Category: Health

Coeliac Disease Awareness Week Post #5

Good morning!

Today I’d like to share with you some practical tips on reading labels to enable you to follow a strict gluten free diet for the treatment of Coeliac Disease (CD). Often people who don’t have CD are surprised at what gluten is in and how they don’t really know how to read a label correctly, the following tips can help to guide you on reading labels, whether or not you have CD:

Label reading:

  1. First you are looking for the presence of gluten, wheat, barley, rye or oats. As these are allergens, they have to be labelled in one way or another. If the food contains any of these as a main ingredient it will be listed in the ingredients list and often will be in bold. If the source of gluten is in another ingredient it will be in a bracket for example if the food has soy sauce in it it will appear like this: soy sauce (wheat) OR soy sauce (wheat). Then at the end of the ingredients it will say Contains gluten OR Contains wheat. If it doesn’t contain any of the allergens but it could contain traces of the allergen and the manufacturer decides to declare it (it is voluntary to declare that a food may contain traces) then it will look like this: May contain traces of gluten and it may be in bold. This can be used for any of the allergens.
  2. The Coeliac Australia guidelines state that if there are no declared allergens (gluten or wheat, rye, barley and oats) and it doesn’t have a may contain statement on it, then it is safe for people with Coeliac disease to consume.
  3. If a food has been tested to be gluten free so it contains less than 3ppm (in Australia), it will be labelled as gluten free. The gluten free label overrides what is in the ingredient list. So for example, glucose syrup made from wheat is so processed that it doesn’t contain the gluten protein so it is gluten free and safe for people with CD to eat, they still have to declare that it contains wheat (as the source is wheat and not suitable for people with a wheat allergy), this can be labelled as gluten-free. The only exceptions to this rule is when a food is imported, imported food is supposed to have a new label stuck over the original label if the original label doesn’t comply with Australian labelling standards, however I have seen some products labelled as gluten-free that contain oats – in this case the gluten-free label doesn’t override the ingredients list, I could tell this because the source country was the US and I know they have a different rule about labelling oats there.

 

I hope this has helped to clear any confusion on reading labels.

Thanks for reading my post,

Erin.

 

 

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Coeliac Disease Awareness Week – Post #3

 

CAW_Poster_puzzle cropped

Picture courtesy of Coeliac Australia, http://www.coeliac.org.au

 

Good Morning!

Wasn’t it great to have a day off yesterday. Its always a treat to have an extra day to spend with loved ones or doing something you really enjoy.

Last night, I went to a meditation class at CERES in East Brunswick and it was a nice way to recharge and start the week. I know, meditation isn’t easy but being ‘perfect’ at mediating isn’t the goal, meditation is a time to be in the present, to be aware of the body, of your thoughts, of how you are feeling at that moment and to just observe, that is it.

Meditation can come in many forms – many people find gardening, cooking, singing, playing music, painting, drawing, being creative, walking and many other activities to be a form of meditation. Sitting down in one position isn’t necessary either, last nights meditation class utilised sitting (either on cushions or on a chair) or lying down and walking meditation. It’s nice to change positions which can break the feeling of it taking a long time or getting aches and pains in certain places in the body. Being mindful and spending the time to meditate (in whichever form it is for you) is a fantastic practice for yourself but also for others as meditation helps people to be calmer and with deeper practice to be more compassionate, which can only be a good thing for the world.

Anyway, this post is about Coeliac Disease (CD) so I will leave the talk about meditation and move on to today’s topic:

The Naturopathic treatment of Coeliac Disease

The medical view of the treatment of CD is simply to go on a strict gluten free diet. Which sounds like a great treatment, as no are medications needed. It certainly is a great start however the treatment of CD is not as simple as just going a gluten free diet and then expecting to feel better.

CD causes inflammation in the small intestine and in other parts of the body – often there is widespread inflammation. Which we don’t really get told much about, if you have CD, do you wonder why you are still fatigued on a GF diet? Do you wonder why your joints ache? Do you wonder why you get headaches? And the list goes on (see associated conditions on the Coeliac Australia website:  http://www.coeliac.org.au/associated-conditions/).

