No Grain, No Pain: A 30-Day Diet for Eliminating the Root Cause of Chronic Pain
368
No Grain, No Pain: A 30-Day Diet for Eliminating the Root Cause of Chronic Pain
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Overview
More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, according to an Institute of Medicine report released in 2011. For many, chronic pain is part of an autoimmune disease, but all too often doctors turn to the same solution: painkilling drugs.
But all of this medication simply isn’t helping, and as Dr. Peter Osborne, the leading authority on gluten sensitivity and food allergies has found, the real solution often lies in what you eat. In No Grain, No Pain, Dr. Osborne shows how grains wreak havoc on the body by causing tissue inflammation, creating vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and triggering an autoimmune response that causes the body to attack itself. But he also offers practical steps to find relief. Using his drug-free, easy-to-implement plan, you will be able to eliminate all sources of gluten and gluten-like substances, experience significant improvement in fifteen days, and eliminate pain within thirty days.
The first book to identify diet—specifically, grain—as a leading cause of chronic suffering, No Grain, No Pain provides you with the knowledge you need to improve your health. Based on extensive research and examples culled from thousands of his satisfied patients, Dr. Osborne recommends changing your diet to achieve the relief that millions of Americans have been seeking once and for all, leading to a healthier, happier life.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781501121692 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Atria Books |
| Publication date: | 11/01/2016 |
| Edition description: | Reprint |
| Pages: | 368 |
| Sales rank: | 104,271 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
No Grain, No Pain Why “Healthy” Foods Make Us Feel So Bad
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
—Paraphrased from the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, nineteenth-century German philosopher
The gluten-free diet has been all the rage these past few years. Lots of plans show you how to cut sugar, wheat, and other empty carbs out of your diet to lose weight—and those approaches generally work, very successfully. Other diet books argue that eliminating grain will improve your memory and brain function, both today and tomorrow. There is solid research backing this thesis: improved memory now, and memory protection in the future, is a clear side effect of a grain-free diet.
Many of the people who come to my clinic in Sugar Land, Texas, come through the doors because they are in pain: the kind of debilitating pain that infiltrates every aspect of life and makes each day a little darker and a lot more challenging. For them, changing their diet isn’t just a lifestyle choice; it’s the difference between relief and chronic pain. Sometimes it’s even the difference between life and death.
If you’re in such pain, you’ve probably tried many ways to deal with it, including physical therapy and massage, as well as the use of over-the-counter and prescription painkillers. None of these “solutions” likely worked for long. Quite possibly, you’ve experimented with some form of a so-called gluten-free diet, again without any lasting improvement. You may be at your wits’ end.
Hold on. Help is at hand.
In No Grain, No Pain, I’m going to offer you something revolutionary: a 30-day, step-by-step plan that will get at the real root cause of your pain. You’ll learn:
• Why foods you’ve always been told were “healthy” may actually be making and keeping you sick
• How painkillers and other drugs deplete your body of vitamins and minerals vital to healing, actually aggravating the root cause of the pain
• That just because you don’t test positive for celiac disease doesn’t mean you aren’t sensitive to gluten
• Because glutens are present in all grains, not just wheat, barley, and rye, why following a traditional gluten-free diet rarely results in a cure
• Why removing all grains (and often certain other foods) can eliminate chronic pain once and for all
• Why other health problems you may never have associated with grain may also be caused by gluten sensitivity
• How to detect hidden grains in processed foods and even personal care products
• How to replace the nutrients of which your body has been robbed with the right food and targeted supplementation
• How intermittent fasting can help speed your return to pain-free health and vitality
• Why eliminating grains can help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight
Finally, you will receive reinforcement that your pain is not just in your head, but instead arises from a physical cause, one that you have the power to change.
A little girl I worked with once desperately needed just such help. Ginger was only 9 years old when her mother brought her to my office. She had been diagnosed with a debilitating disease called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and her doctors didn’t know if she would make it. In fact, her situation was so dire that the Make-A-Wish Foundation stepped in and granted Ginger her wish to go to Alaska to see whales off the coast with her family.
