THE REASON I CUT OUT GLUTEN & DAIRY FROM MY DIET & WHY I FEEL BETTER BECAUSE OF IT

I know, if you’re anything like I was prior to cutting out gluten & dairy from my diet, you’r probably be thinking someway along the lines of; “okay, here we go again. Another health blogger telling us to cut something from our diets” along with an eye-roll. I get it, okay. But just hear me out here, I want to explain exactly why I’ve come to believe & feel (on my own body) that a diet without gluten is better than one with it.

About 3 months ago I started feeling really unwell. I was extremely fatigued (so much I could hardly stand up), I was breaking out with rashes and hives all over my body, I was having headaches (I’m 29 and I’ve only ever had a handful of headaches my entire life), I was depressed, anxious, overwhelmed. I was constantly bloated and felt like food would ‘sit in my throat’ despite hours in between meals. I was breaking out severely with acne on my face. All in all, I just felt like a shell of a human. Far from my days of feeling really good.

I decided that something had to change and started doing my own research into gut-health, the microbiome, our inner eco-system, parasites, candida, yeast-infections – you name it, I’ve read about it. I started following highly-regarded scientists, holistic doctors, naturopaths and nutritionists and read loads of case-studies that had been done on the brain-gut connection over the years. And with each page read, the more I found myself nodding yes, yes, yes to everything.

It was especially when I came across the term Leaky Gut that I felt a huge lightbulb moment occur. It felt like that what these researchers, scientists, naturopaths etc was talking about was everything (and more) that I was experiencing in my life.
Maybe this could be the root-case to all my issues and problems I’ve faced for almost 18 years of my life?

After reading further into what Leaky Gut entails, the symptoms and why we develop a leaky gut in the first place, I instantly started to take the way that I was feeling a lot more seriously. I’d like to mention that I don’t have the liberty to go see a multitude of doctors and get diagnosed with expensive tests, so doing my own research and trying to heal my own body has for a long time been the only choice I’ve had.

Gluten:

One of the major culprits for Leaky Gut is Gluten..  According to some scientists, nutritionists and holistic health professionals, gluten is incredibly damaging to our gut-lining and intestinal walls, creating havoc in our bodies across the globe.

“Gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, spelt and barley, is derived from the Latin word for “glue”, which makes sense because this sticky, gooey protein acts like an adhesive to hold foods together. Gluten in a flour-and-water mixture gives dough its elastic qualities and allows breads to rise during the baking process. Yet we lack the specific enzymes to fully break down and absorb gluten. Large blocks of undigested protein find their way into the small intestine, where they slow the absorption of other valuable nutrients. Our immune systems view gluten as foreign bacteria and reach en masse, causing collateral damage to the intestinal wall in the process, creating the perfect conditions for zonulin to unlock the wall’s tight junctions. This means, these gluten molecules go straight through the intestine, priming us for a variety of diseases and digestive troubles.

Zonulin is a protein (found in gluten) that signals the tight junctions to open and close – the only known substance in the body to do so. By controlling zonulin, scientists can open and close the tight junctions almost at will. For hundreds of years, this zonulin response was an essential part of the body’s defence mechanism, – a way of flushing out the bad bacteria we may encounter. But our modern world has drastically increased the number of triggers for Zonulin, leaving the gates of our gut wide open all the time. What was once a defence mechanism for our immune systems have developed into a constant battle causing our bodies to become chronically inflamed and vulnerable to illness.

The hybridisation of wheat, as well as its inclusion in almost all processed food products has increased our consumption of gluten, which created conditions in the body that encourage a near-constant release of zonulin.”∗

This is exactly why many of the autoimmune diseases many are experiencing can often be directly linked to leaky-gut.

You have to remember that we’re living in a developed world far from the ancient times. Gluten can now be hidden in everything, not just baked goods and breads. I challenge you to go to your fridge and pantry and see which products says: ‘contains gluten’ or ‘contains wheat’ and you’ll be gobsmacked.

