Gluten free but still having Symptoms? Find out why this might be happening.

Autoimmune conditions? Inflammatory conditions? Coeliac? Non Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS)?

All of my client’s who have an Autoimmune condition or an inflammatory condition are told not to eat gluten; ever. Those with coeliac disease can’t eat gluten either, but sometime still have symptoms and don’t quite understand the reason behind this.

Gluten cross reactivity! What does this actually mean?

Even though there are gluten FREE foods , there are also certain gluten free foods that are like an impersonator and have the same reaction in the body as actual gluten. The immune system struggles to tell them apart and so you have a reaction.

How does this cross reactivity work?

For those who have these conditions, their body identifies gluten as a danger, an enemy if you will, which is known as an antigen. Your immune system makes antibodies to go after these enemies (antigens). Once this enemy is identified it attacks every single time gluten is ingested. Occasionally your body can get confused and makes other structures that are similar to gluten the enemy also, when it actually isn’t. These foods are then stored in the memory bank of your immune system as the enemy and then treated exactly like gluten, attacking them and causing inflammation in the body. This causes all the symptoms you would experience when eating gluten; pain, bloating, nausea, diarrhoea, joint pain, inflammation, skin issues, brain fog etc.

Understanding which foods may do this, helps to narrow down the culprit causing your symptoms.

What food’s am I talking about?

• Dairy

• Coffee - instant due to the possibility of added gluten

• Nightshade vegetables - potato, tomato, eggplant, chilli, goji berries, capsicum

• Yeast - bakers, brewers, nutritional

• Rice

• Corn

• Soy

• Oats

• Millet

• Rye

• Barley

• Spelt

• Buckwheat

• Amaranth

• Quinoa

• Hemp

• Teff

• Tapioca, cassava or yucca

• Eggs

This is an impressive list and you might be thinking what can I actually eat?

Not everyone will react to ALL these foods, however it is important to remove them all if you are still having symptoms/reactions, then do a slow reintroduction one food at a time. It’s important to take them out for a good three month period then start the reintroduction. Once you start the reintroduction wait 3-4 days before adding in another food.

It’s important to note that there can be a high risk of these foods being contaminated with gluten when processed and especially so in commercially prepared foods.

I really hope this helps your understanding of how some foods that don’t contain gluten can actually behave in the body similar to gluten. This might be the final puzzle piece you are looking for to help your body heal.

Until next time,

Jennie x