Ginger’s condition wracked her body with headaches, muscle pain, joint pain, indigestion, and stomach pain. She had been suffering since her introduction to normal foods at 20 months of age. She was in and out of the hospital so frequently that she had to have a permanent stent placed in her arm so that whenever she was hospitalized, it was easier to give her an IV.
Imagine going through years of hospital trips, doctors’ visits, and horrible pain all before you reach the age of 10. This was Ginger’s daily reality—until I saw her. After an extensive exam and laboratory testing, I identified Ginger as having non-celiac gluten sensitivity. We changed her diet—not just cutting out wheat, but overhauling even the hidden sources of gluten that I’ll tell you more about shortly. Today, Ginger is gluten free and very much alive. She no longer has a plastic stent in her arm. She is growing normally. She doesn’t need to take any medications. She plays on her school volleyball team and has a new lease on life. As long as she avoids all grains, Ginger is symptom free, but if she does eat food that contains gluten, her joints swell. Despite her youth, Ginger is able to stick with her diet because the correlation between what she eats and the swelling and pain is undeniable.
There is no question that Ginger is alive today because she is grain free. Does this sound like a fad diet?
This youngster was an extreme case, but she is only one of the thousands of success stories I’ve treated in my practice in the past fifteen years. You’ll meet lots more of them throughout this book—people who have suffered from ailments as diverse as depression, vertigo, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), osteoarthritis, and eczema. Some of them have overcome debilitating pain and illness. Others have improved their lives in more subtle ways, exchanging discomfort after every meal and sore joints after every physical exertion with energy and exuberance. All of them share one thing in common: by identifying and eliminating the root cause of their pain, they have been able to get on with their (pain-free) lives.
So what is the root cause of their pain? As you’ll soon see, so often it’s the hidden sources of gluten in our diets. Many of us think that if we cut out bread and pasta and buy the official “gluten-free” bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, and other products available at every major health-food store (and increasingly in every supermarket), we’re eating a gluten-free diet. That’s just not the case. I’m going to show you why those so-called gluten-free processed foods (usually made with rice, corn, sorghum, or other grains—as well as soy) can be just as much of a trigger to gluten-sensitive people as a bowl of Wheaties or an English muffin. And you’ll learn how to make smarter choices, ones that will utterly revolutionize the way you feel every day.
Yes, many of my patients lose some weight on a grain-free diet, sometimes a substantial amount. Meanwhile, those who are malnourished as a result of intestinal issues stemming from the grain in their diet are able to add crucially needed pounds. And yes, many of them also report feeling “sharper,” more mentally clear, and more able to focus. But when I see a patient whose joints have bothered her for years enjoy walking again, then resume jogging, and then finally run a 5K, I know I’ve made a measurable difference in her quality of life. When I see another patient who was in too much agony to get off the couch unassisted now able to plop down on the carpet and roughhouse with his grandkids without wincing, that’s a real measure of success.
In addition to their remarkable physical transformations, I like to think that I also offer my patients something else: hope. Hope that there is a solution to their physical and emotional suffering. This book will offer you the same. Follow my Grain-Free, Pain-Free program, and you’ll feel dramatically better within 30 days.
Did You Know?
The suffix itis, derived from Greek and Latin, means “inflammation.” So arthritis is inflammation of a joint; colitis is inflammation of the colon; bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchial tubes; hepatitis is inflammation of the liver. When you see any word ending in itis, it’s describing inflammation. We tend to think of inflammation as swelling, a blister, or redness. However, it can also occur internally without symptoms and, over time, lead to painful diseases. And guess which is one of the common causes? Right, grain consumption.
This book focuses on chronic pain in the joints, muscles, and nerves, appearing as hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, arthritis, hormonal changes that lead to pain, and migraine headaches. And that’s just for starters. Pain can also take the form of emotional pain—depression, for example. When you get used to living with constant pain, you may fool yourself into thinking that it’s normal to get headaches, feel joint pain, or have a persistent backache, even though you may regard yourself as perfectly healthy.