Our bodies were never built to eat gluten 24/7 and by our rapidly changing lifestyles, moving further away from nature as it was meant for us, the more illness we seem to be experiencing in our bodies and the more people develop intolerances and auto-immune diseases.

If you’re experiencing gut-issues, then I would highly recommend trying to cut out gluten. And I don’t just mean for a few days. Start with a few weeks, and then try to have a small meal containing gluten and I promise you’ll notice a massive difference almost right away.

If we can reduce our exposure to these triggers, like Zonulin and other damaging particles in our bodies, we’ll be able to reduce our inflammation and heal our leaky gut.

However, this is just one of the steps – albeit a huge one – towards repairing your gut.

Dairy:

I’m going to begin with this; I was raise drinking cow’s milk. Every single day. And up until 2 months ago, I was drinking milk and having dairy products multiple times a day. I love dairy and I still do to this day. However, I love my body and health more.

There was nothing wrong with drinking dairy 100, 200, 300 years ago.. There’s a problem with drinking dairy now, because of how we’re altering the type of dairy that’s being consumed worldwide.

“If you’re consuming milk, yoghurt, butter, and cheesed that’ve been produced from conventionally raised cows that are fed a steady stream of antibiotics your dairy might be playing a role in antibiotic resistance. The pasteurisation that most conventional dairy products undergo destroys essential enzymes and probiotics, as well as alters vital amino acids. Nearly all commercial milk is also homogenised, a process that oxidises fats and create free radicals. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules that are known to weaken the immune system and result in intestinal inflammation, leading to leaky gut.

Everything these cows get injected with goes straight into their milk. This is important to remember because the oxidised fats present in homogenised milk often pass through the gut wall, carrying the hormones, steroids, drugs and other compounds into the bloodstream and off to the rest of the body.”∗

How do I feel after cutting out gluten & dairy?

Given, it took a few weeks to feel the full effects of cutting out gluten & wheat from my diet, however these are just some of the benefits I’ve seen & felt from it:

• I’m not chronically bloated anymore; if I bloat, it’s because there’s snug in gluten that I was unaware of (eating out) or I’ll eat something that triggers my gut still.
• I look slimmer in my face and all over my body; gluten & wheat is known for making you look puffy because your body is constantly in an inflamed state. The huge difference I’ve seen in my body  is incredible. My face has been far less swollen & puffy, as well as the rest of my body.
• My brain is a lot clearer; before I was so ‘foggy’ all the time. It was hard to concentrate and keeping my concentration for longer than 10 minutes, and now I seem to have far less problems with sitting down and getting things done. Everything just feels so much clearer.
• My energy-levels have improved massively; before I would literally crash around 1-2pm and that would be my day for me. Now, there’s a few times a week where I’ll get to bed at 10pm and I’ll still be too awake to actually sleep.
• I’m having regular bowel-movements & less flatulence; not the nicest subject to talk about, but you’d be surprised about how many people think it’s ‘normal’ to only go to the toilet every 2-3 days. I used to be one of them. Now I go every single day.
• My skin has cleared up; sure I still get the occasional breakout (seriously we all do), but my overall skin and shine it has to it, is so much better.
• My mental health is better; I feel less moody, anxious, depressed, sad, overwhelmed etc.
• I can control my eating a lot better; I have become a lot better at actually feeling when I’m hungry and when I’m not. The signals and overall connection to my body has greatly improved, and I’m finding I’m having a lot less cravings for sugar as well.

Just remember, that just because a packet of something says ‘gluten-free’, it doesn’t make it healthy. It can still contain additives, preservatives, sugars etc. I will just encourage you to incorporate more plants into your diet. Incorporate more wholefoods. And then feel the difference. Get back to our roots of nature.

I want to reiterate that I’m not a trained medic or health professional. This blog-post has been created by myself doing extensive research into gluten & dairy conducted by highly regarded analysts, scientists etc. along with discussing gluten & dairy with health professionals. I’m also speaking from own trial and error – these two things are what have truly helped me gain my health back on the right track.

If you have any questions please feel free to email or message me.

Caroline xx

∗ “Eat Dirt’ by Dr. Josh Axe