Eat Well & Breathe Easy while honoring your Food Sensitivies
Should you remove gluten from your diet?
I get asked this question a lot.
And the short answer is “It depends”.
It depends on what’s going on in your body.
It depends on the signs and symptoms you’re experiencing.
And it also depends on your test results!
Of course, if your tests come back negative, then you’re in the clear – at least for the time being – more on that later.
But it’s super important that you get the RIGHT tests!
And you don’t want to stop there, either.
Do you have Celiac Disease?”
Perhaps the bigger question is “ “Do you have a gluten-related disorder, most often referred to as Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity – or Gluten Intolerance?”
If you answered “yes” to either question, then gluten certainly is a toxin, at least to YOU!
If you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t appear to have a sensitivity to gluten – that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re completely off the hook.
According to Dr. Tom O-Bryan, the Gluten-Free Doc, “Everyone should be checked for a gluten sensitivity. And if you have the celiac gene, you definitely want to be checked every two years or so. You might be fine now, but at some point you will likely cross the line.”
Why is that? [Read more…]
When it comes to tempting treats – do you firmly believe you have zero willpower?
Are you convinced this lack of control mean you’re deficient as a human being?
Or equally bad, that there’s something terribly wrong with you?
Well, here’s the good news: there might be a perfectly logical explanation for your apparent ‘lack of willpower’!
And it all comes back to your diet and the state of your digestion.
Let me explain.
On a deep, physiological level, it’s possible that your body isn’t absorbing the nutrients it needs, and this can happen for a number of reasons.
The most common ones would be a poor diet, or a flawed digestive system – either one of which can lead to a leaky gut.
Not to mention a host of other problems – including nutrient deficiency! (You could literally be ‘starving’ – and not even know it.)
A few years back, I wrote this.
The idea behind it was that all the bits and pieces of your life get woven not only into your memories, but also the very fabric of your home – using color, shape, furnishings and mementos to paint a picture – instead of words.
What I’ve come to realize, is that those same bits and pieces – indeed, the entire story of your life in all its shame and glory – has a huge impact on your health.
No matter how much you might try to deny it, these various threads of your life nonetheless parallel and influence each other – starting at birth, and continuing undiminished, until you take your last breath.
In short, everything matters!
You’ve heard of a Bucket List, right?
That list of things you’ve always wanted to do, but never quite got around to?
In a nutshell, a Bucket List is a way of setting some goals for yourself, namely what you’d like to accomplish in this life, before moving on.
And it’s an awesome idea!
(Perhaps you’ve even seen the movie by that name?)
Today I’d like to share with you a different sort of Bucket List.
It’s an analogy, if you will, a way of looking at the hand you’ve been dealt – your medical history, along with your entire life trajectory and challenges along the way.
In other words, everything that’s you led to where you are today.
So, here’s the thing.
Picture a bucket of water – with the water level stopping about two inches from the top.
Sometimes it can feel downright overwhelming to get your health back on track!
You want to eat better – and you’ve tried – but despite your best efforts it still isn’t happening.
You try to go to bed earlier, but get sidelined watching a favorite late-night show on TV.
Or, you’re convinced that you do your best work late at night. (more on that later)
You have days, perhaps, when you really feel like crap – and that’s when you tell yourself (again) that you really, really need to get a handle on things.
We’ve all had days like that, right?
Yet even when you know better, it’s often hard to begin.
My advice?
Slow down. Take baby steps.
Pick one of the following, to start – yes, just 1! (After all, you have to start somewhere).
Jump-start your digestion
Hardly a day goes by, that I don’t hear another tip for what you absolutely MUST do first thing in the morning.
Have you been swept up in the first-of-the-year battle to lose weight?
Perhaps this has been a year-long struggle for you, but post holidays you’re not only 10 pounds heavier – you’re also bloated and still suffering from indigestion, due to all your holiday indulgences.
Given this common scenario, it’s no surprise that come January 1, a lot of people jump on the weight loss bandwagon.
The media will tell you that weight gain is all about calories and exercise and I’m here to tell you that just isn’t true.
The thing is, I’d like to see you actually lose weight this year!
And also banish those tummy troubles (instead of just talking about it).
Are you up for that?
If you’ve recently vowed that this is the year you’ll finally lose those extra pounds – welcome on board!
However, if you’ve also been told that the only sure-fire way to lose weight is to stop eating gluten, let me break this down for you.
Have you stepped on the scale this week?
Post holidays, it’s not uncommon to be 5-10 pounds heavier than you were two weeks ago.
And frustrated (yet again) that another year has passed where you ate all this junky food and are feeling like crap from all the over-indulgence – too much pies and cakes and pastries at holiday parties (or too many cookies, in my case).
And now you’re regretting it!
Chances are your digestive system is also out of whack because you’ve been eating things you normally don’t eat. And you’re paying for it now with daily heartburn & indigestion – along with those extra 10 pounds.
It’s also the time of year when (after the wave of regret passes) you’re likely thinking about what to do to start losing that weight. (It’s why Gym memberships EXPLODE during January.)
You’re going to start seeing all these Detox and Cleanse programs – with the emphasis on exercising more and reducing calories.
And yet, you already know doesn’t work!
Do you have Celiac Disease?”
Or, perhaps the bigger question is “ “Do you have a gluten-related disorder, most often referred to as Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity – or Gluten Intolerance?”
Did you answer “yes” to either question?
In that case, gluten certainly is a toxin, at least to you.
If you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t appear to have a sensitivity to gluten – that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re completely off the hook.
According to Dr. Tom O-Bryan, who refers to himself as the Gluten-Free Doc, “Everyone should be checked for a gluten sensitivity. And if you have the celiac gene, you definitely want to be checked every two years or so. You might be fine now, but at some point you will likely cross the line.”
Why is that? [Read more…]
Do you sometimes feel like a human guinea pig?
Perhaps you’ve even experimented with different foods, in an effort to figure out what might be a trigger for you.
Let me preface this first by saying – if you have Celiac disease, or an Autoimmune condition, this is in NO WAY a license to re-introduce gluten!
Got that?
However, your dietary triggers could also be dairy, eggs, or nuts – or any number of different foods.
Let’s take a closer look at eggs for a moment.
Are eggs a regular part of your diet?
They use to be for me, too.
I often enjoyed scrambled eggs, or an omelet for breakfast.
And I absolutely LOVED making soufflé! (As fancy as that sounds, it’s not that hard. Seriously!)
At this point, however, it’s literally been years since I last ate eggs.
In recent weeks, however, I decided to re-introduce them – as a human experiment, if you will.
Using me as the guinea pig.
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