Hi Everyone!!

Have you ever felt sick, had a hard time pin pointing what might be the cause so you start looking up your symptoms online to give yourself a self diagnosis?  Most likely we have all done this just to avoid a trip to the doctor.  There’s a lot of great information online BUT I don’t think you should substitute a doctor’s consultation, for the information you find on your own…I think you should do both.

Sherrie Ngo shared an article with me a couple weeks ago that I wanted to pass along to all of you.
http://www.today.com/health/allergy-myths-busted-guess-what-you-didnt-know-about-gluten-8C11545200

In the article, Dr. Stukus an allergist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University, separates fact from fiction in the cases of 5 well known allergies (or at least what we thought were allergies).  Dr. Stukus blames the internet for the widespread misinformation about allergies.  I would encourage you to read the whole article but I wanted to highlight one of the myths.  Gluten.  According to Stukus, a gluten allergy does not exist!  The only three disorders that can be attributed to gluten are celiac disease, wheat allergies and non-celiac gluten sensitivity.  Wheat contains gluten, so if you have a wheat allergy it’s very easy to assume you have a gluten allergy when in reality you may not.

More and more restaurants are offering a gluten free menu and grocery stores are offering more gluten free products.  This is great news for those with celiac’s disease.  However, if you do not have celiac’s disease, it is not necessarily healthier for you to switch to a gluten free diet according to Peter H.R. Green, MD, director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University.  Green tells WebMD “unless people are very careful, a gluten-free diet can lack vitamins, minerals, and fiber”.  Click the link below to read the whole article.  It’s very interesting and a quick read.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthy-kitchen-11/truth-about-gluten?page=1

Here’s the bottom line.  If you have celiac’s disease you need a gluten free diet (I know you already know this).  If you do not suffer from celiac’s disease, you should eat a balanced diet with whole grains, fruits, veggies, protein and healthy fats.  Unless you have been medically diagnosed with a condition such as lactose intolerance or celiac’s disease, I don’t think you should completely cut anything out from your diet.  It is possible you might need to cut back on something, like sugar, but you do not need to cut sugar out completely.  Let me be clear.  If you cut pop out of your diet, I am not suggesting you add pop back into your diet as sugar is found in a variety of other healthier sources 🙂

Have a great day!!