Over the previous few months, I’ve made a serious shift in my food plan—and (as I used to be stunned to find) it really modified my life. I needed to share the story with you as a result of it’s taken me on a well being journey the place I’m studying a lot and feeling impressed to create and share so many new recipes with you. The massive change? I’ve stopped consuming grains. Sure, the woman who’s all the time been a pizza / sourdough / taco fanatic is not consuming wheat, corn, quinoa, or another kind of grain in any respect. Let me clarify.
Seems, consuming a grain-free food plan healed the gut health issues which have affected me for the final decade. For years, I’ve been plagued with digestive issues which have despatched me to numerous docs and practitioners, and surprisingly, merely eradicating grains from my food plan eradicated all my signs inside days. So as we speak, I’m going to share the most important modifications I’ve seen in my well being since going grain-free. My hope is that my story may assist a few of you by yourself well being journeys as a result of I imagine all of us should be dwelling our most high-energy and vibrant lives.
First, watch the video under the place I stroll you thru my journey—I additionally get into among the “bonus” healthy habits I’ve been incorporating every single day to really feel one of the best I’ve felt in YEARS. Then, scroll on for a few of my high grain-free food plan and intestine well being learnings:
Grain-free food plan and intestine well being
If me, that a lot of my life revolves round meals. I’m a passionate prepare dinner, I like to eat, and I create recipe and food content for a dwelling. I’ve all the time preached the philosophy that there’s room for all the pieces in your food plan—and I nonetheless imagine that—until these meals are stopping you from dwelling your most vibrant and energized life.
The ONE factor I’ve realized in my years of analysis about vitamin is that there is no such thing as a one-size matches all food plan. I wish to be very clear from the start: Grains should not “unhealthy.” Pizza will not be “unhealthy.” Sourdough bread will not be “unhealthy.” That is all about how particular meals make you really feel, and I for one wish to be consuming in a method that helps my total well being. For my explicit digestive system — and I’m studying, loads of different individuals’s too — grains might be very exhausting on the GI tract, and there are loads of hidden intolerances. This is a bit more all-encompassing than a gluten-free diet, and it’s completely different than having celiac illness or a gluten-intolerance. Consuming “grain-free” means eliminating gluten and wheat, and in addition corn, oats, quinoa, rice, buckwheat, rye, amaranth, and barley.
Dr. William Davis says in his e book Tremendous Intestine (which I extremely advocate for anybody coping with unresolved digestive points):
“Wheat and grain elimination removes an extravagant supply of intestinal irritation and begins the method of therapeutic your GI tract. ”
He goes on to clarify:
Gliadin (a protein present in wheat) is straight poisonous to the intestinal wall. Eradicating gliadin thereby removes a potent bowel toxin. Gliadin additionally breaks down regular intestinal obstacles, permitting overseas substances, together with gliadin itself, entry into the bloodstream…
Simply as opioid medicine comparable to oxycodone and morphine trigger constipation, so do gliadin-derived opioids sluggish intestinal peristalsis and trigger constipation. Slowed peristalsis is a serious subject in lots of circumstances of SIBO, and it may be reversed within the majority with wheat and grain elimination… Simply by eliminating all wheat and grains, many individuals report full reduction or marked enchancment of bowel urgency, acid reflux disorder, heartburn, and constipation.”
My intestine well being historical past
One factor I haven’t shared lots about on the web (till now) is my long-standing intestine well being points. Sure, speaking about sluggish digestion and excessive bloating is private, however statistics present that almost half of ladies struggle with digestive issues, so I believe it’s time we normalize these conversations.
I really don’t know the trigger of my digestive points. After seeing purposeful docs, GI docs, and present process a number of testing—nobody has ever been capable of give me an precise prognosis (which is the case for most individuals affected by digestive points.) So like so a lot of you, I’m left to behave as my very own guinea pig and hold looking for one thing to assist me really feel higher. And let me inform you, I’ve tried some issues, together with:
- Principally each complement and probiotic in the marketplace
- Intermittent fasting
- Meals combining
- At-home SIBO checks
- Making my very own probiotic yogurt
- Colonics
- Hypnotherapy – sure, there may be really a college of hypnotherapy that claims to have the ability to heal the gut-brain axis and if you examine it, it makes loads of sense, however it didn’t assist me.
- Tons of various elimination diets to see if it was a meals allergy (no gluten, dairy, lectins, meat, night time shades—however by no means reducing out all grains altogether).
Even in spite of everything that, I nonetheless struggled with the identical points. I might typically assume that I discovered an answer after which I might find yourself proper again the place I began, coping with the identical previous points for weeks on finish.
What occurred after I stopped consuming grains
The answer got here throughout certainly one of my worst bouts of steady bloating and sluggish digestion. I used to be re-reading Tremendous Intestine and got here to the road the place Dr. Davis stated, “Eradicating wheat and grains yields substantial enhancements in GI well being that support in your efforts to reverse dysbiosis, SIBO, and SIFO and regain total well being.”
Since I’d tried nearly all the pieces else, I figured, what did I’ve to lose? So, beginning that very day, I didn’t eat any grains in any respect. It could sound restrictive, however fortunately I like so many issues that aren’t on this class: fruits, greens, cheese, olive oil, avocados, meat, fish, pasta made with chickpeas.
I used to be nonetheless consuming deliciously and abundantly, and right here’s the half that’s SO loopy I might not have believed it if I hadn’t skilled it personally: inside 48 hours, my intestine well being points that had plagued me for over a decade have been utterly resolved. And stayed that method. Over the subsequent 3 months, I adopted my grain-free food plan and felt higher than I had in years. My power was sky excessive, I slept nice, I had a traditional urge for food as a substitute of feeling uncomfortably full on a regular basis, and my abdomen was flatter than I may ever keep in mind (although I hadn’t really misplaced weight.) I felt wonderful.
Will I ever eat grains once more?
The truthful reply is: I don’t know. Being the meals lover that I’m, I’ve tried reincorporating a few of my favorites. The very first thing I attempted was corn, as a result of, dwelling in Austin—tacos are life. Our household went out for Mexican, I ate some scrumptious corn tortillas, and… the subsequent morning, my digestion was off. So I bought again on the grain-free wagon and inside a couple of day, I used to be again on observe.
The following factor I attempted—a number of bites of pizza, which I’m gonna admit, is my favourite meals. However once more, I awakened the subsequent morning feeling the previous bloat and I spotted that irrespective of how good a number of bites of pizza tasted within the second, it wasn’t value it for me to really feel sluggish and gross all day. I cherished the brand new method that I used to be feeling SO MUCH, that giving up some meals, even meals that I cherished, was 100% value it to really feel this good.
And that brings us to the current! I believe that I’ll strive reintroducing grains sooner or later to see what occurs, however proper now I really feel so good, I’m gonna keep off grains for the foreseeable future. It’s vital for me to transparently share my journey with you as a result of, though going grain-free could not work for everybody, I hope it could actually assist somebody. When you’ve got unresolved intestine points, why not strive eliminating grains for per week and simply see how you’re feeling?
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Our intestine well being has an enormous influence on our temper and power ranges, so taking time to determine what works on your physique is WORTH IT. And for those who’re one of many many individuals additionally fighting intestine well being points, I promise that you simply actually can really feel nice once more. Maintain in search of solutions and experimenting till you discover what works for you.
Depart me a remark if this resonates—I’d love to listen to about your struggles on this space, what’s labored for you, and for those who’d like to listen to extra about my grain-free journey! I’ve so many recipes and meal planning suggestions for this manner of consuming that I might like to share.
