For an introduction to our “Tuesday Tips and Thursday Thoughts” series please see the article “An Invitation to Embrace Your Journey and Follow Mine.”

These short thoughts/tips are meant to be a brief and efficient way to offer a quick touch of inspiration for the day.

Is Gluten Free Necessary?

Consider trying out “gluten free” (photo is gluten free oats with apples and berries). There are many opinions on this in today’s world…

1. “Gluten Free is a scam”

2. Very few people are actually sensitive to gluten

3. The fact that we only use a few kinds of wheat in the world today (as recently as 100 years ago at least 60 varieties were in rotation) has caused sensitivity issues in some people

4. Gluten can cause inflammation in many people

5. Gluten can cause hormonal imbalances

6. You can develop an intolerance later in life so get checked for it even if you were fine as a child

7. The only people who should avoid gluten are confirmed celiacs

….SO MANY different and some conflicting opinions!

But from my observations and experience you often don’t need complicated tests or scientific studies to figure out if “gluten free” will benefit you. By keeping careful scientific notes and records over a year and doing a version of an elimination diet I found out that gluten does the following things to me:

1. Causes hot flashes

2. Causes breakthrough bleeding (sometimes quite significant)

3. Causes aggressive moods

4. Causes bloating and stomach issues

5. Causes me to fall asleep even if I am wide awake before and feel fine.

Would you imagine gluten could do all of that? You may have symptoms you don’t even realize are related to gluten. It won’t hurt you to eliminate it for a month and observe any changes. My life was literally transformed when I finally gave it up. Today’s medical world doesn’t yet have all the answers as to why (is it intolerance? Allergies? Blood type? Limited varieties? Something else?) but I don’t need a firm answer to allow me to enjoy increased energy, no more naps, no more phlegmatic coughing, no more breakthrough bleeding and no more hot flashes!

Try it out. It might not help you as much as it helped me but trying it won’t hurt you and it will have the added benefit of introducing you to a larger variety of grains and foods.

Are you interested in learning more about traditional naturopathy, herbalism, homeopathy, iridology, nutritional well-being, reflexology or aromatherapy? Check our our classes at www.TheAvicennaInstitute.com.