It is vital that you understand that pain is never normal; rather, it is a signal from your body that something is wrong. Likewise, the older you get, the more likely you are to assume that aches and pains are a normal part of aging. Your doctor probably tells you to just accept the discomfort. In my experience, most doctors prescribe a pain pill, espousing the old “it’s just normal arthritis” line. But that’s crazy! This lie has only become “truth” because most doctors reinforce it over and over again. Having seen thousands of people escape the prison of pain—at any age—when they change their eating habits, I refuse to accept this as true—and so should you.1 I can assure you that a pain-free future awaits you.
As we’re now learning, there’s a clear connection between the inflammation caused by certain foods containing gluten (and similar substances) and the pain that manifests itself in our joints and other parts of our body. We’ll talk more about inflammation later, but first: what exactly is gluten, anyway?
The traditional use of the word gluten implies that it is a single protein found in wheat, barley, and rye—and sometimes oats. (All four are grains, which are the seeds of a grass.) End of story. But as you’ll soon see, that definition is overly simplistic. The true definition of gluten is that it is a large family of storage proteins found in all forms of grain, including rice, corn, and many others.2 The word comes from the Latin for glue. Each grain contains different forms of gluten. (The primary gluten in wheat, for example, is gliadin—see “How Much Gluten Is in Different Grains?”.) But for the sake of simplicity, I’ll use the singular gluten when talking about the family or the glutens in more than one grain.
If you are gluten sensitive, you will likely react to any form of gluten in a similar way, regardless of its source. Individual responses can vary greatly, although inflammation and pain are common denominators. Gluten may trigger migraines and gut pain in one person, for example, while another presents with psoriasis and arthritis. I created the term glutenology, meaning the science of gluten, to help people understand that the effect of this family of proteins is more comprehensive than the one currently held by the mainstream gluten community. The celiac disease support network, patients, most doctors, and the food industry still narrowly define gluten and its impact on health.
Some people—an estimated 1 in 133 people—suffer from celiac disease, a chronic intestinal condition resulting from a genetic predisposition (meaning it is inherited) in combination with exposure to forms of gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye. Consuming any of these foods triggers an immune response in celiac patients, which damages the mucosal lining of the intestine. Celiac disease causes pain, bloating, diarrhea, and constipation, as well as bone loss, anemia, and malabsorption of minerals and vitamins. If not diagnosed early, celiac disease can be life threatening. The ancients described the symptoms of celiac disease more than two thousand years ago, but its cause was unknown until the 1950s. A few years ago, when an archeological excavation of a site that dated back to the first century BCE in what is now Tuscany, Italy, unearthed the skeleton of a young woman, it revealed typical damage from celiac disease: failure to thrive and malnutrition.3 Her remains also contained the positive gene marker for gluten sensitivity. Writing about a hundred and fifty years after her death in a treatise on disease, the Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia described the symptoms (“suffering in the bowels”) now known as celiac disease. It has been around a long time.
During World War II, wheat, barley, and rye were rationed in Europe. Dr. Willem Dicke, a Dutch pediatrician who cared for children hospitalized with celiac disease, noticed that the change in their diet (no bread) had eliminated or alleviated their painful symptoms.4 He also observed that after the war ended and the three grains were once again available, the kids relapsed. Bingo! This was the first conclusive evidence that grains trigger celiac disease. But which component in grains was to blame? Initially, researchers targeted the carbohydrates in the grains,5 but soon after, another study concluded that the protein components, the glutens,6 were the culprit.
An unintended consequence of finding the cause of celiac disease was that it mistakenly established the “truth” that these three grains—wheat, barley, and rye—were the sole sources of gluten. (Later oats were added to the list.7 Some studies have found that the gluten in oats does provoke a gluten reaction; others have not.8 For this reason, most celiac centers warn of the potential for a reaction without declaring, “go oat free.”) But here’s the thing: these kids lived in the Netherlands, where wheat, barley, and rye are staple grains. Rice and corn weren’t really a part of the traditional diet in that part of the world, so no one thought to remove them or test their bodies’ reaction to these foods. And for decades after, conventional wisdom said that rice and corn were “safer” grains to consume for people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.
