Could Gluten Intolerance be Affecting Your Health and Weight Loss???

I had a very dramatic reaction the other day to a teaspoon of vital wheat gluten that I added to my 1-minute flax-soy muffin to see if I could get it to raise better. It did raise better, by the way, but it also helped to raise another issue. That of gluten intolerance.

As many of you know, I've been searching for awhile now for the fundamental principle behind the success of the Kimkins diet. "Something" makes it work extremely well, even among those who didn't choose to take it to Kimmer's extreme, and I'm not buying the idea that it "totally" has to do with starvation. So I've been experimenting with the different dietary components --fat, calories, and protein -- that go to make up the Kimkins diet. With the results not being consistent.

But the other day while trying to improve on the 1-minute nuked flaxmeal muffin, by first baking it, rather than nuking it, then adding soy in combination with the flax, and lastly adding in a teaspoon of gluten to help it raise better -- I MIGHT have stumbled upon the answer I've been seeking elsewhere.

Now I didn't look closely at the 20 full carbs allowed daily in that diet, because it was close enough to low carb principles in general, that it didn't feel all that off. Except for the fact, that many individuals need more than that, in order for the body to run efficiently. But this gluten thing, really "seems" to center into the heart of the matter. Because WHAT was the Atkins diet originally about? Not only ridding our bodies of carbs, but the type of carbs that cause ill health. And gluten certainly fits into that category.

Now HOW did Kimkins accomplish this? She outlawed "all" low-carb products, and counseled her followers to cut drastically back on condiments, especially fatty ones, sauces, and other frills. Things that are generally loaded with gluten by manufacturers. Then suggested that we eat as plainly and simply as possible in order to reap the fastest loss.

Now "her" mindset was one of lower calories, but maybe that's NOT what made it work so well. Maybe it was because she unknowingly/ignorantly took everyone who entered into her rules and regulations off all of the gluten that is as prevalent in our American Society as high-fructose corn syrup is. Maybe it was an allergy/sensitivity issue and not a calorie-fat issue at all.

Years ago, before low-carb products were born, the Atkins diet was basically a simple diet. You started off with meat, poultry, fish, eggs, a few "teaspoons" of cream, a bit of age cheese, and a couple of cups of salad veggies. That's it. No gluten anywhere to be found EXCEPT "perhaps" in your bottled prepared salad dressing, (which includes mayo), if you didn't want to go to the trouble of making it out of oil and vinegar yourself as Dr. Atkins suggested.

The next week you got cottage cheese added to the list. Now, I don't know about other brands, because I haven't looked at them in this regard, but the Walmart brand is clearly marked GLUTEN FREE in large capital letters at the bottom of the allergy alert for milk and fish. The next week you got 1/2 cup cooked veggies. Preferably fresh, steamed. Followed by an ounce of nuts the following week, then fresh strawberries or other berries with a bit of whipped cream the week after.

So all-in-all, the OLD Atkins diet (especially if you followed Dr. Atkins instructions completely) was pretty much clean of the gluten and wheat that it isn't so free of today. Especially if you're aren't "aware" of all of the places that gluten and wheat can hide in the thousands of processed foods made today. Places like NATURAL FOOD FLAVORING, MALT, SOY SAUCE, STABILIZER, EMULSIFIER, HYDROLYZED PLANT PROTEIN, and a host of others. Even tucked away in what we generally consider "safe" low carb foods like sour cream and cream cheese, or possible plant contamination of carb controlled yogurt.

So if you're having trouble losing weight, if you don't FEEL as good as you think you should on your low carb diet, or if you don't feel as well as you used to feel, do a little research on gluten intolerance and celiac disease, and see if maybe your own diet is far less "clean" from allergens than you currently believe. Because I, for one, was completely shocked to see just how much gluten I was getting in my daily diet. A diet I THOUGHT was pretty simple, plain, and basic.

But it wasn't.