How did I come to be thirty years old, overweight and constantly exhausted? My partner wonders how I can be fifty pounds heftier than he when I eat less than he does and I’m constantly in the bathroom. The majority of our diet consists of organic and natural foods with some local meats and produce. Over the last few years we severely cut out intake of chocolate and coffee. There is no white bread or bag of potato chips in our house. We have no mac and cheese, just-add-meat pasta product, or mainstream brand of canned soup. We never ever go to Taco Bell and we avoid McDonalds like the plague. Why, then, do I feel so run-down that I can’t hold a full time job, and have thighs that inch larger all the time? I finally have my answer: Gluten Intolerance.
Gluten and Dieting Failures
Over the past eight years I’ve become something of a healthy-eating aficionado, absorbing information on everything from Barry Sears’ The Zone diet to the Slow Food movement. I tried diets that praised Splenda and those that shun it. I had all the white or brown rice I wanted, or none at all. I Somersized, I Perriconed, I coconutted. In the process of trying these diets I learned about cortisol and the glycemic index, and how the diets of ancient peoples can inform us today. Some of these methods worked but the effects always wore off after a few months, even while I followed all the rules. What could possibly be wrong with me? I had nearly given in to unhealthy resignation when I learned about gluten intolerance.
Not everyone who is large and seemingly can’t slim down is gluten intolerant (an autoimmune disease commonly known as celiac disease.) Yet for some of us, it’s the kind of revelation that inspires miracles. Celiacs cannot digest the gluten protein found in wheat, spelt, barley, rye, and sometimes oats. If left undiagnosed, gluten intolerants can lose the ability to properly utilize the energy in other foods as well. Gluten is in bread, bagels, pasta, cookies and cakes, ice cream, beer, vitamins and medicines, even lipstick. Whatever common diet you adhere to, you are likely consuming gluten.
How are you supposed to know your diet is going to fail if pasta and bread is at the root of the problem? And then there’s lipstick: According to Kim Erickson, author of “Drop-Dead Gorgeous: Protecting Yourself from the Hidden Dangers of Cosmetics,” the average woman consumes four pounds of it in her lifetime. Who expects lipstick to cause endless gastronomic distress? Yet to my surprise, creamy pink makeup is one of many foods to pass through my lips that saps me of energy, strength and any ability to go for long periods without a bathroom.
Weight and Malnutrition
Celiac disease is hereditary. Celiac.com reports that across the pond in Europe, gluten intolerance is considered a relatively common condition, yet rates of diagnosis in the U.S. are far lower. This is most likely because celiacs are known as skinny, lethargic people who can eat and eat and never gain weight. I, however, can starve myself and never lose!
According to Celiac researcher and author Ron Hoggan, being obese or underweight as a celiac are both responses to starvation. The Celiac Disease Foundation explains that when celiacs try to digest gluten, the nutrition-absorbing villi of the small intestine are impaired, severely hampering their functioning. As a result celiacs suffer from malnutrition. In classic cases, people wolf down enormous quantities of food but lose so much of it out the back door that they appear gaunt. For others, the lack of nutrition activates the body’s starvation reflex. In these cases, undigested energy is converted to body fat as a defense mechanism against malnutrition. Oddly enough, overweight and underweight celiacs both are slowly starving. While many doctors in the US are slow to recognize obesity among celiacs, a 2005 study in the British publication BMJ showed that a significant number of celiac patients are now quite overweight.
Who Are the Celiacs?
Celiac Disease is hereditary, but not everyone who has a gene marker for it becomes gluten intolerant. Often something must trigger the condition, such as a food allergy or other kind of physical stress. I had a bad digestive reaction to antibiotics from which I never fully recovered until I went gluten free. My mother believes her condition started with a childhood illness. According to the symptoms checklist available from the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, celiacs may experience bloating, gas and pain; skin rashes; fatigue; diarrhea and/or constipation, and numbness in hands and feet, among others. Gluten intolerants are often diagnosed with Irritable bowel syndrome, Type 1 diabetes, Infertility, Thyroid disease and other conditions or illnesses. Sometimes the conditions exhibit themselves as a result of prolonged undiagnosed celiac disease. If you suspect that you or a friend may be a celiac, first review the symptom checklist at the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Visit your doctor to learn more or to determine if you need to go gluten free.
A Restrictive Cure
There is no cure for gluten intolerance other than to cut the protein completely from the diet including all breads, pasta, etc. Alternate grains or starches such as rice, amaranth, corn, and potato starch are used to make gluten-free versions of our favorite carb foods such as breakfast bars, pancakes and even beer. Even so, some celiacs choose to restrict all sources of complex carbohydrates temporarily. For many celiacs, our villi is so damaged that we cannot digest any grain at all. In these circumstances, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is a popular option. Dieters on SCD eat only foods that are very easily processed in the digestive tract by restricting all forms of complex carbs. In addition to going gluten free, this diet can help those of us with significant intestinal damage until our bodies heal — and the need to constantly run to the restroom becomes a distant memory.
Moving Forward
While I’ve experienced significant relief by going gluten free, the changes have been more dramatic since I started SCD. Many celiacs need only to eliminate gluten from their diets to return to excellent health. As for me, the mystery pains and discomfort in my abdomen is gone, I’ve lost weight, and my energy level has increased considerably. As more of us learn about gluten intolerance and speak with our family and friends about this underdiagnosed disease, more people will be able to take back their digestive systems and finally regain both their health and a healthy body weight.
Sources:
Dr. Mary Enig, Eat Fat Lose Fat. Plume: 2006.
Elaine Gottshall, “Breaking the Vicious Cycle.” The Specific Carbohydrate Diet.
Elaine Gottshall, Breaking the Vicious Cycle. Kirkton Press: 1994.
Interview with Kim Erickson by Pippin Ross, “Drop Dead Gorgeous.” Living on Earth: April 5, 2002.
Melissa Crode, “Celiac Disease and Obesity – There is a Connection.” Celiac.com.
R M Furse and A S Mee, “Atypical Presentation of Coeliac Disease.” BMJ.
Ron Hoggan, “Eating Disorders and Vegetarianism.” Gluten-Free.org.
Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions. New Trends Publishing, Inc.: 1999.
“What is Celiac Disease?” National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.