Fact is, rice and corn have both been shown to provoke inflammatory responses.9 But sixty years later this flawed assumption still holds among many physicians. According to Mintel, a market research company, annual sales of “gluten-free” processed foods are expected to hit $15 billion in 2016.10 Products such as crackers, breakfast cereals, and bread made with corn or rice are purported to be acceptable for people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity to consume. In fact, the (supposedly) gluten-free industry is largely responsible for the persistent suffering of the vast proportion of people eating these products. Yes, read that sentence again. The very products being hawked as gluten free are contributing to the poor health of those trying to avoid all gluten.
How do we know that there is gluten in many “gluten-free” products? In one study, 82 percent of patients who had previously strictly followed a traditional gluten-free diet without relief of their symptoms were put on a three-to-six-month diet of whole, unprocessed foods. This meant no so-called gluten-free processed foods. The gluten contamination elimination diet succeeded in eliminating symptoms for most of the subjects.11 In another study, eating such products and avoiding only wheat, barley, rye, and oats did not result in complete recovery (meaning reversal of intestinal damage) for 92 percent of adults with celiac disease.12
The bottom line is this: the majority of gluten-sensitive people who eliminate only wheat, barley, rye, and oats but continue to consume other grains don’t get better!
Discovering the cause of celiac disease was a huge medical breakthrough. To this day, it is the only autoimmune condition for which we know the cause with 100 percent certainty. But the 1 in 133 people who have celiac disease aren’t the only ones who can benefit from a gluten-free diet. Whether non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) exists was hotly contested for years, but recent research has confirmed that it is possible to be sensitive to gluten without having celiac disease.13 In fact, a much larger number of people have this related condition, known simply as gluten sensitivity. Although the research community is excited about this groundbreaking work, most of the medical establishment is either unaware of or unwilling to accept its implications. Most doctors still confuse gluten sensitivity with celiac disease. But gluten sensitivity clearly activates other autoimmune diseases and other manifestations of pain. We know this both from the large body of scientific research and because when patients with diverse autoimmune diseases remove all grains from their diet, they also eliminate the pain and quell other symptoms.
Imagine that you told ten thousand individuals who regularly took aspirin to report their side effects over time. Some would develop ulcers or gastric bleeding, others would have an allergic response, some would experience relief of their symptoms, and a few would vomit blood.14 This single drug provides a variety of responses. It’s the same thing with gluten sensitivity: when gluten-sensitive individuals consume grains, they experience numerous responses.
Gluten sensitivity is not a disease. It is a genetic predisposition, meaning not that the genes are bad, but rather that they activate an inflammatory cascade within the body, triggered by grain consumption. Enough inflammation over time contributes to autoimmunity, meaning your body becomes confused and your immune system starts attacking your own tissues. We know that celiac disease is one of the autoimmune diseases gluten causes. Therefore, we could say everyone with celiac disease is gluten sensitive; however, we cannot say that everyone with gluten sensitivity will develop celiac disease. To date, gluten has been shown to cause or contribute to more than a hundred symptoms and medical conditions.15 If you’re gluten sensitive and continue to eat grains, you’ll eventually develop inflammation, which over time is likely to lead to an autoimmune disease. The most commonly studied gluten-induced disease is celiac disease.
Gluten sensitivity can be elusive, because most people wait to see a doctor until they have a gluten-induced disease or symptoms they can no longer ignore. As of 2012, it was estimated that 18 million Americans have gluten sensitivity.16 That’s 20 to 30 percent of the population! And that number could be considerably higher. Compare that to the less than 1 percent of the population with diagnosed celiac disease.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GLUTEN SENSITIVITY AND CELIAC DISEASE
Celiac disease is caused by gluten sensitivity, but celiac is only one of many autoimmune diseases also triggered by gluten sensitivity.
If you or a family member is genetically predisposed to be sensitive to gluten, the sooner you confirm that and begin to proactively deal with it, the better. Gluten-induced damage can begin at conception and continue through the gluten in breast milk (assuming Mom is eating foods with gluten in them).17 A family history of gluten sensitivity increases the likelihood that you share this predisposition.
