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.
A while back, a friend whom I hadn’t seen in awhile exclaimed that I looked about 20.
Of course, I didn’t believe her. (When I look in the mirror, I’m as critical as the next person).
But I was pleasantly surprised and secretly quite pleased to hear this.
Who wouldn’t be, right?
After all, it isn’t exactly easy to pass for 40 years younger than your actual age!
“What about my gray hair?” I asked her, thinking that was a dead give-away.
She brushed that aside, saying it didn’t mean a whole lot.
Well, OK then.
The thing is, this wasn’t an isolated incident – which, to be perfectly honest, leaves me a bit baffled..
“Symptoms are a signal from the body that it is imbalanced, in distress, or in need of support.”
Kelly Brogan, MD
Your body has it’s own innate inner wisdom.
In other words, with a little help from you – it has the ability to heal (you just need to give it what it needs).
How do you know what your body needs most?
You listen!
What signs and symptoms are your experiencing? How debilitating are they? Are you in pain, or is it more of a nagging discomfort that keeps you from enjoying your life to it’s fullest?
Did you know that your skin is your largest organ?
Not only that, it’s also your body’s #1 defense against the outside world. And it gets more fascinating still – since you have both an outside skin, and an inside skin. (That inside skin covers things like your digestive tract and your respiratory system – not necessarily something you would think about)
Back in the early days when I first went gluten-free, I attended a lecture that was geared toward gluten-free folks like you and me.
The presenter was very insistent that there was no need to be concerned about putting gluten-containing products on our skin.
He said it was virtually impossible for gluten in skin care products to be a problem – because we weren’t ingesting it.
At the time, I thought it made sense.
But guess what?
He was wrong!
While it’s true that we don’t ingest our toiletries or cosmetics – whatever we put on our skin can get absorbed.
And that’s important!
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!
No doubt you’ve heard what the media says about getting older.
All that stuff about genetics and that it goes downhill from there – meaning you’ll be old and sick, tired and achy well before your time – and have to give up your favorite foods, and favorite activities.
Well, guess what?
None of it is true!
Chances are you’re already convinced that being old and sick is just the way it is.
It’s a normal part of getting older, and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it, right?
Wrong!
What about your genes? Isn’t sickness and poor health a foregone conclusion, based on your heredity? Aren’t you doomed form the get-go?
A lot of this confusion about getting older – what I call the ‘myth of aging’ – is based on this outdated belief that your genes are your destiny.
Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
How do I know this?
Look around you, and you’ll find plenty of research that supports what I’m saying – you just need to know where to look. [Read more…]
Do you hate to cook?
Given a choice, would you far prefer to dine out than take time to prepare a healthy meal at home?
Better still, do you think it would be totally awesome if someone else did all the cooking for you?
That last one does sound awesome, I admit.
Yet the truth is, nothing beats cooking your own food! And here’s why:
You’ll Save Money
Do you balk at the price of organic produce?
Perhaps you’ve even convinced yourself that only the ‘elite’ can afford to eat “that way”?
Do you ever have days when your cravings seem totally out of control?
Let’s say you’ve been gluten-free for awhile now, and you have no trouble sticking with that. You also try to steer clear of processed foods, and grains – either whole or refined – as much as possible.
Truth be told, you’re really proud of yourself for doing such an amazing job keeping your diet really ‘clean’!
But you’ve found there’s a catch.
If you decide to have a piece of gluten-free cake, you aren’t able to stop at just one slice.
If you buy potato chips, or bake cookies, you devour the entire bag (or batch) without skipping a beat. Chances are, you’re also REALLY hard on yourself afterwards, for caving to your cravings.
What’s going on?
In a nutshell, you could be starving!
Do you remember the mantra about taking time to chew your food?
Chances are, it was your grandmother who proffered this advice, the idea being that you chew thoroughly, at every meal. (My husband’s grandmother had a hard and fast rule to chew each bite exactly 33 times).
Do you scoff at the very thought? Do you also firmly believe that you don’t have TIME to chew every.single.bite – or you’d never leave the table?
Well, guess what?
It turns out your grandmother was right all along!
Chewing your food thoroughly is such a critical part of the digestive process, because it primes your stomach and your digestive juices for the task ahead.
Not only that, the entry point of your meal – your mouth – is also where the Gut-Brain connection happens!
What do I mean by that?
Your gut and your brain are closely connected – to the point that what happens in your gut affects your brain, and vice versa. [Read more…]
|
|
