It is also estimated that as much as 15% of the US population is gluten intolerant. Could you be one of them?
Six common symptoms of gluten intolerance
- Gastrointestinal (GI), stomach, and digestive problems. These can include one or more of the following: gas, bloating, queasiness, abdominal cramping, constipation, diarrhea, or an alternating combination of both - IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).
- Headaches and/or migraines.
- Diagnosis of an autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, lupus, psoriasis, scleroderma or multiple sclerosis.
- Emotional issues involving chronic irritability and sudden, irrational, mood shifts.
- Neurological issues. This may include dizziness, difficulty balancing, and peripheral neuropathy affecting nerves outside the central nervous system and resulting in pain, weakness, tingling or numbness in the extremities.
- Fatigue, brain fog, or feeling tired after eating a meal that contains gluten.
Am I Gluten Intolerant?
The best way to determine if you are indeed gluten intolerant is to go on a gluten-free diet for 60 days. If you feel you can't or won't, that may already indicate you're addicted to gluten. We are often addicted to things we're allergic to.
That gluten-free diet would include wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, oats, and triticale which are grains with gluten. Quinoa, buckwheat, and sorghum grains are gluten-free. So is rice.
How to treat gluten intolerance?
Eliminating gluten 100% from your diet means 100%. Even trace amounts of gluten from cross contamination or medications or supplements can be enough to cause an immune reaction in your body.
The 80/20 rule or "we don't eat it in our house, just when we eat out" is a complete misconception. An article published in 2001 states that for those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity eating gluten just once a month increased the relative risk of death by 600%.
-OR-
Seek out a local homeopathic doctor or integrative medicine specialist who can test you and your family for gluten intolerance.
Source
Mind Body Green
All 6 signs are common in many illnesses, often all or many of them related to one illness, so it is definitely worth going to your GP and telling them you would like to be tested for gluten intolerance, then you can know for sure whether or not you are part of the 15 percent. But even if you aren't, believe me, you will be much happer once all that starch and sugar is taken out of your diet!