GLUTEN FREE DIET GUIDE

by Isha Dawn Baum

Eating To Live, Not Living To Eat

A healthy lifestyle consists of balancing the body, mind and spirit.  Therefore what we eat, what we think and how our emotional body reacts to stressful circumstances determines the state of our health.

“You are what you eat!” If the health of our physical body is dependent upon what we put into our mouths, we should ask ourselves, why do we stuff ourselves with junk food, i.e.; gluten enriched processed grain products, refined sugar, corn sweeteners etc. and wonder why we are not healthy? Are we really that stupid? No, I don’t think so; I think we are creatures of habit and food is one of our biggest addictions.

Often when a person is diagnosed with a major chronic health problem, that person asks or at least wonders, “How could this happen to me? It came so suddenly.”  Do you really think that the particular disease process you are dealing with is just happening to you? If you are fat, sick or your body is falling apart, you have only one person to blame.

The fact of the matter is, it did not come suddenly. The disease process started long before it was diagnosed. It can start as long as ten or twenty years before you know you have the disease. Usually the disease process starts when a sufficient amount of factors come together to start you down the road to having a diagnosable disease. These factors can be any number and combination of things. It most likely is too many refined glutenous foods and an excess of saturated fats and fried foods causing damage to the stomach and intestines and poor assimilation of the vitamins and minerals in our food.  When you add the accumulation of toxins, not enough exercise, to little rest, exposure to pollutants and chemicals, a high stress life and dehydration due to drinking carbonated beverages and alcohol you promote a weakened immune system.

Understand that these combined factors merely set you on the road toward disease. Once you are on that road, it still does not guarantee that you will end up being diagnosed with the disease. You are kept going down the road by the initial factors being reinforced or continued, and perhaps by other factors being added. If the disease process continues uninterrupted, eventually it will come to a point where you will be officially diagnosed with a disease. However, at any point along that road you can halt the process and usually even reverse it by addressing the factors, the incorrect diet and lifestyle habits, that initiated it and/or reinforced it.

The Real Question Is Why Do We Get Sick?

Some would say it is genetic, others karmic, but if we look around and watch what people put into their mouths it is no surprise that we are a nation of over weight, unhealthy people.

To answer the question, “Why do we get sick?” we must personally look at what we do, our daily habits, Most Diseases Can Be Reversed With The Proper Diet, that is if we don’t wait to late. Wake-up Americans, you are letting the junk food industry destroy your health and the health of your children and grandchildren. Is this modern connivance worth the quality of our lives? We are passing down a legacy of pain, suffering and degenerative diseases. Even our household pets are suffering from the same degenerative diseases as the human species from all the processed grains in the food we feed them.

Antioxidants Play A Major Role In Our Health

Antioxidants are extremely important in protecting us from the damage inflicted by a certain kind of erratic oxygen molecule that we are exposed to everyday. Excess calories, pollution, and chemicals increase our exposure. This dangerous kind of oxygen molecule damages cell walls, DNA, and causes fatty acids to rancify (such as found in the brain). This damage affects the functioning of various aspects of our bodies and has been associated with aging, arteriosclerosis, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis (MS), senile dementia, and just about every other chronic degenerative problem. Antioxidants work to neutralize this harmful substance and protect us from its cumulative effects. Antioxidants often used include vitamins A, C, E, selenium, zinc, magnesium, beta-carotene, flavonoids, and some of the B vitamins. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure that we daily take in a sufficient supply of antioxidants, and avoid unnecessary calories, pollutants, and chemicals.

Of course it is also very important to get plenty of sleep as that is when the body repairs and revitalizes itself.  Drinking plenty of water is also very important as most of us are in a state of dehydration.

What Determines The Particular Disease We Have?

What ever your heredity, your genetics do not require that you get sick or have a debilitating disease, provided you don’t destroy your immune system. Where genetics come into play is in how and in what direction your degeneration will take place once your immune system has been compromised. Remember the word disease comes from the two words dis and ease or not-at-ease. If you are eating unhealthy foods and your immune system is compromised your body cannot be at ease.

What we inherit from our ancestors is the direction in which our degeneration will take place.  For some of us it is osteo-arthritis that slowly eats away at our bones causing the need for knee replacements and hip replacements at way to early an age. For others it is cancer that keeps coming back no matter what we do. Then for others it is heart disease, arterial plaque and blood diseases.  Diabetes is one of the major contributors to heart disease and other diseases. We only have to look at the statistics for the rate of cardiovascular disease in this country to get a picture of our serious health crisis. All of these modern degenerative diseases can be controlled or eliminated by a gluten free diet.  You can Click Here to see the list of diseases that have been linked to Gluten in the diet.

That’s right Gluten, found in most of our grains and regarded by many as (The Staff of Life). It’s in our morning toast, our lunch-time hamburger and our dinner roll, pasta or pizza. In fact if you read labels it’s hard to find anything pre-packaged or ready made without some form of Gluten.  Gluten-Intolerance is becoming the new epidemic for the 21st Century.

Medical Research Links A Gluten Diet As Major Cause Of Our Dis-ease

There are medical research papers that link almost all our modern degenerative disease processes to the consumption of glutinous grains. These research papers have slim popularity among the medical community in general. They point the finger to many of the convenient comfort foods to which we have all become so addicted.  Click Here for more medical research and articles.

We Are What We Eat…….

A gluten free diet excluding wheat, spelt, rye, barley and any foods that have been fortified with these grains has been proven to reverse certain immune mediated disease processes. Eliminating all white flour and white sugar is also absolutely necessary to promote health. Most dietary fats and oils should be limited and chosen according to the way they have been processed. Grape Seed Oil and Cold pressed olive oil being the safest to use for most blood types. Increasing fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet, whether eaten raw or freshly cooked and eliminating canned foods will increase vitamin and mineral consumption and help eliminate free radicals. The use of salt should be avoided unless it is Celtic Salt which contains more than 80 valuable minerals and trace minerals.

Modifying health destroying habits is a must if you are suffering from any degenerative disease. You already know the taboos of tobacco and drugs. Alcohol must be consumed in moderation. If you are healthy a couple of glasses of wine with a meal can be detoxified by the system within twenty four hours by the liver.

Physical exercise is necessary to improve efficient utilization of oxygen. You may choose your form of daily activity but get out from behind that computer and take a walk, do yoga, lift weights, dance or what ever moves you. No less than three times per week you need some form of brisk exercise no less than 30 to 45 minutes to stay healthy and fit.