How to Treat Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease

The treatment for celiac disease and gluten intolerance is a gluten-free diet, which means abstaining from any food that contains gluten. In August 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a standard for gluten-free labeling. According to the rule, in order for a food to bear the label “gluten-free” it must be:

• Naturally gluten-free. Naturally gluten-free grains include rice, corn, quinoa, sorghum, flax and amaranth seed.
• Any gluten-containing grains must have been refined in such a way to remove the gluten. The final product may not contain more than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten.

Wheat proteins can cause leaky gut and associated health problems.Glutinous proteins called prolamines increase the permeability of your intestinal tract, thereby sensitizing your immune system. Although a gluten-free diet will not cure leaky gut it can make it more tolerable. But addressing leaky gut is an important issue.

A blood test can verify whether or not you actually have celiac disease. If you do, you’ll need to be extremely vigilant, as exposure to gluten could make you severely ill and threaten your long-term health and longevity. If you’re gluten intolerant, you do not need to be as strict with your diet and you may eventually discover your own tolerance level to gluten.

For example, one piece of bread may not result in any discomfort, but two pieces, or bread two days in a row, might. Typically, avoiding gluten for a week or two is enough to see significant improvement. Considering the many potential culprits at play, be it wheat hybridization, gluten, other wheat proteins, FODMAPs or glyphosate contamination, it’s not surprising that wheat and other grains cause such problems for so many.

In my experience, nearly everyone benefits from avoiding grains, even whole sprouted grains, whether you have a gluten intolerance or not, and that’s because grains have high net carbs and avoiding them will help improve your mitochondrial function. Impairing mitochondrial function can exacerbate health problems related to insulin resistance, such as overweight, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and more serious problems like heart disease and cancer.