Is gluten free diet essential

I just starting doing gluten free on January 1st. Feeling decent so far. Someone in the Lyme world stated that if you’re not taking your diet seriously (gluten free, low sugar…) then you’re not taking your treatment seriously. So I’m giving it a try! I’ll report back soon with how I’m feeling. Good luck

This is not something you can guess at very accurately, its not something all people will obviously feel. The level of inflammation depends on the individual.

I food tested with the somewhat controversial Leap MRT test, which worked for me. I have proven test results that eliminating gluten lowered and eliminated some elevated antibodies. But to answer your question, going GF has minimal benefits with healing lyme unless you also have:.

-Celiac
-Gluten sensitivity (which is also finally recognized by convention medicine)
-Autoimmune thyroid (+ maybe other autoimmune issues too)
-Candida or other digestive yeast overgrowth
-Leaky gut or other digestive issues

If none of the above are present. GF is part of the popular Paleo (caveman) diet, which can help heavy people lose weight and/or have better overall digestion and sometimes eliminate some inflammatory response which they may or may not feel. There are lots of slightly inflammatory foods, just eliminating one wont do much (unless your in the above categories).

Everyone will improve general health the closer they eat similar to the Paleo diet (which among many no's, is gluten).

**There is also this: keep in mind the immune system and brain amino acids start in the gut.**
Also, depression and gut issues commonly go together.

There are a lot of lifestyle factors that help with getting better, but by themselves none of them are essential. What matters is how many of those that you improve in, where diet is a big one. Everybody that I worked with recommended me to not eat gluten, so I will stick with that for a very long time. When I'm at 100 % I will eat gluten occasionally, but not every month.

I have gotten quite well while still consuming alcohol, which is another thing that is bad for my health. But I have worked harder on sleep and stress, etc, to offset the negatives from alcohol.

Hi WBF,

I recently had issues with feeling hungry all the time. I'm talking like non-stop hunger.

I don't know if this is an issue you have but I noticed it went away when I stopped taking TUDCA for a day.
There are some studies that says it has a positive effect on insulin, so I'm not sure what happened, maybe my dose was too high.

I'm slowly reintroducing the TUDCA again but at a lower dose, because I do find TUDCA really helpful.

Thought I'd share, just in case it's an issue you might experience 🙂

I ate gluten free for awhile and didn't notice a difference. Now I eat limited gluten and still include some gluten free food like pasta. Maybe it's better not to eat gluten at all, but I don't know. For certain people, it may be okay. My diet is pretty good overall, and I basically eat no sugar except for something like maple syrup on occasion.

I don't always eat bread, but when I do, it's Canyon Bakehouse.

While that's meant to be a funny variation on a theme, it's also true. Like astroman, I've found Canyon Bakehouse to be the best gluten-free bread I've tried. In 2020, I went on a French toast bender and used (several loaves of) their Cinnamon Raisin bread as the base. I've also had their Mountain White and 7-Grain. I love good sourdough.

Since astroman mentioned rice-based pasta, the best brand I've found is Jovial. I've tried several others and they've ranged from marginal to awful. The Jovial brand has never come out overcooked or undercooked, though my cooking times and methods vary. I've only used the Fusilli, Spaghetti, and Penne varieties and cooked them on the stovetop and in a pressure cooker. Each has always been great.

I have some very strong thoughts on this, only because of my own experience.

I went gltuen free ketogenic in 2020. I did feel better, but I wasnt perfect. I just figured it was from not eating so much sugar and grains like rice that bloated my SIBO.

In may of 2020 I came off for 2 months. The first time i had gluten, i was out w/ my wife at brunch. I was like "I need to go lie down". My knees went weak and wobbly. I had stomach discomfort and just felt feint. It happened a second and third time, and I said never again.

What happens is that gluten IS inflammtory. But if you ingest it every day, your body stops sounding the alarm bells. It sounded them again when I re-introduced it after so long without.

If you read Dr Kharazzians Why Isnt My Brain Working, he point out that non-celiacs gluten senstivity may often show no immediate symptoms, and no digestive issues, so you may never know its a trigger.

