Gluten, Dairy & Sugar
Did you know that Gluten, Dairy and Sugar could be making your pain worse?
First off, what is pain?
Pain is an uncomfortable sensation felt in the presence of inflammation, and inflammation is our body’s natural defense system to tissue injury.
All of our inflammatory processes are driven by our immune system and approximately 70% of our immune system is in our gut. This means anything that affects our gut health directly affects our immunity, and therefore our inflammation levels and pain.
Our immune system is in charge of the healing and recovery of our body meaning a healthy and well-functioning immune system is paramount to our general well-being and decreasing our pain levels.
This is Why Food has a Massive Impact on our Pain
One thing that has a drastic impact on the health of our gut is the food we eat. Good foods will encourage optimal gut function and hence good immune function. ‘Bad’ foods could cause poor gut function and even physical damage to our gut lining, significantly affecting immune function.
The three foods that cause the most inflammations are foods that include gluten, dairy and sugar!
Gluten
Being Gluten free is the new trendy thing to do. However, be gluten free will also have a massive impact on improving your quality of life and decrease your pain. Gluten is a sticky protein found in grains. Gluten creates holes in the tight junctions in the gut lining triggering an immune response which creates inflammation all over the body- hence increased pain!
Here is a list of gluten containing foods that you want to try and avoid:
Faro
Soy sauce
Pasta
Cakes
Imitation meat
Bread
Muffins
Non-dairy creamer
Condiments
Egg substitute
Most noodles
Beer
Alcohol
Durum
Wheat
Graham flour
Commercial bullion
Rye
Breads
Packet soups
Barley
Crackers
Malt flavouring
Bulgur
Semolina
Seasoning & spice mix
Spelt
Couscous
Salad dressings
Sugar
Our gut houses what is estimated to be close to 100 trillion bacteria. These living organisms/bacteria are called the ‘microbiome’. Think about a healthy microbiome as a lawn and garden. You don’t want the lawn to overgrow or the garden to be ridden with weeds. A good balance of good to bad bacteria is currently believed to be 85% good, 15% bad. The health of the gut microbiome has been linked with conditions such as cancer, autoimmunity and diabetes. Consuming a lot of added or hidden sugar has been found to negatively affect the balance of the gut microbiome and also create holes in the gut lining hence causing body-wide inflammation.
Watch out for sugar in:
Regular soft drinks/soda
Energy drinks
Candy/ lollies
Desserts
Cakes
Cookies
Pies
Cobblers
Pastries
Doughnuts
Ice tea
Custard
Creamed foods
Frosting
Chocolate
Lunch meats
Mayonnaise
Marshmallows
Meringues
Pancakes/waffles
Ice cream
Fruit punch
Dairy Products
The 2 proteins most commonly found in dairy are casein and whey. Lactose is a sugar present in dairy products. Many people struggle to digest the proteins and don’t have enough of the enzyme lactase to breakdown the sugar lactose. This causes a strain on the gut and affects the balance of the gut bacteria. Symptoms to look out for that could possibly indicate that your body struggles to digest these proteins and lactose are: bloating, diarrhoea, gas, indigestion, abdominal pain and nausea in some cases.
There are a few other things in cow’s milk that could be bad for humans to ingest as well. These include growth hormones meant for baby cows, antibiotics used to treat the cows if they have infection (which is common) and other hormones meant for cows not humans. These substances are toxins to our bodies, and can cause holes in the gut lining as well, causing body wise-inflammation.
Look out for milk/dairy in these foods:
Bavarian cream
Breads/biscuits/ crackers
Butter
Buttermilk
Cakes/cookies/doughnuts
Candy/ lollies
Cheeses
Sour cream
Yoghurt
Custard/pudding
Gravies
Hot dogs
Ice cream
Pancakes/waffles
Salad dressing
Soups (creamed)
Whey
So, considering all the above, here are 5 simple changes you can make to your diet include:
Eating a diet made up of whole foods with minimal processing are less likely to have added sugar or gluten. A way to think of this is ‘How close to its natural form does this food look?’ There are no cakes/muffins growing naturally.
Use natural spices instead of sauces. Most sauces are very high in sugar and contain gluten to thicken them.
There are so many great Paleo recipes online. Google Paleo (insert your favorite food) and it will give you a recipe that is gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free. It should have reduced natural forms of sugar. Please make sure that the natural forms of sugar are reduced as well as any sweeter still acts as sugar.
Best natural sugar options are: stevia, real maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar. Still please keep these to a minimum.
Instead of drinking lots of soda/carbonated drinks, try herbal teas cold and hot brew, low sugar Kombucha or sparkling water with a squeeze of lemon.