Are You Fat Because of a Food Allergy? Try a Gluten-Free Diet

My husband eats a gluten free diet because he is gluten intolerant. His body cannot adequately process the protein in wheat that is called gluten. This causes his body to have an array of auto-immune responses like achy muscles and joints; extreme fatigue; depression; irritable bowel syndrome and yes, weight gain. When he discovered this intolerance and began eating gluten free, he lost about 60 pounds in a matter of a few months.

But people are beginning to discover that a whole lot of problems can be eliminated or at least helped by eating a diet free of gluten. People can be affected by a sensitivity to gluten in a variety of other ways such as: slowed thyroid, stalled metabolism, blood sugar swings that cause cravings, endless fatigue, and high levels of the hormones associated with fat storage. Gluten could literally be making you fat.

If fact, Shari Lieberman wrote a book called The Gluten Connection in which she states that "countless frustrated dieters are affected by a sensitivity to this stuff-and most are completely unaware of their condition." In fact, she goes on to give examples of people who lost 10 lbs in one week due simply to giving up wheat.

Now that means giving up bread, pizza crust, a lot of cold cereals, pasta, pretzels, cakes, cookies, pies, too, right? No wonder these people lose weight! But that isn't the case. You can eat ice cream, popcorn with lots of butter, puddings made with cornstarch, corn tortillas, rice, potatoes, French fries, and other substitutes and still lose the weight if gluten is affecting you in these ways.

Thanks to a growing awareness of celiac and gluten intolerance, a person eating gluten free also has a wide variety of pastas, breads, and pastries made from flours such as rice, tapioca, potato, corn, buckwheat or quinoa. More and more, these products are in bigger supermarkets and most health food stores carry a decent selection of gluten free items.

Another bonus many dieters feel on a gluten free diet is an enormous upswing of energy. Symptoms of gluten intolerance mimic so many other conditions including that of ordinary stress, that often the only way to know if gluten free can help you is by trying it. A thirty-day trial will let you decide if you feel better one way or the other, but you should feel a difference in just about a week. The current success of many of the low-carb/no-carb diets might simply be that gluten in the form of bread and pastries are virtually eliminated. My husband discovered his gluten intolerance when he went on the Atkins' Diet. He found that when he "cheated" with bread, he got sick. When he "cheated" with rice, he felt fine.

The sad thing is that people tend to be almost addicted to what they are most intolerant of. If you are a person who loves bread; craves gooey moist cake; and heaps your plate full of pasta, you will find it hard to even imagine giving that up. But to be free of symptoms like migraines; acid reflux; chronic bloating and gas' irritable bowel syndrome; fertility and menstruation problems; mouth sores; psoriasis; or poor memory and concentration will be worth it.