Gluten - is it that bad?

Can I be very honest? It kinda is actually.. definitely in the amounts we eat it in the Western world.
Yes, we have evolved to eat grains to some extent when we obviously didn't use to do so as cave men and women, however not fully. Also, all of the refined grain products such as white pasta, bread, cakes, biscuits and cereals do not make it any easier for our bodies to make friends with gluten. They are even higher in gluten and lack anything nutritious like vitamins and minerals. Did you know that many bakers add extra gluten to their breads to increase shelf-life and make them more resistant?
On top of the increased amount of refined grains we eat nowadays, wheat and glutinous grains aren't anymore what they used to be. Thanks to mass production and gene modification they have become a product our bodies might not be able to process as easily anymore as we used to.

And let's not forget about all the gluten sensitive people and especially people suffering from celiac disease, there is certainly a reason for this to happen - just like there is a reason why many people are intolerant to dairy.

However and I do admit, there is still a lot of research to be done on this topic. All I can say is from what I have read, heard and seen, gluten can have quite bad effects on our health. In areas we would't even have thought. As you may know, our gut is also called our second brain and makes up 70% of our immune system. So you get the idea of how broad the adverse effects of gluten could potentially be.

Gluten as the name already gives it away is a protein that glues :).. Now, can you imagine what happens in our bodies when glue gets in there? Ugh, not such a nice thought.. Gluten is present in many grains such as wheat, barley, rye and spelt. You can also see its gluing effect when making a bread dough.

Now, it would be wrong to stay to stay off gluten forever unless you are suffering from celiac disease. Because also, WHOLE grains do come with many nutritional benefits such as B vitamins, iron and fibre which are essential. However, lowering your amount of glutinous whole grains and completely eliminating refined grains could bring many health benefits and make you feel more energetic, less prone to digestive issues and bless you with healthier skin. Also, I'm definitely not trying to push you into a false direction which would be to just buy gluten free products. Definitely not - refined and processed foods again, they can be full of additives! Also, there is a lot of marketing and money behind that industry which I'm not a fan of. Instead, complete your diet with more of the gluten free grains such as quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, millet or amaranth.

Give it a try! Go gluten free for two weeks or even better 30 days and see what happens. Maybe you will see amazing changes that will make stay off gluten for good. Maybe you will not notice much difference in which case you do what you need to do :), everyone is different after all!