Is Gluten Making You Fat?

Article from Simply Gluten Free Magazine

by Dr. Vikki Petersen

It’s a bright new year and perhaps you started yours with some resolutions. For many Americans, at the top of the list is losing weight and eating healthier (perhaps giving up gluten). January is a busy month at gyms and weight loss clubs. But alas, by February the ‘glow’ has worn off and attendance wanes.

Just because resolutions don’t frequently result in success doesn’t mean that yours need to fail. This article should give you everything you need to enjoy the new year with a slimmer waistline and invigorating health.

Are you overweight and wonder if gluten is the culprit?

Have you started a gluten-free diet and failed to lose weight?

If you answered ‘yes’ to either of the above, read on!

Two-thirds of Americans are overweight

Over one third of Americans are obese, and frighteningly, the numbers that are overweight and obese are increasing steadily, with the United States easily being the fattest country in the world. Is gluten a culprit in this obesity epidemic? While I don’t think we can give it full responsibility, it definitely plays a strong role. Let’s look at why.

Gluten, a protein found in the grains wheat, rye, barley, and some related grains such as couscous, spelt, faro, and Kamut, is a protein that humans don’t digest properly. Notice I said ‘humans’, not humans with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. It’s a well-known fact that the human digestive tract is incapable of fully digesting the gluten protein. It begs the question if it really should be considered food when we cannot fully digest it.

Is toxicity making you fat?

For those with gluten intolerance, gluten is seen as a toxin, not a food. Whether that toxicity is affecting your digestive tract, your brain, your joints, your liver, your hormones, or any other system in your body, it is well understood that bodies with a high toxic load are often overweight.

Why would a reaction to gluten, a toxin, cause you to gain weight?

The body simply slows down the burning of calories so that it can store that energy to ‘deal’ with the high toxic load.

There was an interesting study that took two sets of rats and put them both on a high-fat diet. One of the groups was given a modest amount of a pesticide. It wasn’t enough to kill them, but it was enough to cause them to be slightly toxic. Despite the exact same diet and calorie consumption, only the ‘toxic’ rats gained weight, not the others.

This same premise has been seen in humans as well, and it’s certainly something I’ve documented with my patients over the years.

Those who were having trouble losing weight often had a toxic burden that was preventing their body from burning calories. Once the toxin (often gluten) was identified and removed, the weight fell off.

Are we clear that gluten is a toxin? Absolutely.

And now we understand that toxins cause us to gain weight.

Do you crave bread, cookies, cakes, or pasta?

There’s another mechanism whereby gluten can cause weight gain and that has to do with cravings. As anyone knows who suffers from cravings can tell you, they are difficult to ignore.

Gluten reactions can cause your brain to make a substance called gluteomorphins. This substance is much like ‘morphine’ in that it gives your body a ‘high’.

Have you ever felt addicted to gluten or dairy products?

It’s because you were, chemically speaking. (By the way, dairy reactions can result in the production of caseomorphins, a very similar substance that acts in the same addictive way.)

When you eat gluten and your body makes gluteomorphins, you feel good and happy and satisfied. But after some time has passed since you ate it and the level of gluteomorphins starts to wane, your body lets you know that it needs a ‘fix’ and so creates a strong craving for gluten.

This is not ‘all in your head’ and your craving is not because you are ‘weak of will’.

It’s a chemical, addictive reaction that causes you to crave gluten

So, of course, if you give in to that craving you will not only be filling your body with more toxins that can lead to weight gain, but you’ll be compounding the problem by eating, in excess, a high calorie, nutrient-poor food – another cause of weight gain.

Now let me make something perfectly clear. You must not use the addictive nature of gluten as an excuse as to why you cannot stick to your diet. Anyone can get over this addiction because the good news is that the chemical reaction ceases after 3 days.

You can do anything for 3 days, right? Trust me, you can.

If you need help, let me know.

Are you nutrient-deprived?

So we now know two ways that gluten can cause weight gain, but there’s another potential cause.

A third reason, gluteomorphin production aside, is that the irritation and inflammation that gluten creates often results in poor absorption of nutrients.

Intuitively you may think that if you were absorbing nutrition poorly you would be underweight. It does make sense, but it’s not what we tend to see here in the US where there is plenty of food at our disposal.

Because the cells aren’t being adequately fed, the body sets up a craving for foods that will quickly raise the blood sugar level. The blood sugar, or fuel level, is low because the food that you’ve been eating is not turning into good fuel.

Unfortunately for your waistline, the foods that will raise blood sugar levels quickly happen to be sugary, overly refined, and nutrient-poor. The result? An unhealthy, nutrient-deprived, yet overweight body.

What’s the Solution?

