Gluten Free Vegan Living

With all the new studies and article on the dangers of gluten, it may be safe to assume that gluten may be bad for everyone. But why?

Dr. Vikki Petersen wrote an article on the subject:

Wheat is a Threat to Your Health, Even if You’re Not a Celiac

Gluten is the protein that is mostly present in wheat, about 85% of all the protein present. However, there are, unbelievably, 23,000 different proteins present in modern wheat that can create inflammatory, negative reactions in the human body, according to Dr Perlmutter. I will admit that this is a number far beyond any I have heard, but I do trust the source….

However, and we have discussed this many times before, WE, meaning humans, may also be a ‘predator’ when it comes to wheat. And as a predator the wheat we eat is attacking us. How?

The WGA protein has a liking for a protein in the human body called N-Acetylglucosamine and binds to it. Don’t worry about the long name, what’s important is where the protein is found: namely tendons, joint surfaces, cartilage, the lining of the entire digestive tract and the lining of the miles and miles of blood vessels within all of us.

When WGA ‘binds’ to this protein it can leave the cells of the particular structure, e.g. the cells lining the digestive tract, vulnerable. Whether it’s damaging the lining of the gut that could potentially result in leaky gut or damaging the lining of blood vessels putting them at risk to inflammation, it is thought that WGA has truly direct toxic effects on the heart, brain, immune and endocrine systems.

According to Dr. Vikki, this can affect anyone whether they are celiac, gluten intolerance or gluten sensitive.

Personally, I find this information very scary!  How many years have we, as human beings, been eating wheat and how long has it been doing this kind of damage to our bodies?

If you have read Dr. Vikki’s book, The Gluten Effect, she mentions mention that populations who consume wheat are at higher risk to certain degenerative and inflammatory disease. These diseases, she says, were not present prior to the introduction of wheat and are less present in those societies that do not consume it, even today.

With the studies I have seen, maybe she is right:  We should leave wheat to those who can digest it — animals with 4 stomachs!!

What do you think?

Autoimmune disease is running rapid among the general population and has become a serious concern.  According to Dr. Vikki Petersen …

1) The increase of autoimmune diseases in our society is on a downright scary trajectory.

2) Autoimmune disease sufferers are told “there is no cure for their disease”.

3) The treatment for autoimmune is, in my opinion, barbaric and exactly the opposite of what treatment should be.

4) Research is, more and more, supporting what I feel is the truth and most important, this new approach opens the door to diminishing why autoimmune diseases have increased so dramatically.

Studies are pointing more and more toward gut health, and gluten in particular, as the culprit!

Dr. Petersen goes on to explain:

New Research Points the Finger at Gluten Causing More Than Just Celiac Disease

The journal that published the paper was Hormone Research in Paediatrics. The paper was entitled, “Prolactin May Be Increased in Newly Diagnosed Celiac Children and Adolescents and Decreases after 6 Months of Gluten-Free Diet”.

Following is the  conclusions drawn by Dr. Petersen from the Paper referenced above:

What is now understood about prolactin is that it is a marker for autoimmune disease, something that wasn’t known in the past. But research now supports that a number of autoimmune conditions are associated with elevated prolactin levels—specifically rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjogren’s syndrome, type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

What they set out to prove is that the elevation of prolactin was due to the production of increased inflammatory agents in the blood (called cytokines). These particular agents that can be measured in the blood are seen in celiac patients who are not following a gluten-free diet and are decreased when the patients are following a gluten-free diet.

Interesting article!  I suggest you read it for yourself:

Link between Gluten and Autoimmune Disease Getting Stronger

I was being treated for early stages of Alzheimer’s disease when a naturopathic doctor tested me and found out I was gluten intolerant!  So I have first hand experience on how gluten can kill your brain.

The average person has no clue as to how much damage we can be doing to our brain due to poor diet — especially undiagnosed gluten intolerance or celiac disease.

One of my favorite gluten experts, Dr. Vikki Petersen, recently posted an article that is near and dear to my heart.  Here is some of the highlights from her article:

Are You Killing Your Brain with Gluten?