All progress starts with the unvarnished truth, but until you deal with the truth right in front of your nose, you cannot move forward. My mission is to shine a big light on the myths perpetuated about gluten (out of ignorance, an unwillingness to acknowledge error, or for mercenary reasons), reveal the truth based on the latest research and the experiences of thousands of people, and change the message. That message is based on a definition of gluten that hasn’t evolved over more than sixty years! Only when you understand and accept that truth will you be able to rid yourself of pain and restore your health.
Let’s look at the eight myths and eight truths that underlie the No-Grain, No-Pain program.
Myth 1: Gluten is found only in wheat, barley, and rye—and sometimes oats.
Not true! Gluten is not a single protein found in a few grains; rather, it refers to a huge family of proteins. And only one protein, gliadin, found in wheat, barley, and rye, has been extensively studied. Each grain has one or more types of gluten proteins. A recent study identified four hundred new forms of gluten, forty of which were more damaging than the form of gluten for which doctors most commonly test.18
Myth 2: If you are gluten-sensitive, you can safely eat whole grain substitutes such as corn and rice.
Not true! All grains contain some form of gluten. Research shows that corn (and corn oil) also produces numerous intestinal and health problems for the gluten sensitive.19 Remember, corn is a grain, not a vegetable—and it is in thousands of “Frankenfoods,” aka junk-food products. (We’ll discuss this in greater detail in part 2.) For a list of hidden corn–based ingredients, visit glutenfreesociety.org/hidden-corn-based-ingredients.
Myth 3: Eating dairy products is safe because they are gluten free.
Not true! It has been found that milk “looks” like gluten to your immune system, so if you’re gluten sensitive your immune system may react to it.20
Myth 4: If you don’t have celiac disease, you can eat all the gluten you want.
Not true! Celiac disease is just the tip of the gluten-sensitivity iceberg and only one of many autoimmune and other conditions it can cause.21
Myth 5: Gluten sensitivity is the same thing as celiac disease.
Not true! Most people (and most health professionals) think gluten affects just the gut. They don’t realize that gluten sensitivity is in fact indicated by a host of other symptoms, from headaches to muscle pain, arthritis, and hypothyroidism. Celiac disease is only one manifestation of gluten sensitivity, which is a genetic state that can express itself through multiple painful disorders when triggered by gluten.
Myth 6: Lab testing for gluten sensitivity is accurate.
Not true! There is no lab test for all of the different forms of gluten. When doctors test blood for gluten reactions, the test measures only one type of gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye, creating a potential false sense of security. Even the most progressive lab in the world only looks at a dozen distinct gluten proteins.
Myth 7: Eating a gluten-free diet is dangerous if you’re not gluten sensitive.
Not true! In fact, if one member of the household is gluten sensitive, getting (and keeping) that family member on a gluten-free diet works best if the whole family supports him/her by eating the same way. There is no scientific evidence that humans need to eat grains.
Myth 8: Gluten-free processed foods are safe.
Not true! These foods are usually full of grains (and soy) to which gluten-sensitive people are likely to react.22 Don’t eat these foods if you value your health.
HOW MUCH GLUTEN IS IN DIFFERENT GRAINS?
GRAIN
PRIMARY FORM OF GLUTEN
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL PROTEIN
Wheat
Gliadin
69
Rye
Secalin
30–50
Barley
Hordein
46–52
Oats
Avenin
12–16
Millet
Panicin
40
Corn
Zein
55
Rice
Oryzenin
5
Sorghum
Kafirin
52
Teff
Penniseiten
11
When Ginger became my patient, her condition was a matter of life and death. Fortunately, not all grain-induced conditions are life threatening, but chronic pain certainly does threaten the quality of life. Such as the case with Lynette, who came to see me initially suffering from migraine headaches, stomach pain, insomnia, severe fatigue, sinus congestion, and blurred vision. She had been hospitalized for almost a week due to intestinal inflammation, but her traditional medical treatment had not led to satisfactory improvement. And her debilitating headaches and fatigue made her unable to take care of her family.
