“Incurable” Illnesses and Gluten

Hey y’all,

I’m trying to begin a series with tips for avoiding gluten. But why would you even want to? Avoiding gluten is hard. You may be like me, too, and gluten doesn’t upset your stomach. You may have even had an allergy test saying that you have no allergies. So seriously, why?

Well, do you have eczema, rhuematoid arthritis, Chron’s, high cholesterol, or any other chronic, “incurable” condition? You likely have too much inflammation in your body, and diet is a great way to fight that.

While it’s true that you aren’t allergic to anything, some foods tend to be very inflammatory in the body and are best avoided. Gluten is one of the most inflammatory foods.

This is how I learned all this: From the time I was 2 until I was 22, I had some intense eczema on most of my body. Here’s a picture of me not at my worst –

You can clearly see how bad my skin looked on a day-to-day basis.

Throughout my adolescence, I saw 3 or 4 different dermatologists, an allergist, and my regular general practitioners (of which there were 4 over time). They all told me that eczema was an incurable condition that could only be managed for my entire life. Then they gave me ointments and creams and said to apply those as much as I needed.

Only when I was a young adult without the money or insurance for doctors or creams, did I head to Dr. Google and figure out some stuff for myself. Nothing else had really helped, so when I read about changing my diet, I thought, ‘Well, why not. Let’s try and see.’ At the time, I cut out refined sugar, eggs, dairy, and gluten. Lo and behold, I looked and felt 75% better after a month and a half. It took most of a year to get completely better, but this is me today –

Currently, I eat many things. The only foods that I will not eat are ones that contain gluten. This is because other foods exacerbate an already existing problem. Gluten molecules are shaped strangely, and they can begin issues inside the body during digestion.

Of course, a lot of foods contain gluten – not just bread and cakes and stuff. Gluten mainly comes from wheat these days, and wheat is cheap. Manufacturers (as well as most regular people) use wheat flour to thicken everything. Candies, soups, sauces; it all contains flour, so you have to be so careful. Please get some milk thistle supplements. If you accidentally (or maybe not) eat something you shouldn’t, take one. Milk thistle helps the liver work. Think of it like an epi pen.

There’s a great documentary on Amazon Prime called Uninflame Me. It delves deep into inflammation and the causes and treatments.

If you have a chronic illness, you might just try this. You have nothing to lose. Chances are, you’ve been told that you can only manage it anyway. Just take one month and see how it goes.