• Inflammation Causes Most Diseases:  The undercurrent to all the above conditions is inflammation. It’s actually the cornerstone of pretty much every degenerative disease including heart disease, diabetes and cancer, to name but a few.

• 54% of Alzheimer’s Cases Could be Prevented:  Case in point: Lancet Neurology published that over 54% of the current worldwide Alzheimer patient load could have been prevented by addressing lifestyle.

• A Low Carb/High Fat Diet is Anti-Inflammatory:  Did you know that 20% of the calories ingested by humans on this planet come in the form of wheat products? And such refined products are definitely the types of bad carbs we’re discussing.

• A High Percentage of Headaches are Caused by Gluten:  A paper in Integrative Medicine noted that in patients who presented to a neurologist, 30% of them with chronic headaches had indicators of celiac disease – 56% had indicators of gluten sensitivity.

• Gluten Sensitivity Highly Linked to Neurological Problems:  Dr Hadjivassiliou … stated that doctors confronting neurological problems of unknown origin or those not responding to standard treatment, “owe it to their patients” to screen them for gluten sensitivity as a gluten free diet was a truly harmless but potentially effective treatment.

• You Can Have a “Leaky Brain”:  While it should be impenetrable, our friend gluten can cause that barrier to lose its integrity, in much the same fashion as the gut does, thereby allowing these larger particles to pass through it.

• Autism is Linked to Gluten Too:  … The study revealed that 24% of autistic children tested had high antibodies to gliadin, the classic gluten sensitivity test. Only 2% of the children were positive for markers of celiac disease.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Makes a person wonder, doesn’t it!!

I guess I am not the only one who has learned something new from the 2013 Gluten Summit.  Dr. Vikki Petersen from Health Now also posted an article based on the Gluten Summit interview with Dr Michael Marsh, who is the founder of the Marsh Classification System of intestinal biopsy.

Here is what Dr. Petersen says:

Father of Intestinal Biopsy Classification System Speaks Out

Father of Intestinal Biopsy Classification System Speaks Out – See more at: http://www.healthnowmedical.com/blog/2013/12/04/celiac-disease-villous-atrophy-isnt-required-for-diagnosis/#sthash.p9mRrMsw.dpuf

A recent interview with Dr Michael Marsh … revealed that Dr Marsh himself is in total disagreement with the standard utilized by gastroenterologists to determine whether a patient should be diagnosed with celiac disease and begin a gluten-free diet.

In a fascinating discussion led by Dr Thom O’Bryan from the Gluten eSummit, Dr Marsh revealed that he created his classification system in 1982 and in 1992 formally spoke out at an international conference, making it quite clear that to not recommend a gluten-free diet for a patient with positive blood work but a negative biopsy was a medico-legal situation in the making. Meaning that doctor who refused to recommend a gluten-free diet could be held accountable should that patient later develop severe nutritional deficiencies, osteoporosis or cancer, to name a few of the many possible negative scenarios.

According to the article, and Dr. Marsh feels that nearly 30% of the population should be gluten free!  THIRTY PERCENT!!  Not the 1% that most article quote.

When asked what percentage of the population fell into the ‘at risk’ stages of Marsh 1, 2 or 3, Dr Marsh stated a full 30%! 1% have Marsh 3, full villous atrophy, but 29%, in his opinion, fall within Marsh 1 or 2 meaning partial atrophy and therefore needful of a gluten-free diet.

When asked what percentage of the population fell into the ‘at risk’ stages of Marsh 1, 2 or 3, Dr Marsh stated a full 30%! 1% have Marsh 3, full villous atrophy, but 29%, in his opinion, fall within Marsh 1 or 2 meaning partial atrophy and therefore needful of a gluten-free diet. – See more at: http://www.healthnowmedical.com/blog/2013/12/04/celiac-disease-villous-atrophy-isnt-required-for-diagnosis/#sthash.p9mRrMsw.dpuf

Make sure to read the full article by Dr. Vikki Petersen for more information.