What had made her so sick?
You guessed it: grain. Lynette was gluten sensitive, but in combination with the inflammation from her intestinal infection, she was experiencing a one-two punch. Her intestines were so badly damaged that she was severely malnourished, deficient in ten different nutrients including iron; carnitine; vitamins B12, B6, D, and E; glutamine, glutathione, chromium, and overall antioxidants. Although deficiencies of vitamin B12 and iron are known to cause migraine headaches, unfortunately most doctors don’t measure them. They are also the two most common deficiencies caused by grain consumption.
Within a month of changing her diet and correcting her nutritional deficiencies, Lynette’s symptoms were dramatically improved. She had more energy. The headaches had dramatically subsided in intensity and frequency. She was sleeping well. Within two months, her symptoms were completely resolved. All of them!
Here is the first thing I want you to do before you start the No-Grain, No-Pain program. Just as you would weigh yourself before beginning a weight-loss program, measure your pain level, using the simple chart, opposite, as well as in the self-test; below. That way you can establish a baseline for both the intensity and the frequency of pain. This will enable you to quantify your improvement over the next 30 days and beyond. After all, you need to know your starting point to get where you’re going.
Pain is relative. My tolerance of pain may be very different from yours. That makes pain difficult to quantify. Also, we tend to forget the actual experience of pain over time. This explains why research on pain can be so confusing and so subjective. But perform this quick pain test now so you can track how your pain level diminishes over time.
As the title of this book promises, if you think you are gluten sensitive you may simply stop eating grains to see if you feel better within 30 days. After reading this chapter, you probably have a pretty good idea whether or not you are indeed gluten sensitive. Nonetheless, it could be motivating to take the following self-test. You may well see that something you never connected to the source of your pain is actually a factor, or that two separate conditions may share a common cause you hadn’t previously associated.
Are you experiencing any of the following symptoms, or have you been diagnosed with any of these conditions? If you answer yes to two or more of these questions, you may be gluten sensitive. If so, the sooner you stop eating grains—even small amounts can cause damage—the better. If you see improvement after 30 days, you may decide to forgo any testing and just continue to follow the Grain-Free, Pain-Free program. However, if you need confirmation to motivate you to stick to the program going forward, or simply for peace of mind, you can opt for the conclusive approach of genetic testing, which is discussed in chapter 11.
GUT SYMPTOMS
Do you crave cake, cookies, and other baked goods?
Do you crave high-sugar foods?
Do you frequently experience intestinal bloating or gas, especially after eating?
Have you been diagnosed with (or suspect you have) irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)?
Do you often experience heartburn, acid reflux, or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)?
Do you often have indigestion?
How about constipation?
What about diarrhea?
Do you feel nauseous or vomit often?
Do you have difficulty gaining weight?
Are you deficient in iron?
HEAD AND NERVOUS SYSTEM SYMPTOMS
Do you have frequent headaches?
Are your sinuses often congested?
Do you get migraine headaches?
Do you suffer with frequent vertigo (dizziness)?
Is your memory poor?
Do you have difficulty recalling words?
Do you experience brain fog?
Do you find it hard to concentrate?
Have you been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD?
Are you depressed?
Are you often anxious?
Do you have neuropathy in your arms and legs (numbness, pins and needles, sensations of heat and cold, or dull pain)?
Are you irritable for no reason?
Do your moods swing back and forth?
Do you have restless leg syndrome?
Have you been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome?
Have you been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s?
MUSCLE AND JOINT SYMPTOMS
Do you have frequent joint pain with or without activity?
Do your muscles ache chronically?
Do you have migrating joint pain (without injury)?
Do you have frequent muscle spasms (especially in the legs)?
Have you been diagnosed with fibromyalgia?
Have you been diagnosed with autoimmune arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, or Sjögren’s?
Do your bones hurt?
Are you feeling growing pains?
Do you have osteoporosis or osteopenia?
HORMONAL SYMPTOMS
Are you always fatigued?
Are you unable to lose weight?
Do you have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep?
Are you unable to conceive?
Do you have a history of miscarriage or spontaneous abortion?