Part of the reason for this ongoing pain is inflammation. Eating a GF diet, eliminates the trigger of the immune system which causes the inflammation so you are treating the cause by going GF, however the inflammatory pathways have been ‘switched on’ and just cutting out gluten doesn’t automatically ‘switch off’ the inflammation.

Having CD causes damage to the gut wall, this in turn leads to ‘intestinal permeability’. Intestinal permeability (also known as leaky gut), is when the tight gap junctions that hold together the intestinal cells, have been compromised, this allows digested particles such as proteins and other metabolic toxins to ‘leak’ through the cells and go into the blood stream, which causes an immune response to food proteins that are normally accepted and utilised by the body. This ongoing immune response leads to chronic inflammation. This is often why people with CD have multiple food intolerance’s. The inflammation occurs in other parts of the body, so if joints become inflamed it causes joint pain which can develop into arthritis and this can happen almost anywhere in the body.

Damage to the gut wall, reduces the ability of the body to absorb nutrients which is another reason for many of the associated conditions. Fatigue is a big issue for anyone with auto-immune disease, this is caused by low nutrient status especially iron and B vitamins and due to the ongoing inflammation, which uses lots of the body’s energy that should be in reserve for exercise and daily activities.

Anti-inflammatory foods and herbs are used to counteract the inflammation (anti-inflammatory drugs are not a good option as this causes more harm to the digestive system) and cutting out pro-inflammatory foods reduces more inflammation from occurring. I will elaborate on this in an upcoming blog post.

Getting the digestive system back on track is very important. This is individual and depends on the extent of the damage that CD has caused. I will often prescribe digestive enzymes as the ability to release the enzymes in the intestinal wall is reduced when CD is active, this is extremely important for people with newly diagnosed CD. I will assess the function of the stomach and ensure there is enough hydrochloric acid in the stomach to breakdown food properly before it reaches the small intestine. Repair of the intestinal wall is very important, once a person is on a GF diet, repair of the intestinal wall can commence, this includes prebiotics, probiotics, antimicrobial herbs, gut healing herbs and nutrients. I assess client’s nutritional status, often nutrients such as vitamin D, iron, B12, calcium and magnesium are low, increasing these using supplements and diet is vital but not until the gut can actually absorb the nutrients effectively.

As you can see, there is much more to improving your health when you have CD or any auto-immune condition.For people with CD, going GF is really the start of your journey, to completely return to good health it is important to reduce inflammation, improve the immune system and treat any nutritional deficiencies.

I hope you enjoyed reading today’s post.

Thank you,

Erin

 

 

For individualised treatment, it is advised to see a healthcare professional. Visit my contact page, if you wish to contact me or for any appointment inquiries.

This article is not intended to replace medical advice or treatment provided by a healthcare professional.

5 tips for a healthy December

  1. Breathe:  don’t let the stress of Christmas shopping get to you, quick meditation sessions each morning and night really helps to calm the mind and reduce stress.
  •  Take 5-10 minutes in the morning and evening to sit still and breathe. Remember there is no wrong way to meditate, so sit somewhere comfortable and quiet, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth or nose. You can listen to soft relaxing music but you don’t have to.

2. Eat well: eating healthy leading up to Christmas day and between Christmas day and New Year’s Eve can help to prevent any Christmas weight gain and unwanted symptoms. Staying healthy during this time can be really easy, there are many recipes online for healthy versions of our favourite treats such as:

  • Raw “cheesecake” –so easy to make, no cooking required and tastes delicious.
  • Bliss balls – you can make any flavour combination you like
  • Avocado chocolate mousse – freeze to make ‘’ice-cream’’

3. Relax: take some time out to do something for yourself that is relaxing. It might be something simple like going for slow walk, having a bath, or it could be a bit more lavish like having a massage or visiting a day spa.

4. Exercise: exercise is great to increase the feel good hormones, reduce stress and improve fitness.  Do something you enjoy, it can be going to the gym or going for a run or other forms of exercise such as team sports, dancing or rock climbing.

5. Have fun: don’t forget to have fun! Enjoy the holiday season with your family and friends or join a laughter club – http://www.laughterclubsvic.org

Laughter is a great medicine!

Oh and last but not least – Enjoy the holiday season in moderation!