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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.

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Coeliac Disease Awareness Week – Post #2

Good Morning!

Today’s topic is about following a strict gluten-free diet for the treatment of Coeliac disease (CD). Now that you understand what Coeliac disease is (if not checkout yesterday’s post here: https://www.facebook.com/erinhunternaturalhealthservices) I can move on to the good, the bad and the ugly (well it’s not really ugly but you know what I mean!) of following a strict gluten-free (GF) diet.

Following a strict GF diet means that you have to avoid the obvious sources of gluten such as bread, cereals, pasta and pastries however there are also hidden sources of gluten that need to be avoided – gluten is actually in an extremely large proportion of processed foods, it’s pretty unbelievable where it can be lurking!

People with CD can’t have any gluten – we cannot tolerate any more than 50mg of gluten which is 1/100th of a slice of wheat bread, that is extremely small.

Gluten and similar proteins that trigger the auto immune response in people with CD are in wheat, rye, barley and oats. However gluten is added to foods as a thickener, filler, emulsifier and duster.

Gluten can be found hidden in the following foods:

  • Sauces: soya sauce, BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, marinades, salad dressings, oyster sauce, sweet soya sauce (Kecap Manis), gravy, passata sauce, pasta sauces, tomato paste – always check the label of any sauce you are going to use for someone with CD
  • Chips and biscuits: packets of chips plain or flavoured can contain gluten – in plain chips the presence of gluten is usually due to cross contamination due to where the product is processed and flavoured chips is usually due to the actual flavouring containing gluten. Some rice crackers/biscuits still contain gluten due to processing or due to flavouring.
  • Drinks: Yes I know it can be in drinks! Beer is probably the obvious one but other drinks are iced tea, flavoured soft-drinks especially ginger beer, cordials and flavoured waters.
  • Condiments: Salt, pepper, spices and herbs – it is due to them being processed on the same line as gluten containing foods.
  • Sweets: Chocolate, lollies, ice-cream, ice-cream cones, icing mixture, icing sugar, baking powder, dessert syrups, chocolate chips and toppings.
  • Canned goods – legumes, tuna, tomatoes and baked beans.
  • Frozen meals/pre-made meals and salads.
  • Potato products: wedges, hot chips, hash browns, potato gems etc.
  • Vegetable burgers, vegetarian products (wheat is in vegetarian Quorn products and in many other vegetarian/vegan products), vegetarian sausages, vegetarian “mince” and seitan.
  • BBQ chicken, rissoles, sausages, marinated meats, deli meats and filled or stuffed meats/poultry and coated meats or fish.

This list is not exhaustive by any means, but it gives you a good idea of where gluten may be hiding.

It is imperative for anyone with CD to check every single label of anything we are going to eat. So of course cutting down on commercially processed foods is one strategy to help avoid hidden gluten. The hardest thing for many people can be eating out and explaining it to your dinner hosts!!

Gluten is found in:

  • Anything containing wheat except glucose syrup and alcoholic spirits such as vodka – these are so processed the protein is no longer present. Common wheat containing foods are: bread, pasta, pizza, pastries, biscuits, cous-cous, semolina, bread crumbs, wraps, bread rolls, muffins, cakes, beers, wheat flour, gluten flour (high content of gluten usually used in bread making) and wheaten cornflour. Don’t forget about other types of wheat  and alternative names for wheat such as: spelt, kamut, durum, khorsan wheat, Einkom wheat, triticale, Emmer, grano farro, freekeh and bulgur (often in tabbouleh salad).
  • Rye – bread, wraps, pasta, cakes. Rye often is mixed with wheat in breads and pastas.
  • Oats – porridge, flour, biscuits, oat milk, oat flakes, oat groats.
  • Barley – malt, barley malt cordial, malt vinegar. Barley malt is hidden in many foods such as chocolate.

So, what can people with CD eat????

Naturally GF foods such as:

  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Legumes/beans
  • GF grains: rice, corn, quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, millet, Jobs tears (Hato Mugi), Sorghum and teff.
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Meat
  • Herbs and spices (unless they have a may contain gluten statement on the packet)
  • Tamari (always check the label – tamari is a soya sauce that is traditionally made without wheat)

There are lots of alternative products around that are GF to replace the foods that gluten is usually found in such as breads, pastas, pastries, cakes, biscuits etc.

Keep checking my facebook page for Coeliac Disease Awareness posts, upcoming tips and recipes.

Thanks for reading,

Erin