Everyone is trying to avoid gluten. It seems to be the latest craze. If you’ve jumped onto this bandwagon, I have some bad news.

To be completely honest, most Gluten Free options aren’t much better than wheat! If you look at the ingredients in any gluten free bread, muffin, cookie, pancake or waffle, you will find ingredients such as sugar, corn flour, potato starch, rice flour and tapioca starch.

Sugar
Sugar is so yummy and sweet. Sugar tastes great with just about anything. The problem is, it is in just about everything. Sugar includes any of the following: fructose, lactose, sucrose, glucose, dextrose , dextrin, juice, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, cane sugar, agave, sucralose, honey, palm sugar, maple syrup, malitol and I’m sure I’ve missed some: Here are some of the problems associated with sugar:

• Enzymes require minerals in order to digest foods. Sugar creates an imbalance in mineral levels. Therefore, this imbalance causes digestion malfunctions.
• It has a negative effect on the immune system. Studies have shown that the number of bad bacteria destroyed by the immune system decreases after sugar intake. In other words, the immune system falls asleep. One teaspoon can actually turn the immune system off for up to 6 hours.
• Sugar triggers the release of dopamine in the brain. It makes you want more and more to keep you feeling good. That’s why I consider it a drug.
• And here’s the BIG ONE….Cancer cells feed almost exclusively on sugar! If you want to slow cancer growth or help to prevent it, you must not consume it.

If you require sweetness, try some pure stevia instead. Stevia is an herb and it does not affect blood sugar levels.

Corn
First, let’s set the record straight, corn is NOT a vegetable…it is a grain. Corn has its own share of issues:

• Unless specified it’s also a Genetically Modified Organism (GMO). Many GMO’s contain the famous herbicide ‘Round Up’ within their DNA. The herbicide is forced into the DNA with help of a bacteria or virus. If not, it would be rejected by the plant. Yummy!
• The flour contains various molds and mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are ‘CANCER CAUSING’! They aren’t destroyed after baking. They also cause liver damage and severe gastrointestinal problems (as per Cornell University)!

Other Starches
Potatoes, tapioca and rice are carbohydrates (as are corn, sugar and potato, mentioned above). But I just wanted to touch on this subject a little more for a few reasons:

• Starches are converted into fat rapidly in the body. In other words, you may be eating gluten free, but all that starch will cause weight gain over the long term. In fact, many gluten free foods have a higher glycemic index than wheat. This means frequent blood sugar spikes! This has the potential to create insulin resistance and diabetes.
• The bad bacteria in your gut (aka candida), loves to feed on this stuff! In other words, you can trigger an overgrowth. When you have an overgrowth, you might experience symptoms such as bladder infections, athletes foot, jock itch, thrush, yeast infections, brain fog, carb cravings, allergies, skin issues, itchy ears, sensitivity to chemicals/perfumes, and the list goes on…
• Many starches, including wheat, are known as ‘resistent starches’. Resistant starch has the potential to cause or make digestive problems worse when your gut isn’t healthy.
• Potatoes themselves are GMO
• And yes, mycotoxins can be found here too!

Well, that about sums it up. So, if you’ve stopped eating gluten and can’t eat gluten free either, what on earth will you eat for lunch?