He also points out that casein, the protein in cows milk, is very similar to gluten, so if you are senstive to gluten, you are almost certainly sensitive to dairy. So you may not feel better until you cut dairy out. This was the case for me, as I felt incrementally better after cutting out gluten, then incrementaly better when cutting out casein.

After taking a food sensitivity test and realizng how leaky my gut is, I'm trying carnivore. Only been 1 week, but it's taken my neuropathy down quite a bit further and my enthesitis is a bit better, but still struggling w/ that one a bit. I think the coconut milk i was consuming was another trigger.

You just cant tell whats doing what until you cut it all out and then add stuff back in slowly, is the moral of the story.

Humans are not meant to eat grains. You can study evolution and how humans started eating grains. It basically was to avoid starvation in a community setting. Eventually the body "kinda" adapted through gene mutations to "kinda" handle grains. It has not been long enough for the body to adapt fully.

GF pasta brand from Canada and sold in the states, weird name and packaging but tastes great, not mushy:

https://www.tinkyada.com/

Corn free too. Corn is another thyroid aggregator.

Some Target, Walmart and smaller health food stores stock the many variations.

Post Edited (astroman) : 1/12/2022 8:29:11 AM (GMT-7)

borrelioburgdorferii said...
Even the "whole grain" breads with visible seeds/grains have gluten right?

Probably, unless it's one that's certified to be gluten-free. The only way to know is to read the label and see if it contains any of the following:
https://celiac.org/gluten-free-living/what-is-gluten/sources-of-gluten.

borrelioburgdorferii said...
I don't think humans were meant to digest grains at all, or so I keep reading more as the science gets clearer (and less corrupt? hopefully??)

One could argue that humans aren't meant to fly in planes, live in houses, or take antibiotics. I came through the Primal and Paleo circles that repeat a lot of stuff that sounds good but some of which I now think is nonsense. People can't eat beans, but they can have "paleo brownies"...you know, like cavemen used to make.

It's a choice. People turn diets into cults. Humans have been eating grains for thousands of years. Do they need to? In many cases, no. But, to your point about food security, not everyone is fortunate to have choices. Soaking, sprouting, and fermenting are ways to make grains and legumes more digestible. The Weston A. Price Foundation has information on such procedures.

Just remember that, over the millennia, humans ate whatever they could get their hands on, in order to survive. It might have been snakes, insects, roots, leaves, berries, frogs, scavenged corpses of animals left by predators, whatever. Surviving and thriving are two different things. We're omnivores and can consume a variety of things. When the system is perturbed, like due to chronic illness, things can change.

borrelioburgdorferii said...
I feel much better when I don't consume gluten, it really seems to mess things up

There's your answer, right there.

I totally agree WBF.
What I read is that the bread in the Bible isn't the same anymore as what we eat nowadays.
As Garzie mentioned the glyphosate is a factor and I also read something about how the grain itself isn't the same anymore, in order to have more yield.
That's also where dcd is correct in that it's now inflammatory.
However, I don't think it always was that way, as you mentioned WBF.

Hello modern earthlings, I am Org, a caveman from 50,000 years ago, apparently brought here from a two dimensional time warp (fell in a really deep cavern).

I'll go for snakes and lizards all day (pocket sized designer dogs look tasty too) before plucking grains/seeds from grasses and weeds, fills me up faster. When no ones looking, I go for the liver (sorry, I don't share).

sincerely,
Org

Oh, FYI (picking up on the modern acronyms); my long distant future cousin Otzi ,the ice man, from 5300 years before your modern days, enjoyed a little wheat with his Ibex and Deer meat:

https://www.livescience.com/63044-otzi-mummy-last-supper.html

Probably not the same Wheaties your used to. I tried them, yummy! but made smelly air.

Gotta find some Sleestaks who can operate that darn Pylon crystal matrix table - sending me back to the Upper Paleolithic period. ..............this modern sh/t and your food su#ks!

Post Edited (astroman) : 1/12/2022 11:33:46 AM (GMT-7)