If you are like me and suffer from Foggy Brain caused by Gluten, you are probably overjoyed when you discovered it’s ‘curable’ just by eliminating gluten from your diet!

In my case, I had more than just Foggy Brain!  I was forgetful, confused at times, couldn’t follow the plots in movies, mixed up my words, misunderstood people, couldn’t handle change or stress and just felt like I was living in another world that was not as pretty as before.  Conventional medicine diagnosed me as in the early stages of Alzheimer disease and put me on Aricept pills (which, by the way, did help some).

Imagine my relief when I found out my symptoms were REALLY caused by food intolerances — especial intolerance to gluten!

Once I discovered the cause of my Foggy Brain, I wondered how many folks were in care centers suffered from the same problem as me.  As a society, we have accepted dementia as a common sign of aging.  In some cases, that may not be it at all!

Dr. Vikki Petersen, on of my favorite authorities on gluten issues, posted an article on the subject that I would like to share:

Brain Fog Isn’t Necessarily a Sign of Old Age or Stress

What most people don’t realize is that gluten affects the nervous system and brain more often than it affects the gut. Gluten directly causes inflammation of the nervous system, including the brain whether the patient suffers from celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Often, patients come to me with nervous system issues that they have already discovered are caused by gluten. But when they are relating these symptoms and its gluten causation, they refer to themselves as ‘odd’ or ‘unusual’ because they think they’re in the minority. Nothing could be farther from the truth and I let them know that.

The number of nervous system symptoms potentially caused by gluten are vast. They include such problems as:

• depression
• anxiety
• migraines
• joint and body pain
• ataxia – feeling unbalanced
• seizures
• foggy brain
• poor memory
• and more.

Foggy brain can also be caused by chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. I’m not saying that every ‘foggy brain’ has gluten intolerance as its sole root cause, but it is interesting to note that gluten can not only cause the symptom directly, it is often a culprit in the development of the associated conditions, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and other autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Petersen goes on to explain that gluten intolerance causes a poor conversion of food to fuel — and can cause a list of problems including chronic fatigue (one of my symptoms as well!)

Bottom line:  If you know of anyone suffering from “Alzheimer symptoms” encourage them to find a doctor who will consider gluten intolerance as a cause.  You may change their quality of life significantly.  It did mine!!

If wheat, rye and barley are the main grains with gluten, how about other grains?  Can you still eat Grains with Gluten Intolerance?

First off, grains and processed foods made with grains is not quite the same thing.  According to one of my favorite experts on the Gluten Free issues, Dr. Vikki Petersen:

Should Celiacs (or Gluten Intolerants) Eat Grain?

A whole, organic grain is a beautiful complex carbohydrate that the body burns cleanly for good energy. The refined version (like those in processed foods) spikes blood sugar, creating an insulin response, inflammation, weight gain and, over time, degenerative disease. So as you can see they are vastly different!

Another facet of grains to be aware of is how they may fall into the category of cross-reactive foods as it relates to gluten intolerance. These particular foods, chiefly dairy products and grains,  have a similar protein structure to gluten and can create stress for certain patients whose immune system is unable to differentiate between these foods and gluten. Yes, the foods are, themselves, gluten-free. But in susceptible individuals the protein structure is similar enough to gluten to confuse the immune system into thinking it actually IS gluten. ….

Where that leaves us is that there is no ‘pat’ answer to the question of grains being acceptable or not. But I do disagree with a viewpoint that eschews all grains for everyone. I find that not only unnecessary, but many gluten-free grains in their organic, whole form are very nutritious. These include rice, tef, quinoa, millet, amaranth, buckwheat, tapioca, arrowroot – the last few are not actual ‘grains’ but they are treated as such in many grain-rich gluten free foods.

Dr. Vikki Petersen is one of my favorite authorities on Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease.  Her book, The Gluten Effect, was one of the first books I read after being diagnosed with Gluten Intolerance.  The book was very eye opening for me at the time and I still refer to it from time to time when I have questions.

Today, I would like to share some special information from her article on  Vitamin D and Gluten Intolerance.

Gluten Intolerance & Vitamin D Deficiency

Why Does Deficiency Continue on a Gluten Free Diet?