Do you have menstrual problems or PMS?
Do you have thyroid disease?
Have you been diagnosed with hyperprolactinemia?
Have you been diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes?
Are you hypoglycemic?
Do you have polycystic ovary syndrome?
Do you have endometriosis?
IMMUNE SYMPTOMS
Do you get chronic urinary tract infections?
Do you have chronic respiratory infections?
Do you have asthma?
Do you have vaginal, oral, or nail bed yeast infections?
SKIN PROBLEMS
Do you get fever blisters or mouth ulcers?
Do you have a skin rash?
Do you have eczema?
Do you have psoriasis?
Have you been diagnosed with dermatitis herpetiformis? (This skin condition is caused by gluten consumption. If you have been diagnosed with this disease, you are gluten sensitive.)
Do you have vitiligo?
OTHER INTERNAL DISEASES/PROBLEMS
Do you have gallbladder problems?
Are your liver enzymes elevated?
Do you have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease?
Do you have autoimmune hepatitis?
Do you have lymphoma?
Do you have platelet disorders?
Once you test your pain level and your sensitivity to grains, your answers will give you a good idea of whether this program is going to work for you (or a family member) or not. (Of course, I know it’s going to work, but what’s important is that you know it, too.) To fully understand how pain and grain are entwined, you’ll want to read this whole book. You’ll learn the sources of your pain and, of course, how to banish that pain once and for all. Pain is such a huge and varied subject that I devote the following four chapters to the whys, hows, and wheres of grain-induced pain. In part 2, we’ll get into the specifics of the true gluten-free diet.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Gluten is a kind of protein found in all grains.
Celiac disease was initially identified as an immune system response to three (and later four) grains.
Eliminating the classic three or four gluten grains—barley, rye, oats, and wheat (BROW)—from the diet does not remedy all symptoms in the vast majority of people with celiac disease.
Celiac disease is only one example of gluten sensitivity.
Gluten sensitivity leads to a hyperimmune response, which results in inflammation and pain and can appear in almost any part of the body.
People with gluten sensitivity respond well when they remove all grains from their diet.
Pain is never normal and signals that something is wrong that needs to be addressed.
Each gluten-sensitive individual may respond differently to eating grains.
BONUS FEATURE
Video on gluten sensitivity: What Is It?: glutenfreesociety.org/video-tutorial/gluten-sensitivity-what-is-it.
Table of Contents
Foreword JJ Virgin ix
How to Use This Book xiii
Part 1 The Pain in the Grain: The Science Behind the Grain-Free Lifestyle 1
Chapter 1 What's the Grain-Pain Connection?: Why "Healthy" Foods Make Us Feel So Bad 5
Chapter 2 Where Does it Hurt?: Escaping the Pain-Futility Cycle for Good 25
Chapter 3 Pain Caused By Grainflammation: Building Strong Muscles and Avoiding Gluten-Free Whiplash 49
Chapter 4 Pain Caused By Imbalances in the Gut: The Truth about "Leaky Gut" and How Diet Can Heal (or Aggravate) It 69
Chapter 5 Pain Caused by Obesity: Blame It on "Grainbesity" 95
Part 2 The 30-Day No-Grain, No-Pain Program 115
Chapter 6 What to Eat-And Not to Eat: Change Your Diet and Banish Your Pain 119
Chapter 7 Which Supplements Help Eliminate Pain?: Speed Healing by Replacing Meds with Vitamins, Minerals, and Other Nutrients 143
Chapter 8 Days 1 to 15: Kick Off Your Plan by Eliminating All Grains 161
Chapter 9 Days 16 to 30: Banish the Last of Your Pain in the Challenge Phase 191
Part 3 Beyond 30 Days 215
Chapter 10 Beyond Food: How to Minimize Damage from Toxins That Can Compound the Effects of Grain 219
Chapter 11 Beyond Self-Help: Functional Medicine Is the Future of Medicine 241
Part 4 Grain-Free, Pain-Free Recipes 257
Acknowledgments 291
Valuable Resources 295
Notes 297
Glossary 329
Index 337
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