Top 7 Tips to Enhance the Results of the Gluten Free Diet

It is really sad that many people make themselves crazy trying to stay 100% gluten free post-diagnosis with Celiac or gluten intolerance, but often still have some pretty bad symptoms that just will not go away. I know your pain people! This article is about what has helped me heal up my leaky gut and resolve some of those pesky symptoms. This article goes way beyond giving you a list of the other foods you are intolerant to. I know I am only part-way through healing my leaky gut, but I have come very far in my healing over the past several years and am yearnin’ to share my learnin’!

1. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD):  Great for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder or who still suffer from tummy trouble despite being gluten and dairy-free. This diet is 100% grain and processed sugar-free. That means no rice. Scary, I know. I went on this diet with trepidation when I first went gluten-free and after 2 days on the SCD I began to have normal bowel movements after months of diarrhea. The constant bloating and blood sugar dips and peaks I had been having went away as well. I felt so much better that I did not care that I could not eat rice cakes. I still very rarely eat grains and it just makes my life so much simpler. 1,000′s of kids and adults follow this diet all over the world with great success. And they don’t drop dead from grain deprivation!
2. Enzymes and Probiotics: If you are gluten intolerant or have Celiac Disease, your digestive system has gone through hell. You most likely do not produce enough enzymes to properly digest your food and absorb all the nutrients you take in. So you need enzymes. I also started to take enzymes before going out to eat after reading  this article and speaking with others that had positive results. The probiotics help fill your digestive tract with good bacteria that is often destroyed when you have Celiac or gluten intolerance. Having enough good bacteria in your digestive tract is very important not only for proper digestion but for immune system health. Consult with a health professional about the best types of enzymes and probiotics to take, and make sure they are free of all the things you are intolerant to. Many people don’t understand how to correctly take probiotics and have negative results, so check out this article to educate yourself.
3. Green Smoothies and Blended  Soups: When I first went GF I could not tolerate raw veggies. But if you can, I highly recommend green smoothies and blended soup. These nutritional powerhouses are super easy to digest — unless your bowel is not in a state of intense inflammation. The blended colorful veggies will flood your body with nutrients which will ease cravings for foods that make you sick, and give you lots of energy. Put some allergy-free protein powder and chia or flaxseeds in the green smoothies to make them hold you until lunch. Just start with 1t of the seeds at first until you can tolerate more fiber and work up to 1-2T of seeds in the smoothie. The chia and flax help reduce gut inflammation–this is a good thing. Work some blended soups into your lunch or dinner menu as well, and you are going to be on your way to feeling a lot better FAST with all the antioxidants flooding your system from the veggies. Follow this link to some recipes to get your started with the green soups: http://www.learnrawfood.com/newsletter9_soup.htm
4. Metabolic Typing: I went through a period of constantly feeling sleepy after I ate–even while I was following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I tried out two types of food combining successfully, and actually switch between the two depending on the season and the type of feedback my body gives me. The first type of food combining is based on eating a certain combo of macronutrients based on your metabolic type, you can take a quiz to determine your metabolic type here: http://www.cbn.com/LivingTheLife/Store/bookSamples/WinningbyLosing_excerpt.aspx. The second type is described in #5:
5. Food Combinging and Raw and Living Foods: The second type of food combining I learned from my research and experimentation with the raw vegan diet. I experimented with avoiding mixing certain food groups in one meal; eating certain foods in particular in their raw state; soaking and even sometimes sprouting nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes. Once I did all this, my post-meal energy drop quickly disappeared. Practicing these principles may help you if you have compromised immune and digestive systems and want to detox your body.  Here is a quick guide to food combining and the raw and living food diet: http://www.therawdiet.com/food_combining.html
6. Stress Relief:You MUST learn how to relax if you want to really heal your digestive system, adrenal system, and immune system—all of which take a huge beating when you have been eating foods you are intolerant to. Just removing the foods you are intolerant to is not enough, and hyper-focusing on diet can make you even more emotionally wound up. Our nervous systems often get stuck in a state of hyper-arousal once we learn about all the toxins in food and the environment. This fear alone causes inflammation in the gut and impedes the activiation of the body’s natural  healing forces. So learn how to meditate or practice another form of deep relaxation, visit a practitioner who does biofeedback, get a massage, or just make sure you take a walk everyday. Seeing a healing touch practitioner helped me really learn how to relax and stimulate my body’s natural healing ability.  Contact me for a referral to a really great healing touch practitioner. I recommend this biofeedback practitioner in the Bay Area: Shiva Pourazima, ND, CBT. She is a naturopath who really understands how to heal the body form the impact of gluten intolerance.
7. Eat Organic as Much as Possible: If you are in the process of healing a leaky gut, then all the hormones and pesticides from non-organic food are leaking out into your bloodsteam and wreaking total havoc on your healing process–causing inflammation, hormone imbalances, thyroid problems, and acting as neurotoxins. Educate yourself about the most important foods to buy organic. It is essential that the foods you eat most frequently are organic. There are some foods very low in pesticides:  this list outlines the foods that are OK to buy conventional. It is important that the animal protein you eat not only be organic, but also grass-fed (especially beef)  to get the most nutritional benefit. I know it is usually more expensive to shop this way, but you health is more than worth it.

Bonus Tip: Don’t eat anything with an ingredient you can’t pronounce. Unless it is a fresh exotic fruit or veggie.

If you try all these tips and don’t have a major health breakthrough, I would be really surprised!