The results of reducing gluten, supplementing with aloe vera and diet changes have been dramatic for my family! This included improvement of allergies, lung and asthma symptoms, skin issues, behavior, attention span, less frequent colds, and it gave constipation relief.
Lower Gluten Foods or Omit:
* Whole grains including oatmeal and brown rice.
* Reduce Cane Sugar.
* Reduce Cow's Milk, soft cheese and yogurt.
When Karen Masterson Koch Clinical Nutritionist at Aloe Life wrote her book, "Beyond Gluten Intolerance", in 2012 I have to be honest I knew nothing about gluten besides that its found in bread! My youngest son at the time had just turned 2 and my older two children were 7 and 5. I had been raised eating and enjoying vegetables but we also ate brown rice and whole grains. I remember a birthday when my mom baked me a whole wheat birthday cake to squeeze in her healthful influences for the neighborhood children!
As a young adult I swayed away from Whole Grains because my husband and I prefer the taste of White Bread and Bleached Pasta and White rice. Little did we know - that was a better choice verses the Whole Grains which were being promoted as healthier!
My husband and I enjoyed a variety of proteins which is still a very important food group for every family. Yet the biggest hurdle was trying to get in enough fruits and vegetables, we thought! It wasn't until we had our own kids that I realized how much of a big impact food choices make on one's health including GLUTEN! What I soon began to learn from reading Karen's book about Gluten and Health, turned my mind upside down on how I was to feed my family!
Healthy Foods Include;
* Eggs (whites and or yolk), beans, fish and a variety of meats.
* All Vegetables, potatoes and tolerated fruits in season.
* Healthy Fats and oils, butter, nuts and seeds as tolerated.
I started introducing cherries and little crackers at about 8 months to my children. Companies love to include Whole Grains in Kids snacks to increase the "health content". We started noticing that before my 2nd and 3rd child were done eating their snacks their eyes were slowly getting more squinty. My 1st child would beg me at the store for goldfish. Soon after I purchased the goldfish his lower lip got extremely red and a dry rash would begin to develop taking up half of his chin. We would ease off of the snacks and miraculously these strange skin symptoms would disappear. I remember taking a couple of my kids to the doctors for a full body rash. It was diagnosed as a viral rash and Benadryl was prescribed. Deep down I knew it was the foods they were eating. We changed the types of snacks to gluten free and made sure to also give them the Whole Leaf Aloe Vera Juice Concentrate, Arctic D Cod Liver Oil, and Probiotics for Natural Skin Support and no more rashes. Aloe vera, for my children has been such a blessing.
Gluten Sensitivities manifest themselves in different reactions because of the inflammation that sets up in the body. As you can see my 1st child developed skin rashes and my 2nd child's eyes reacted to the gluten and also wet her bed until she was 7. My 3rd child also has a sensitivity to dairy and yogurt which manifested as lung congestion (asthma symptoms) and constipation from the gluten. I would give him prune baby food and 1 tablespoon of Aloe Vera Juice to help him eliminate if he got backed up. I recently learned that an old herbal remedy for lung issues is Aloe Vera yet important to use the Whole Leaf Aloe Vera Juice Concentrate that contains the dark yellow color - rich in actives.
It was difficult for me to diagnose my 3rd child's gluten intolerance because he was attending daycare and I had no idea that his constipation problems were as severe as they were. It wasn't until he was 5 1/2 years old and getting ready to start Kindergarten that I began to realize what he was going through all along! He was home with me for 2 months after his preschool graduation before starting kindergarten and I started to notice he would go 4 days without having a bowel movement!. I later learned this is due to the nervous system short circuiting. The Gluten has been affecting not only my kids but also my husband. He has been battling with his weight for well over 15 years and has experimented with multiple diets; low carb, no carb Atkins diets, etc. He noticed when he was on one of his low carb diets(no gluten) his psoriasis on his elbows and shin completely disappeared! He was also drinking the Whole Leaf Aloe Vera Juice for psoriasis!
Two years ago we heard about the Whole 30 eating diet (gluten free) as well as Paleo (gluten free with beans) and decided we needed to jump in and see for ourselves if going gluten free really worked.
Our 4th child was only a few months old and I was still breastfeeding yet the 6 of us did the Whole 30 for a entire month and what a success it was! I must admit it was a little challenging but we all enjoyed eggs and fruit for breakfast, salads for lunch, and soup for dinner. I lost 9 pounds including a lot of cellulite and my husband lost 18. Our skin looked great, and we had plenty of energy. The best part, everyone was using the bathroom daily! We were also drinking the Aloe Life Aloe Vera Juice for digestion and energy!
There was a lot of prep work involved with such a healthy eating routine so we have relaxed the guidelines a bit. However, my 3rd child who has the greatest gluten sensitives has continued gluten free eating and reaping the benefits. His behavior had improved dramatically, much calmer, better at following directions and not so argumentative. Also, no longer biting his nails and most days he does not ask for the foods he shouldn't have. His meals are very similar to the rest of the families with just a little tweaking! I follow the guidelines in Karen Masterson Koch's Beyond Gluten Intolerance Book and family life is much more fun!
Gluten Free Tweaks-
-Corn instead of Flour Tortillas
-Birch Benders Paleo Pancakes which contains nuts and eggs instead of traditional Pancakes
-Corn Gluten Free Pasta or Spaghetti Squash or Zucchini Noodles instead of traditional Pasta
-Corn Tortilla Chips
-Non GMO Corn is best!
-OATS are NOT GLUTEN FREE they may be labeled Gluten Free this means free of wheat gluten not OAT gluten! Oats are naturally sticky!
- Not every product labeled gluten free actually is! Read the labels of everything! Some people may be more sensitive than others. Keep a diary or mental note of how you feel after eating something and let your symptoms dictate if a food agrees with you!
Keep Sugar as an occasional indulgence! Sugar is a major cause of inflammation in the body. It is shocking when looking at labels of packaged foods and finding out how many sugar mg they actually contain! In my home if anyone in the house has a cold the rest of the family does not get any special treats to keep our immune systems strong enough to fight off the cold. Its amazing how one trip out to ice cream or a sweet cake can cause a family member to wake up with a sore throat or coughing. It has been proven that just 30 minutes after ingesting sugar the immune system takes a dive.
Great alternatives to cane sugar -
-Coconut sugar
-Maple Sugar
-Dates and Fruits
-Maple Syrup
-Agave Nectar
-Honey
-Stevia
Read labels: it is amazing once you pay attention the amount of store bought items including spices that contain sugar!
Some more names for Sugar-
-Dextrose
-Fructose
-Glucose
-Maltodextrin
-Maltose
-Sucrose
My resources included:
Beyond Gluten Intolerance by Karen Masterson - Koch available on www.aloelife.com,