A little while back I was finding myself really frustrated. I was consistently not feeling well. Not in a 'I just got gluten by accident' kind of way, but in a general, all over 'I never actually feel great' kind of way. This general feeling of not being 100% is pretty common for someone with celiac disease. One of the most irritating things I hear from people is, "well you must be totally fine as long as you don't get gluten right?". NO! People with celiac disease are not fine all the time as long as they don't accidentally get gluten. Celiac disease is a CHRONIC disease — that means there is no cure, and it has potential to cause chronic problems.
While not eating gluten will stop the mass destruction of your body, there are a ton of other factors at play. For starters, the body is usually in a constant state of inflammation (even getting gluten by accident a few times per year can cause this). Every time someone with celiac disease accidentally ingests gluten, they are adding fuel to that inflammation fire in their body. Even though they may feel better after a few weeks, there is a systemic autoimmune reaction happening in the body. People with celiac disease are also prone to other autoimmune conditions like Thyroid Disease or Multiple Sclerosis. So no, being a celiac is not as simple as not eating gluten.
Back to my original point though — Lately I have not been feeling great, and it was really starting to frustrate me. I have spent the last ten years of my life not 'feeling great' and to be honest it is really starting to piss me off. So following a vacation I recently took, (on which I ate a ton of rice, corn and gluten free bread) I decided to give my body a break from all grains. For the last three weeks have stuck to a diet of organic lean protein, fruits, vegetables and nuts — and I feel about 90% better than I was. Even though all the grains in my diet were gluten free, they were clearly bothering me. Here is the interesting part, I found out WHY they were bothering me: Lectins.
Lectins are a type of protein that can bind to cell membranes. They are sugar-binding and become the “glyco” portion of glycoconjugates on the membranes. Lectins offer a way for molecules to stick together without getting the immune system involved, which can influence cell-cell interaction. Sounds familiar right? A protein that offers a sticky base for molecules to stay together? I spoke with my naturalpathic doctor about this, and he let me know this:
Lectins are specialized proteins commonly found in fruits, vegetables, sea food, grains beans and seeds. They are highly resistant to digestion and are able to attach to cells in the gut and blood cells. Certain food lectins may trigger inflammatory responses and contribute to food sensitivities, cravings, digestive disorders, weight gain and post meal fatigue. Different people have different sensitivities to various lectins (some people may react to corn, while others find rice makes them feel ill). Sometimes you can tell when a particular food has disagreed with you and avoid it, while other foods may have been slowly eroding your health without you noticing it because you have become used to the low-grade inflammation in the GI tracts.
This actually makes perfect sense for those of us with celiac disease. We are so used to the tidal wave reactions we get from eating gluten, that we may not notice the slow and much quieter reactions we get to eating other foods that bother us. Since I have cut out all grains (corn and rice were the two big ones I was eating on a regular basis), I have felt so much better. I have slowly reintroduced gluten free oats, and those seem to agree with me just fine. But each person is different — and if your lucky, then you may not have any lectin allergies at all.
For any celiac who is still not feeling great I suggest looking into this issue more, and seeing if grain elimination is a good fit for you. Again, each person is different, and this is a decision I made for me — you have to make your own dietary decisions. My hope is that this information helps some of you who may be experiencing the same issues I was having! I will admit I had a brief moment where I thought, 'are you f%^*$# kidding me? There is more I can't eat? But after three weeks of no grains, I feel so much better it doesn't even matter. The goal is to be healthy, and that is what makes me happy, not eating a piece of bread. Just some grain-free food for thought!
— The Healthy Celiac
While not eating gluten will stop the mass destruction of your body, there are a ton of other factors at play. For starters, the body is usually in a constant state of inflammation (even getting gluten by accident a few times per year can cause this). Every time someone with celiac disease accidentally ingests gluten, they are adding fuel to that inflammation fire in their body. Even though they may feel better after a few weeks, there is a systemic autoimmune reaction happening in the body. People with celiac disease are also prone to other autoimmune conditions like Thyroid Disease or Multiple Sclerosis. So no, being a celiac is not as simple as not eating gluten.
Back to my original point though — Lately I have not been feeling great, and it was really starting to frustrate me. I have spent the last ten years of my life not 'feeling great' and to be honest it is really starting to piss me off. So following a vacation I recently took, (on which I ate a ton of rice, corn and gluten free bread) I decided to give my body a break from all grains. For the last three weeks have stuck to a diet of organic lean protein, fruits, vegetables and nuts — and I feel about 90% better than I was. Even though all the grains in my diet were gluten free, they were clearly bothering me. Here is the interesting part, I found out WHY they were bothering me: Lectins.
Lectins are a type of protein that can bind to cell membranes. They are sugar-binding and become the “glyco” portion of glycoconjugates on the membranes. Lectins offer a way for molecules to stick together without getting the immune system involved, which can influence cell-cell interaction. Sounds familiar right? A protein that offers a sticky base for molecules to stay together? I spoke with my naturalpathic doctor about this, and he let me know this:
Lectins are specialized proteins commonly found in fruits, vegetables, sea food, grains beans and seeds. They are highly resistant to digestion and are able to attach to cells in the gut and blood cells. Certain food lectins may trigger inflammatory responses and contribute to food sensitivities, cravings, digestive disorders, weight gain and post meal fatigue. Different people have different sensitivities to various lectins (some people may react to corn, while others find rice makes them feel ill). Sometimes you can tell when a particular food has disagreed with you and avoid it, while other foods may have been slowly eroding your health without you noticing it because you have become used to the low-grade inflammation in the GI tracts.
This actually makes perfect sense for those of us with celiac disease. We are so used to the tidal wave reactions we get from eating gluten, that we may not notice the slow and much quieter reactions we get to eating other foods that bother us. Since I have cut out all grains (corn and rice were the two big ones I was eating on a regular basis), I have felt so much better. I have slowly reintroduced gluten free oats, and those seem to agree with me just fine. But each person is different — and if your lucky, then you may not have any lectin allergies at all.
For any celiac who is still not feeling great I suggest looking into this issue more, and seeing if grain elimination is a good fit for you. Again, each person is different, and this is a decision I made for me — you have to make your own dietary decisions. My hope is that this information helps some of you who may be experiencing the same issues I was having! I will admit I had a brief moment where I thought, 'are you f%^*$# kidding me? There is more I can't eat? But after three weeks of no grains, I feel so much better it doesn't even matter. The goal is to be healthy, and that is what makes me happy, not eating a piece of bread. Just some grain-free food for thought!
— The Healthy Celiac
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