I heard Dr. Tom O’Bryan say in one of his interviews that he knows people are thinking that he believes everything bad is caused by gluten! I remember when I first heard about gluten sensitivity I was really annoyed. I honestly couldn’t believe the “staff of life” was being targeted as the opposite of life. It didn’t make sense. I remember completely dismissing the thought for a while especially since I loved to bake so much. After all, I still needed to perfect my sourdough loaf and my vintage recipe for braided egg bread must never be a suspect for dietary deletion. No way. Not EVEN going to think about it. Subject closed.
But then, it hit me months later. If the only thing so far that had scientific studies connected to it with the power to decrease and sometimes even completely eliminate thyroid antibodies was a gluten free diet, was it wise for me to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to it?
Okay, so all my problems have to do with gluten, right? Too tired? Gluten. Too fat? Gluten. Can’t think? Gluten. Autoimmune Disease? Gluten. Joint Pain? Yep! Gluten! It just can’t be that bad. Gluten is good! It is something I eat every day! I love it! I can’t live without it! I don’t want this to be the answer!
The solution for me was to stop questioning the accusations and defending gluten before I gave it a proper trial. If it was in fact innocent, perhaps I could prove it by doing a gluten free test. Okay, so I set out to do this test. I figured it shouldn’t be hard. Just cut out bread and anything that is baked with wheat. I’ll just replace it with cornbread, gluten free flours and no big deal. I’ll prove it works or doesn’t work that way. So I set out to prove to the world that gluten free either worked or not. I did that and recorded it in this post. Well, what I didn’t realize is just how meticulous a true gluten free diet is.
So, a few years later and many more new symptoms later, I decided to give it another try after a test which confirmed I was gluten intolerant. You can see the results of that successful attempt here. So, I no longer can deny the connection and I’m really sad to make such a big deal about how effective it is to go completely 100% gluten free. But at the same time, I’m really thrilled to make a big deal about how effective it is to be 100% gluten free. Why? Because it is the very first thing that has completely changed my life! Granted, there have been some additional measures beyond the basic gluten free diet that I needed to implement, but the main thing is that I am free of so many symptoms and all this healing because people like Dr. Tom O’Bryan, Dr. Kharrazian, and Izabella Wentz, are not afraid to speak out against gluten as a necessary step towards healing.
I was always hoping there would be other interventions that were as successful as going gluten free. Perhaps I can implement everything else experts are suggesting for healing but not do the gluten free thing. Perhaps just getting a better diet (I tried this too before going gluten free), exercising, sleeping well and on schedule, would be enough. And you can definitely find many interventions that are invaluable to helping Hashimoto’s as found in Izabella Wentz’ wonderful book (also now immediately available in eBook form). But unfortunately, unless this area of gluten is addressed, and the antibody attack is minimized, you will almost definitely still have a war going on inside of you.
In a special gluten expert panel interview from April 2013 with Tom O’Bryan, Nora Gedgaudas and Steve Wright from SCD Lifestyle, hosted by Ameer Rosic (posted below), a lot of great information was shared on gluten and since this is a fairly recent recording, the latest information is presented. For those of you who don’t mind hearing more about gluten, I will leave you with this interview (it is long so you might want to carve out some time to watch it). This also talks about how other food sensitivities are connected to gluten consumption. I never get tired of learning more on this subject. They touch on everything from fertility to food sensitivities and beyond.
I am so thankful for this information. I hope you found it helpful too!
Disclaimer: All posts are describing my personal journey through health issues and are in no way meant to guide anyone towards any method in particular. I am not a medical practitioner or have a dietary or medical license, and this blog is not intended to be taken as authoritative advice. Please see your doctor, or health professional before making any drastic diet changes! Also, occasionally I find others to partner with whom I have had tremendous help from and therefore, there may be paid advertisements and links to support them and help me financially run this website.
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