Who doesn’t love the smell of walking past a fresh bakery and getting a good whiff of baking bread. But little do many people know that bread could actually be killing you. Don’t fret it doesn’t happen over night but slowly, yes bread can kill you. No it has nothing to do with stale servings or food poisoning… it’s the gluten. As a gluten free nutrition expert I love enlighting and educating on how gluten could possibly be harming your health. So lets talk about how the most common pantry staple ‘bread’ could potentially be killing you.
Bread doesn’t give you anything more than empty calories, so really it’s not as satisfying as you probably think. If you want a pick me up, it’ll do the job yes…. But it does only that, picks you up. It wouldn’t sustain you through the day, sharpen your mind or strengthen your body to which a gluten free diet would provide you. Ideally it’s like potato chips or an energy bar in that regard, they provided you brief bouts of energy. If you have a gluten sensitive the wrong kind’s of foods containing gluten could be potentially causing intestinal damage which can lead to poor nutrient absorption, and in extreme cases may eventually may lead to death.
Bread consumption also promotes diabetes development and no, this is not an exaggeration. Eating bread is tantamount to carbo loading and since it is easier to metabolize than gluten free foods or even fruits and vegetables, you’ll quickly end up with a lot of glucose in your system, forcing your body to adapt and eventually demand that kind of proportion. It doesn’t matter whether you’re eating a piece of cake or a bread roll sandwaich, both of these high in gluten foods will increase your blood sugar amount to a level your body does not need and this only slows you down mentally and physically leaving you feeling lethargic, exhausted and sluggish.
Does this sound familiar?
An increase in blood sugar then leads to an upsurge of cortisol and adrenalin (which is released alongside insulin – the blood sugar controller) in the body, giving way to hormonal imbalance. Yep yet another big health problem associated with bread and gluten consumption. Contrary to gluten free foods, bread causes your immune and endocrine faculties to go bonkers. It also makes you feel hungry and lethargic and if your like me – this happens all the time, even though you’re constantly feeding yourself. I use to feel exactly like this, putting the fuel in but getting no energy out.
Tip Top, Wonder White, Helga’s and all the other commercial breads are also notoriously processed and therefore contain handfuls of unhealthy ingredients. Some of these (like phytic acide) bind to minerals such as calcium, zinc and iron, keeping them from being metabolised and absorbed by our bodies.
Of course there is also the fact that bread contains gluten. To people who are gluten sensitive or suffer ceoliac’s disease, this may eventually lead being life threatening. How? Gluten amplifies all the given downsides of eating bread and toss in disadvantages like brain, muscle and joint damage. Cancer and heart ailments may also come about because of overexposure. It’s pretty clear how uncomfortable life would be with this type of damage on your body.
A gluten free diet does not include any bread, wheat, rye or generic flour based products like pasta, pastry and yes; pizza. Gluten free diets generally consist mainly of fresh all natural ingredients which are fantastic balanced sources of macro and micronutrients. The great news is that naturally this type of diet also does not produce the same health dilemmas mentioned above, instead it provides your body with vitamins and minerals essential to thriving in health.
I hope you have taken something away from this as what I have shared with you here is one of the main reasons why I am so passionate about a Gluten Free Diet and educating about gluten it’s effect on your health and how simply eliminating it from your diet can change your life, make you healthier and happier.
Have you given up Gluten? Or are you planning to? Find out more about giving up the Gluten:
> 6 Benefits of a Gluten Free Diet
> 10 Must have’s for a Gluten Free Pantry
> How to get Started on a Gluten Free Diet
Comment below I’d love to hear from you.
[template id=”119″]