1. First and foremost you need to find out if gluten intolerance is a problem for you. The available ways to discover that are as follows:

a. Get a blood test for celiac disease – tTG is a common one. Both the IgG and IgA version should be done.

b. Get a blood test for gluten sensitivity – AGA is good and you can get both tests done at the same time. Also, get both IgG and IgA of this test. Do know that the AGA test can be seen positive in celiac disease as well but the tTG test is exclusive for celiac – it won’t be positive in gluten sensitivity.

c. Get a genetic test. If you are currently not eating gluten I would never recommend that you reintroduce it to perform one of the above tests. Genetic tests don’t require you to eat gluten in order to be accurate. Reintroducing gluten could be dangerous resulting in a very severe reaction or even an initiation of an autoimmune disease. There is an online genetic test through EnteroLab that evaluates both celiac and gluten-sensitive genes.

d. In addition to the above, I also recommend a strict 30-day gluten elimination diet to see how you feel. The tests listed in a and b above are not perfect. They are not as sensitive as they need to be and this results in many false negatives. An elimination diet will not lie. As long as you avoid all gluten, your body will tell you if it feels better after 30 days – and sometimes quite a bit sooner.

2. Once you have determined that you are gluten intolerant, you need to be vigilant in removing it entirely from your diet. There is no room for error or occasional cheating when it comes to gluten. It’s a ‘zero tolerance’ policy and any gluten, no matter how small an amount, will have negative repercussions.

3. If you’re someone who craves gluten strongly prepare yourself for the 3 days of cravings that will ensue. Have a friend or family member around to watch you and distract you. Make sure there are no temptations lying around the house and instead make sure that you have plenty to eat of good, healthy, gluten-free food.

4. When it comes to a healthy diet there is much more to discuss than simply avoiding gluten. I know that it’s not simple, believe me, I do, but gluten avoidance is just the first step in healthy eating.

Dietary do’s and don’ts:

DO find some gluten-free alternatives to some of your favorite gluten-containing foods. E.g. bread, cereal, etc.

DON’T make gluten-free ‘goodies’ a major staple in your diet. Just because white bread is made of rice and tapioca makes it no less refined and no less of an over-processed nutrient-poor food. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of my favorite bread and cookie mix, I just don’t partake often and I recommend that you do the same.

DO figure out how to eat 9 servings of organic fruits and vegetables each day. The wonderful antioxidants and phytonutrients (Phyto means plant) that these amazing foods provide are healing, nourishing, and anti-inflammatory – something that every American needs to be healthier and slimmer, gluten intolerant or not. Remember, some of the best foods to eat are those that don’t have an ingredient list. E.g. kale, broccoli, blueberries

DON’T drink your fruits in the form of juice or eat dried fruit. Both have lost much of their nutrient value. Now the one exception to ‘drinking’ your fruits and veggies is if you are liquefying them in a blender and making your own green smoothie. That, in fact, is one of the very best ways to ingest these nutritional powerhouses. Note: this is a liquefying process, not using a juicer that removes all the pulp.

DO eat adequate amounts of good fat. This would include olive oil, coconut oil, fish oil (it’s okay to get this in supplement form), fresh nuts and seeds, avocados, etc. Good oils, especially the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil are anti-inflammatory, a good thing for preventing degenerative disease and healing the damage that gluten creates.

DON’T eat rancid nuts or seeds or eat fish that have high mercury content. Yes, you can be getting some good oils from fish, but if that oil comes with a chaser of the neurotoxin mercury, you’ve done yourself no benefit and quite a bit of harm.

DO consume adequate amounts of protein. It turns out that we need quite a bit less protein than we used to think and a moderate amount can be gotten from a plant-based diet. Of course, you can also consume small amounts of animal flesh as a partial source of your protein.

DON’T consume animal products that have been fed hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, or a high grain diet. Eating these animals will create a burden on your body due to the poor diet and drugs/chemicals they have been fed. Keep animal protein to a minimum.

DO drink adequate amounts of water. It is amazing how many people are actually dehydrated, which prevents the body from getting rid of toxins – and now you know how important that is! The formula to follow to ensure you’re getting adequate water intake is: divide your weight in half and that number equals the amount of water you should drink per day in ounces. About 8 oz (1 cup) per hour is a good amount to strive for. And don’t worry about the extra bathroom visits – this is a clue that you are actually hydrated. Another tip – your urine will be almost clear.

5. Lastly, find a clinician who can properly address any toxicity issues or hormonal imbalances that are present as a result of being gluten intolerant. The secondary effects of gluten are many but they are not difficult to treat.

You need a doctor who understands what to do

You’ll require a clinician who is well versed in treating the various secondary effects associated with gluten, such infections, cross-reactive foods, microbiome imbalance, other food sensitivities, hormonal imbalance, and elevated toxic metal levels.

A body that is burdened with any one of the above will not lose weight, let alone be healthy.

I realize that finding such a clinician is not an easy task. My clinic personally assists individuals from all over the world to get help. Whether it’s finding them a local doctor (unfortunately there are not nearly enough of these) or facilitating a visit to our destination clinic, we are here to assist you in improving your health and losing weight.

Finally, there may be some of you with celiac disease who were not diagnosed early in life and your problem is the opposite of this article’s theme – you have trouble gaining weight due to the vast amount of damage that gluten caused to your small intestine. This likely resulted in extreme malnutrition and what you need to do is heal that small intestine while maintaining your gluten-free diet such that your body can be absorbing good nutrition. While your problem is very different from what we’ve been discussing, points 2, 4, and 5 above, are pertinent for you as well.