground flax

½ cup organic cocoa powder

4 tsp. organic decaf coffee, espresso grind

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. Celtic Sea Salt

1 cup butter or coconut oil gently melted

1 cup honey or less

2 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ cups dark chocolate chunks

In a large bowl, combine almond flour, flax, cocoa powder, ground coffee, baking soda and salt.

In a smaller bowl, stir together melted butter, honey and vanilla

Stir wet ingredients into dry and then mix in chocolate drops or chunks

Drop dough by heaping tbsp. onto parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes.

Cool on racks and they should get crispy.
Makes 5 dozen.
You can change the ratio amounts of almond flour and ground flax. You can also skip the coffee.

The picture doesn't do them justice. Yummy and crispy.
Healthy life.
Suzanne

Kidney Stones (Renal Calculus): Causes & Treatment in Celiac Disease by John Libonati

Between 10 and 15% of adults within the United States will be diagnosed with a kidney stone.

Recurrence rates are estimated at about 10% per year, totaling 50% over a 5–10 year period and 75% over 20 years. Men are affected approximately 4 times more often than women. Recent evidence has shown an increase in pediatric  cases. The total cost for treating this condition was $2 billion in 2003.¹

Kidney stones are an atypical symptom and associated disorder of celiac disease, however not all people with celiac disease will develop kidney stones. This article describes the pathway for the development of kidney stones that are seen in persons with celiac disease as well as the treatment and prevention.

What is a Kidney Stone?

Kidney stones are deposits of materials, crystallized from urine, that attach to walls of the kidney.  One kidney stone is called a renal calculus.  Two or more kidney stones are called renal calculi.

80% of kidney stones are formed from calcium oxalate¹ and this is the form most often found in celiac disease. Calcium oxalate is the combination of calcium and oxalate. Calcium is an important mineral that the body needs for structure and function. Oxalate is found in foods in the form of oxalic acid. Oxalic acid is an extremely strong acid found in many plant foods. Fortunately, only 8 have been shown to increase urinary oxalate excretion: rhubarb, spinach, strawberries, chocolate, wheat bran, nuts, beets, and tea.²

How Do Kidney Stones Develop?

Kidney stones form when fluid and various minerals and acids in urine are out of balance.  When this happens, urine contains more crystal-forming substances than it can hold in solution and crystals precipitate out to form kidney stones that either pass through the urinary tract or become lodged in the kidney or another place along the urinary tract.

Calcium naturally binds with oxalate.  In healthy individuals, dietary calcium combines with oxalate in the intestine to form a compound that is not absorbed but is rather eliminated in the stool.

In active celiac disease, the normal mechanism to get rid of oxalate (calcium binding with oxalate) is prevented by fat malabsorption.

If too many fatty acids are present in the intestine, the calcium binds with them instead and is excreted as waste. The oxalate remains to be absorbed into the bloodstream by the colon where it is then excreted into the urine.  This process is called enteric hyperoxaluria. “Enteric” means intestinal. “Hyper” means high. “Oxaluria” means oxalate in the urine.  Calcium present in the urine binds with the oxalate to form crystals.

In enteric hyperoxaluria, the excess free fatty acids, from fat malabsorption, compete with oxalate for calcium binding, leading to an increased availability of oxalate for absorption (solubility theory). This oxalate is absorbed in the colon, which is made more permeable to unabsorbed bile salts and fatty acids (permeability theory).³

Oxalate that should have combined with calcium in the gut to be properly excreted in stool now shows up in the kidneys where it combines with calcium to be excreted in the urine. Stones form when the amounts of oxalate and calcium are high, the urine is concentrated and the pH (acidity) is low, all of which allow the calcium and oxalate to precipitate out of the urine to remain in the kidney. To illustrate this problem of concentration, think of stirring sugar into a pitcher of lemonade…add too much sugar and it begins to fall to the bottom of the pitcher.

If nothing changes, stones remain in the kidneys to grow and block the passageways of urine excretion.

Oxalobacter Formigenes: The Oxalate Eater. Another cause of high oxalate levels is due to missing bacteria called oxalobacter formigenes.  Oxalobacter formigenes is a bacterium (probiotic) found in the gut of most animals.  Almost all 6 to 8 year olds have oxalobacter formigenes in their intestines, but only 60 to 80% of adults.  Oxalobacter formigenes degrades oxalate by eating it.  In fact, oxalate is its only source of food.  Unfortunately, it has been shown that oxalobacter formigenes is frequently decreased or missing in people with inflammatory bowel diseases such as celiac disease.⁴

Treatment & Prevention

The identification and correction of hyperoxaluria is important to prevent recurrent calculi and oxalate nephrosis, especially as patients with kidney stones are often advised to eat a low-calcium diet. Paradoxically, this promotes oxaluria, increasing the risk of further kidney stones in hyperoxaluric patients.³

In most cases, kidney stones will be small enough to pass out of the body by themselves.  This can take up to 4 weeks.  If the stones are too large, or become lodged along the urinary tract, surgery or Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) may be required for removal.  ESWL passes electric waves through the body to break up the stones.  This is the most common method of removal.

