I have just been reading a post on Micki Rose’s Truly Gluten Free site in which she gives an update on her own health after three months on a totally grain/gluten free diet – and when I say totally, I mean totally. She has been tireless in tracking down gluten contamination to the second and third degree on the basis that if you are sufficiently ill, you will react to the tiniest molecule of a substance to which you are sensitive. This is of course no news to those of you who are really sensitive but, few people have the persistence or the knowledge (it does help being a nutritionist) to pursue their allergens with such forensic determination.
For example, one of her main problems was that her gluten sensitivity was such that she reacted to vast majority of the nutritional supplements which contain some, even if only small amounts, of gluten. She was therefore unable to address her own very poor nutritional profile as she was unable to absorb any of the nutrients delivered by the supplements. Her answer was an exhaustive investigation into supplements – see both the article she wrote for us and her own more detailed reports (click here for Report 1, click here for Report 2) – as a result of which she is now on a regime of nutritional supplementation which she can actually absorb and is already feeling significant benefits.
However, while we are all delighted at the progress that she has made and the difference this could make to other severely gluten-intolerant people who have failed to get better on traditional gluten-free diets, in the wider context of public health, the effect that her new diet has had on her weight is possibly more significant. We have only met once and while I certainly would not have called her fat, she was relatively ‘well covered’. But, as she says:
‘The other benefit (of the truly-gluten-free diet) has been a change in body shape and loss of about a stone without even thinking about it – this after years and years of trying my best to lose a stone to absolutely no avail. And I’m a nutritionist and know what I am doing!
Allergy sufferers are often overweight (and coeliacs contrary to popular belief) and this is partly because they have what I call the ‘stuffed cushion effect’. What I mean is that look of yourself when you feel you have a cushiony layer all over your frame. You think it is fat but invariably a lot of it is water retention, most likely as part of the inflammatory process in the body. Anyway, that water retention just went within a few weeks and I suddenly noticed my old self re-emerging.’
One of the accusations leveled at ‘fad’ gluten exclusion is that it is all about phoney dieting. But what if gluten sensitivity really did play a significant role in our current obesity epidemic? There is certainly no doubt that the foods on which those suffering from excess weight and obesity tend to max out are heavy in gluten – both ‘up-front’ in terms the high-gluten wheat content of cakes, biscuits, breads and snacks and in the hidden gluten in almost every processed food (and indeed nutritional supplement) that they eat.
There is much talk in the ‘freefrom’ food industry at the moment as to whether the current rapid growth in voluntary ‘gluten restricters’ (people who choose to eat gluten free because they think it is healthier/better for them rather than because they are ill) is just a fad and, like the Atkins diet will have disappeared within a couple of years. But if excess gluten really did prove to be a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic, what a future for ‘freefrom’ then!
“Well-covered”! I like that (although I certainly didn’t like the covering itself of course).
It is an interesting premise that gluten may well play a role in the obesity epidemic. Some of the gluten experts have been saying that for some time. It is partly, of course, because by avoiding grains, your carb level drops and you are forced into a higher protein, lower carb, lower GL diet which, I have found over the years consistently to be the most effective weight loss strategy of them all. But there is a definite water retention thing going on too.
If you think about it, gluten (and other allergens) cause an inflammatory process in the body. If you banged your knee, it would go red and swell with fluid to both bring goodies to heal it and to take the metabolic byproducts away. This is the same internally and if you have inflammation going on all the time in tissues, you are bound to have excess fluid there too. Take the cause of the inflammation away and there is no need for the fluid. That’s the theory in my head anyway.
When I used to teach weight loss courses years ago for various organisations, the first thing I always did was remove the primary allergens of wheat, dairy and gluten for 12 weeks. This invariably triggered a weight loss, partly because of the habit-change forced onto them, but it got them off the dreaded plateau they were stuck on. Most could go back on to it in moderation but some discovered the weight was a consequence of water retention from inflammation. The trick, of course – and not the easiest one as we know – is to identify the allergens involved and remove them, repair the gut, immune system etc etc and hope with everything crossed that you become less sensitive over time and can be less restricted. My fingers are well and truly crossed!
Of courses, that is what the sceptics always claim – well, of course if you stop eating gluten you stop eating cakes (with their attendant fat and sugar) so of course you are going to lose weight – but I am sure that there is something else going on. I know of, as I am sure you do, of many people who eat very little in the way of traditional fattening foods yet, despite their best endeavours, are unable to lose that extra stone or so that they feel is surplus to requirements. the inflammatory pathway seems to make too much sense to be ignored.
I agree. It is far from being just about calories and fat, in fact, I remember talking about a study done at the Plaskett Institute years ago where they showed that you could eat 5000 calories a day and still lose weight. They were trying to prove it is not just about how many calories you consume but more where those calories come from and the quality of the food providing them. I have never forgotten that.
It’s also about nourishing the body, of course. So often I see people with hunger and cravings (like mine) gaining weight despite themselves and it is partly because the body is hunting for enough nutrition to get the glucose level up. If you eat rubbish food or can’t absorb it, the body just keeps asking for more. Eat nutrient-dense food and absorb it, end of craving.
Hi both, I am certainly very glad that I do not suffer in a serious way – I was diagnosed as a teenager with IBS / duodenal ulcers and always suffered from “tummy problems & pain” that no treatments ever seemed to help. In my mid 30’s I decided to try “wheat free” to see how I got on – what a change, as you will probably imagine. I did go back to wheat but intermittently have to drop it totally from my diet, although can cope with oats & wheat free flours.
The one thing I always notice, apart from feeling so much better, has always been the ability to shed weight that otherwise I never seem to be able to shift when I drop wheat! I have studied some nutrition and am qualified to teach to a low level (nothing like yourself) so know a bit about healthy eating & what I should or shouldn’t do, but there never seems to be a good enough explanation for being able to drop weight so easily without trying & still eating well!!
Basically very long winded (no pun) way of saying I agree with you – there may be something in all of this!!
Regards,