Removal of gluten should, ideally, result in the healing of the villi and normalization of absorption. When that doesn’t occur then we know that something else is compromising healing. I wish I could say that this was an unusual scenario, but it isn’t.  In fact it is more the norm. Eliminating gluten, while a critical first step, is typically insufficient to restore normal function to the small intestine and thereby the total health of the body.

Why? Frequently an individual has an intestinal infection, poor balance of good bacteria, or some other inflammatory factor that is preventing healing. That cause must be identified and treated quickly.

If you are like me, you probably assumed that eliminating gluten from your diet would heal the absorption problems in your body.  According to Dr. Petersen, this is not the case.  Eliminating gluten is just the start — much more needs to be done to restore optimum  health.

Dr. Petersen goes on to recommend taking Vitamin D3 in liquid form:

Another possibility is that the vitamin D being taken is not the best quality. I recommend vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) for my patients in a liquid form. The base is olive oil so that’s what it tastes like.

Since I live in the north part of the county (Idaho), I do best with 10,000 IUs of Vitamin D2 in the winter time.  Once I am able to go outside in the sun for at least 20 minutes per day, I will reduce that to 5,000 IUs.  I find that I feel better and am better able to cope with the short days, snow and ‘cabin fever’ that many of us northerners deal with!

For more info, check out Dr. Petersen’s Video on Gluten Intolerance and Vitamin D3

Personally, dealing with the damage in my body from gluten has become a lifelong quest for answers and research.  Thankfully, eliminating gluten from my diet, helped me considerably, but I find that it did not completely restore my health.  I continue to deal with mild Ataxia and it’s many side effects.  On the other hand, if I were still eating gluten, I would probably be in a nursing home — not knowing my name or those of my loved ones!

How about you?  What special issues are you dealing with due to ‘gluten poisoning’?

Most people think gluten problems are centered in the digestive system.  True in some cases, but the majority of symptoms from gluten poisoning happen in the brain!  Symptoms can be seemingly non-existent, but can slowly cause damage to your brain …. or, like in my case, damage your memory, your thyroid gland and even your sense of balance!

Dr. Vikki Petersen from HealthNow Medical Center talks about Gluten and the Brain in the following video:

When I was first diagnosed with gluten intolerance, I was surprise to find that the memory problems I was having (I was being treated for early Alzheimer at the time) was probably caused by gluten poisoning.  And I was equally shocked to find that the brain is the organ MOST effected by gluten intolerance!

Since that time (2009), I have discovered other brain issues caused by my gluten intolerance:  Gluten Ataxia!  I always wondered that despite my years of dance lessons as a young person and as an adult, I would have such balance issues.  My husband once described me as ‘tripping over a blade of grass’!  I also choke on air!!

Last year, I read an article on Gluten Ataxia from Living Without Magazine, and I understood what was going on with me.  Sarah Bosse, who is featured in the article, says this about her symptoms:

Shortly after finishing college, Bosse began experiencing frightening new symptoms. She was increasingly dizzy and disoriented, frequently stumbling while rounding a corner or changing directions. She’d even fall out of a chair or her own bed at times, blaming it on klutziness until balance was no longer her only new complaint. Her head started to feel thick and foggy and she had trouble concentrating, likening it to an extreme case of ADHD. She also began having unusual problems with her vision, seeing bright flashes and noticing that her eyes seemed to bounce, rather than rest on what she was looking at.

“I could be at the grocery store, staring at a display of ketchup. I’d try to reach for one but my eyes wouldn’t stay still so that I could pick it up,” she says.

Sarah’s story got my immediate attention as it sounded like me on some of my bad days!  Maybe I was not the klutz I thought I was …. maybe there was an answer to my issues.

The article goes on to say….

Gluten ataxia is a neurologic condition characterized by the loss of balance and coordination. However it can also affect fingers, hands, arms, legs, speech and even eye movements. Typical symptoms include difficulty walking or walking with a wide gait, frequent falls, difficulty judging distances or position, visual disturbances and tremor.