The general treatment is maintenance of high urine output through oral hydration and avoidance of dietary excess.⁵

Optimal treatment for people with celiac disease involves a 100% strict gluten-free diet, correcting fat malabsorption, increasing calcium intake, increasing fluid intake, decreasing oxalate absorption and protecting colonies of the intestinal probiotic, oxalobacter formigenes. Future therapies may include oxalobacter formigenes supplementation.

100% Strict Gluten-Free Diet. This is self-explanatory.  Even 1 mg of gliadin per day can cause intestinal damage in some people, so zero tolerance should be the goal.

Increasing Calcium Intake. Calcium combines with oxalate, so increasing calcium ingestion will remove more oxalate in the intestine. It is important to note that any recommended treatment for kidney stones that limits or restricts calcium in the diet will make them worse in a person with celiac disease. Calcium restriction has been shown to have no effect on kidney stone formation. If calcium is restricted, kidney stones will still form, the parathyroid will become overtaxed and osteoporosis will accelerate.  This is because in patients with untreated celiac disease, calcium is not absorbed but calcium levels must be maintained in the blood. The parathyroid acts to pull calcium from the bones to maintain this level.

Increasing Fluid Intake. Enough water must be ingested to produce 2 to 2.5 liters of urine per day.  Sources of urine concentration must be corrected. Diarrhea is one cause of concentrated urine because fluid is lost in the stool. Bicarbonate is also lost by diarrhea, which then lowers the pH, making the body more acidic. Diarrhea must be corrected if present. Thiamin deficiency will decrease thirst.  Thiamin deficiency must be corrected.

Decreasing Oxalate. Only eight foods have been proven to increase urinary oxalate excretion.  Those foods are rhubarb, spinach, strawberries, chocolate, wheat bran, nuts, beets and tea.² These foods should be avoided. Of course, wheat bran should never be consumed by anyone with celiac disease with or without kidney stones. If the foods are ingested, combining them with calcium rich foods will limit oxalate absorption.

Protecting Oxalobacter Formigenes Colonies. Research has demonstrated that supplementing oxalobacter formigenes reduces oxalate levels in the urine. Oxalobacter formigenes deficiency can be caused by certain antibiotics, low pH levels in the intestine and possibly other factors as yet unknown. Antibiotics that kill oxalobacter formigenes include clarithromycin (Klaracid), doxycycline (Vibramycin), chloramphenicol, erythromycin, amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid.⁴

Prognosis

Prognosis is good in those who strictly follow the gluten-free diet, correct fat malabsorption and absorb sufficient calcium.  When fat in the diet is properly absorbed in the small intestine, calcium should properly bind oxalate, thereby correcting the cause of kidney stone formation. If celiac disease remains untreated, the alternative is progression of stones that damage the kidney and interfere with its work of cleansing the blood.

A case report of a 49 year old man with renal colic and left renal calculus describes celiac disease presenting with kidney stones in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms. The presence of hyperoxaluria with hypercalciuria prompted malabsorption studies with discovered celiac disease.  3 months on a gluten free diet led to normalization of urinary oxalate excretion.³

Another case report describes a 10 year old girl with fat malabsorption hyperoxaluria and kidney stones in a single functioning kidney presenting with celiac disease.  Successful management of the fat malabsorption in the gluten-free diet corrected the hyperoxaluria.  Pediatricians caring for children presenting with kidney stones or hyperoxaluria should investigate them for celiac disease.³

Kidney stones can damage or even destroy the kidney. This article demonstrates the seriousness of celiac disease. Repercussions from not following a strict gluten-free diet can be severe or deadly. If you or someone you know has a problem with kidney stones that has not resolved under normal treatment, celiac disease may be the underlying cause.

References:

1. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidney_stone
2. Kathleen Mahan and Sylvia Escott-Stump, ed. Krause’s Food, Nutrition, & Diet Therapy, 10^th Edition. Philadelphia, PA, USA: W.B. Saunders Company, 2000.
3. Cleo J. Libonati. Recognizing Celiac Disease, Fort Washington, PA, USA: GFW Publishing, 2007.  www.recognizingceliacdisease.com
4. Duncan SH, Richardson AJ, Kaul P, et al. Oxalobacter formigenes and its potential role in human health. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Aug 2002: 3841-3847.
5. The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics, 30^th Edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2001. p. 274.

A good fat absorption supplement can be prescribed by your doctor or AOR makes AOR-Zymes which is a mixture of pancreatic enzymes including lipases, proteases, amylases as well as alpha galactosidase for assisting in digestion of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Alpha galactosidase helps breakdown and assists in absorption of legumes. Supplemental enzymes are often needed because current cooking practices often destroy most of the enzymes which are required for optimal nutrient uptake.

 Once again gluten is at the root of all diseases.

Read Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis. Wheat is not the same as it was for our ancestors and we do not need grains.

Healthy Life.

Suzanne