The “Gluten Free Girl”
I just finished up my first module at George Washington University’s STAR Executive MBA program. I have a great group of classmates composed of current and former NFL players and their wives, Olympians, and music biz folks. And we all managed to meld pretty well and pretty quickly. However, by day one, I had already earned myself a bit of notoriety among this bunch because of the separate plate of food waiting for me, set aside from everyone else’s food, at every breakfast and lunch. Why was my food separate? Because I am gluten free. Instantaneously, I became the “Gluten Free Girl.”
Over the course of our two weeks together, my classmates got really into my “strange” eating habits and began asking lots of questions — some only meant to poke fun while others were legitimate queries. They’d ask me in jest if literally everything was gluten free, and would go to grab some chocolate out of my hands before I could bite into it (big no no). Others, especially the NFLers and their wives, were sincerely interested in eating healthier and better for obvious reasons. (Elite athletes should eat well to perform better).
So I thought I would dedicate my first official blog since my Biz School hiatus to talking a little about gluten. What is it? Why do I choose not to eat it? What is gluten free living? And so on…
First and foremost, what is gluten?
The most simple definition is that gluten is a protein that often exists in wheat, barley, rye, as well as other cereals and grains. It is what gives dough its elastic texture. It is worth noting that not all cereals or grains contain gluten — amaranth, some oats, buck wheat, and soybeans, for example, are all gluten free. Thus, classifying and defining what does and does not contain gluten when you go to take a bite can sometimes be a bit tricky. Incidentally, gluten is also used as an adhesive and in making seasonings, especial monosodium glutamate (MSG), which no one should eat.
Getting into the nitty gritty of defining gluten, we can say that gluten has some key characteristics. First, it is insoluble in water, meaning it will not dissolve if placed in water. It can, however, be expunged from grain if done correctly (leave it to the experts). Bread is a great example of these two characteristics. The gluten in bread is what gives it its pliable, chewy composition. If you knead bread dough in a certain way, the dough, and consequently the bread, will revert to a glob of goo, essentially — kind of like putty — since it is the gluten that gives the bread its shape.
To eat or not eat gluten?
Gluten sensitivity may be something extremely foreign to you. But it shouldn’t be. According to several medical studies, all humans have gluten sensitivity. Only a small percentage of the world’s population, however, demonstrate it more noticeably. What does this mean? It means that in the grand scheme of evolution, human beings have not yet evolved to digest gluten successfully without any associated side effects. There are those, however, who have a much harder time processing gluten than others. Today, we classify these people as gluten sensitive or celiacs. Typically, people who are gluten sensitive, such as tennis star Novak Djokovic, exhibit certain symptoms when they consume gluten products. Those symptoms include bloating, abdominal discomfort, pain, or diarrhea. Other extraintestinal symptoms include headaches and migraines, lethargy and tiredness, attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity, autism and schizophrenia, muscular disturbances, as well as bone and joint pain.
When I decided to go gluten free two years ago, it was not because I was experiencing any of these symptoms. I, like many of you, never felt any discomfort after eating bread or pasta. The decision to go gluten free was a conscious choice, and every now and then I’ll still have a bite of regular bread or a cookie just because I want to. But I will say that after having gone cold turkey, when I now take a bite of a food containing gluten, I can feel it…big time. Especially the bloating. Wow.
So why did I decide to cut gluten out of my diet? There are several reasons.
1. Gluten causes your intestines to bloat.
As I mentioned above, everyone’s intestines bloat in some form when they eat gluten — it is just a matter of to what degree this occurs. Ever since I was a little girl, I would bloat after eating and I just assumed that was normal. I’ve got news for you: it’s not. No gluten = no bloating (unless you just over-eat and then it’s the food-baby bloat, not the gluten bloat. And there’s a difference)!
2. Gluten makes you sleepy.
Ever notice that you feel sleepy after that sandwich you had for lunch? Eating foods that contain gluten stimulates the nervous system and adrenal glands to produce stress hormones that lead to adrenal exhaustion. This means fatigue and mood imbalances (i.e., anxiety and mood swings).
3. Gluten affects your hormones.
I personally have slight irregularities in my hormones, which I keep in check with my doctor’s assistance. However, as everyone is sensitive to gluten to some degree, everyone should know that the inflammation caused by gluten (see #1) produces anti-inflammatory agents in the body that impair insulin function. Eventually you can develop insulin resistance, which leads to weight gain, particularly around your tummy. Pair insulin resistance with adrenal exhaustion, and you’ve got a formula for an out-of-control appetite, hypothyroidism, and a slowed metabolism. The icing on the cake comes from the toxins from the gluten that get stored in your fat cells. Those toxins are pretty tough little suckers and are pretty resistant to being broken down, which causes you to retain water and feel fatter. Giving up gluten can therefore help you balance your hormones and weight more naturally without the use of supplements and medication.
4. Gluten can mess with your ability to feel good. . .
. . . And by giving it up you can also get rid of those uncontrollable cravings to over-eat. Why? Because gluten contains exorphins, which are opiate peptides that give you an immediate sense of well-being in the short term. Later on, however, those exorphins found in gluten disable the body’s ability to make natural feel-good chemicals like endorphins. Will power can only get you so far when your brain is literally telling every cell in your body to keep eating. By cutting out gluten, you are allowing your brain to continue to produce endorphins and other feel-good chemicals and those cravings can be better controlled.
5. Gluten impairs your ability to absorb nutrients.
Particularly for those more sensitive than others, gluten is known to destroy villi in the small intestine. What are villi? When I tell you, it may sound gross, but villi are not gross. Villi are tiny little hairs that line your intestines and absorb your nutrients as the food passes through. No villi, no nutrients. No nutrients, BIG problems. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies, anemia, depression, anxiety, osteoporosis, infertility, and so on. Bad, bad, bad.
6. Gluten ages you and has been linked to cancer.
As I have explained above, consuming gluten means opening the floodgates of toxicity within your cells. This overwhelms the liver’s capacity to do its job, which is to detoxify you. An overwhelmed liver means toxins are entering your healthy cells and are attacking them, which causes you to age. Cellular toxicity has also been linked to cancer. Giving up gluten means lightening the toxic load on your liver, and this will ultimately slow the aging process.
So then what do I eat?
Living a gluten free life is actually really easy. There are still so many other delicious things I can eat. I love quinoa and rice, for starters — especially brown rice. And I make a ton of things with quinoa flour, including pasta, and I am such a sucker for pasta. Gluten free people can also eat maize (corn), potatoes, rice, and tapioca (derived from cassava), amaranth, arrowroot, millet, montina, lupine, sorghum (jowar), sweet potato, taro, teff, and yam, as well as various types of beans including soybeans. I also eat some nut flours, gluten free oat flour (which is great for baking), gram flour (derived from chickpeas) and buckwheat, which despite its name, is not related to wheat.
For me, gluten free living is a choice, and it’s one that I would make over and over again since I’m aiming to live a long, healthy, and happy life. And as I’ve tried to show you, sticking with this dietary choice really isn’t all that limiting. I am a foodie through and through. I just choose to be a conscious and healthy one.
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