A lot of restaurants are beginning to offer gluten-free options for their healthier clients, but there are still many people who don’t completely understand the whole concept of a gluten-free diet.
The gluten-free diet was introduced to cater to victims of Celiac disease, an auto-immune disease that damages the lining of the digestive tract triggered by gluten. Gluten is a form of protein found in cereal grains that are responsible for the elastic texture of dough. Gluten is found in a wide range of foods from cereal or grain-based foods like bread, pasta, and even soy.
Victims of Celiac disease endure a recurring painful bloat that can lead to liver disorders, iron-deficiency and skin rashes, but there are also people who are just mildly affected by gluten, like gluten-intolerance. If you’ve felt extremely bloated after a plate of spaghetti, you might just be gluten-intolerant.
But specification is best, so here, we’ve compiled a list of 10 tell-tale symptoms of gluten-sensitivity.
1. One of the most common signs of gluten intolerance includes digestive issues like bloating, gas, constipation and diarrhea after consuming foods that contain gluten. Sometimes, it can go to the extent of foul-smelling stool, so be always keep an eye out on your stool after you go #2!
2. Over 55 diseases have been linked to gluten, and surprisingly, gluten intolerance even has neurological symptoms, causing your moods like change. If you constantly experience depression, anxiety, ADHD, and unstoppable mood swings, it may be time to cut gluten out of your diet.
3. Use your fingertips and try to feel the skin on the back of your arms. Do you feel any rough patches and small acne-like bumps? Keratosis pillars is a skin condition linked to gluten intolerance as its a result of a fatty acid deficiency and vitamin A deficiency, caused by the damage of the intestines from long-term exposure to gluten.
4. Do you often feel fatigue and a little foggy after a hearty sandwich? Consuming gluten can often leave you feeling very tired. In fact, people with gluten intolerance say that cutting out wheat and gluten foods from their diet claimed that their energy levels boosted up pretty high.
5. Swollen and painful joints, including in your fingers and knees are indication to sensitive to gluten.
6. Another surprising discovery is that gluten intolerance is also linked to migraines. An MRI scanning found that patients with gluten-sensitivity had significant inflammation in their nervous systems. The study suggests that the inflammation is caused by the reaction to gluten.
7. Gluten intolerance also puts your hormones at risk. One of the most tell-tale signs includes irregular menstrual cycles and infertility. Inflammation from gluten stresses out your adrenal glands, causing it to malfunction and upset the balance of the entire endocrine system.
8. If you’ve not been able to find the answer to your extreme fatigue or chronic pain, gluten could be the factor in these symptoms. By cutting out gluten form your diet, you’re able to target the actual cause of your pain and fatigue.
9. Do you often feel a little off-balance at times? Like vertigo, dizziness and numbness out of the blue? These symptoms could be due to the inflammation in the nervous which is linked to gluten.
10. If your recent medical check-up lists autoimmune diseases like Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and multiple sclerosis, it’s time to back away from gluten. Inflammation and prolonged exposure to gluten puts the body at risk of developing autoimmune diseases.
One way to be thoroughly clear about gluten intolerance is to contact your local nutritionist for further advice.
More about gluten:
5 Facts About The Gluten-Free Diet