Experts believe gluten ataxia may be a form of gluten sensitivity, a wide spectrum of disorders marked by an abnormal immunological response to gluten.

If you can relate to Sarah’s story, I suggest you read the entire article.  It may be as eye-opening for you as it was for me!

You may remember back in February we posted an article about Arsenic in Rice.  At the time, it was the most widely read article on this blog with searches coming in from all over the internet.

Of course, this was very impactful to the Gluten Free Vegan community as we tend to consume lots of rice.  Well, thankfully, there are studies going on that are looking that this problem and looking for solutions.

One of my favorite doctors on the subject is Dr Vikki Petersen with the Health Now Medical Center in California.  She recently published an article on Arsenic in Rice:  A Clinical Nutrition Report.  Here are some of her comments:

Just when you think you’ve found a great food, someone has to go and rain on your parade. …

Rice is grown in water and the grain has a high affinity for arsenic found in water. It’s just a characteristic of the grain. …

Is arsenic bad for you? In high amounts it definitely is toxic and according to the FDA, long-term exposure to high levels of arsenic is associated with increased rates of skin, bladder and lung cancers, as well as heart disease. In children, high levels are known to lower IQ and hinder intellectual function. Do notice the bold above –” long term exposure to high amounts”. That is what needs to be determined. Does the amount of rice that you or your family is consuming equate itself to high amounts that will have an adverse effect on your health? Or, an equally important question: Are the small amounts that are being ingested enough to accumulate in the body over time to create health problems? …

There are some things you can do to lessen your exposure to arsenic while still enjoying your rice.

1. Find out where the rice is grown. Rice hailing from Thailand (Thai jasmine) and India (Indian basmati) had some of the lowest levels found – ½ to 1/3 of the amount of American rice. Within the US, the southeastern states grow, unfortunately, rice with some of the highest amounts of arsenic.  … Rice grown in California is a much better bet due to not having arsenic-laden soil.
2. Unfortunately, the nutrient laden brown rice has higher arsenic levels than its white counterpart. The polishing process that white rice undergoes removes the surface layer, or bran, of the grain providing a reduction in the arsenic level. One report cited the bran to have 10 to 20 times higher amounts of arsenic than the remaining grain. …
3. Happily, one nice fix is quite easily accomplished. Wash the rice before cooking it and then cook it in extra water (4:1 or 6:1 ratio)– pour this water off before serving. According to Consumer Reports this process can remove about 30% of the arsenic. Yay!
4. Variety is the spice of life. Just the way I encourage my patients to eat a broad array of fruits and vegetables, so too should you consume variety in your grains. …
5. Organic rice vs. inorganic? While you would hope that organic would provide some benefit, that has not necessarily been found to be the case as regards arsenic levels. …
6. Lastly, young infants and children are likely more at risk than adults. Why? The detoxification pathways by which the adult body rids itself of arsenic are not developed adequately to perform that function in young children. …

Dr. Vikki sites some interesting facts and ways to still enjoy rice.

I appreciate her comment “Variety is the spice of life. Just the way I encourage my patients to eat a broad array of fruits and vegetables, so too should you consume variety in your grains.”

Exactly the way I approach these types of issues.  So many of the reports that come out are really slanted to drive fear into the consumer.   If a particular product is a problem, just don’t eat it often!  (Of course, I am not talking about food allergens — they have to be completely avoided).

What are your thoughts?

According to Dr. Vikki Petersen, author of The Gluten Effect, there are Secondary Effects of Gluten found in non-gluten foods.  These foods are called cross reactive foods — meaning because they have similar proteins to gluten, your body may react to them just as though they were gluten.

Here is the list of the four major cross reactive foods:

• Coffee
• Dairy
• Oats
• Yeast

Personally, I understand the potential harm in the above cross reactive foods:  I also have an intolerance to dairy that when I have eaten any, I have similar symptoms as when I am gluten poisoned.

SEE FULL POST

Dr. Petersen’s book, The Gluten Effect, is an excellent resource for anyone dealing with gluten issues.  Click on the link below to purchase a copy: