cutting out gluten question

My doctor advised me to cut out sugar and gluten in this process. I have done well with cutting way down on sugar. That makes sense to me. I am resisting letting go of the gluten quite yet because even though I asked a few times I can't remember why it is supposed to help? And with all the antibiotics I am taking I want to be eating hearty foods and I eat a fair amount of bread and crackers and pretzels. Can someone remind me why it is helpful to cut out gluten when treating lyme? And is it one of those things I have to do to see success, or it is something I can just cut back on a little? I am eating better since I started treatment but not totally let go of my bread at all. The bread helps fuel me and also settles my stomach on the antibiotics.

But again if it helps significantly I am willing to work on letting it go.

Thanks

I'm with you katebirch. I have found I need simple starches to hold down my meds. Many people are helped by removing gluten from their diet, but it seems you are okay with it. Go with what works for you!

I wonder about the gums used it many gluten free breads. I could see them becoming a problem if a person eats a lot of the bread.

My SIL is so sensitive that if it's just in the air, she will react. She can't go anywhere that has flour around.

I'm sorry you're so sensitive to it too.

I have trouble with gluten-free stuff; many of those things use corn, and corn is highly allergenic. Plus, they tend to be more refined than whole grain bread, and more refined means more sugar.

If you tolerate nuts, go to Elena's pantry, and you'll find a recipe for bread made with almond flour.

Local organic honey is much healthier than sugar. It has antimicrobial properties, as well as enzymes.

I get my carbs from starchy vegetables like squash and sweet potatoes (don't eat white potatoes, as they are high in sugar). I also get carbs from fruit and from honey.

If you are going to eat gluten-free bread, buy a bread machine, and use a mix. Make sure the ingredients don't include corn. You can add flax seed and other grains to "beef it up."

Margaret

This is perhaps another reason why gluten is so problematic these days.  It's not the gluten, but the glyphosate used in conventional grain production - sprayed on the ground before planting, sprayed on the crops while growing, sprayed on the ripening grain to prevent mold and speed drying.  We are ingesting huge doses of glyphosate when we eat non-organic grains.  Glyphosate may not cause immediate harm to mammals but kills our probiotic gut symbionts, damaging our immune systems:

http://nhrighttoknowgmo.org/BreakingNews/Glyphosate_II_Samsel-Seneff.pdf

http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/02/04/roundup-glyphosate-toxicity.aspx?e_cid=20140204Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20140204Z1&et_cid=DM38971&et_rid=417896252

The primary reason most LLMD's recommend a gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free diet is because these foods promote candida overgrowth, inflammation and leaky gut.

Lyme/coinfection treatment also promotes candida overgrowth, so dietary measures to reduce candida are helpful.

Lyme/coinfections and die-off create a lot of inflammation, so anything we can do to reduce inflammation is helpful.

Inflammation also causes leaky gut...so we don't want to make the leaky gut worse by eating foods that also contribute.

That's less of an issue, since the bugs are going to take what they want no matter what we eat... So I think it is more important to focus on what we can do to give our bodies every fighting advantage against these buggers...