Inflammation - 7 Foods to Avoid...Here's #5

Yeast & Gluten

Although these are two separate things, they frequently appear together, particularly in baked goods like cake, donuts, and bread.  The good news is that cutting out one usually means you are cutting out both, leading to double the benefit for people with inflammation problems.

Yeast?

Yeast fosters the overgrowth of yeast fungus in the body.  This overgrowth may cause or increase much of the joint and muscle pain. Yeast is almost always found in: bread, pretzels & the like, beer, malt beverages, cider, many fruit skins especially grapes & plums.  Other foods to be cautious of (Read the labels) include: canned soups, doughnuts, soy sauce, some sources of Vitamin B.

Gluten? 

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley & rye.  Gluten can intensify a condition known as gluten intolerance, resulting in a variety of digestive disorders and widely associated with fatigue, especially in fibromyalgia patients. 

You can find gluten in the obvious bread and pasta categories but you will also want to watch out for more hidden sources such as: candy, processed meats, packaged cereals, canned baked beans, canned broths and soups, hot dogs, potato chips.  Again your best defense is to read the labels.  Soon you will know what brands to buy and what to just stay away from.  The beautiful part about the year 2011...there are a lot of gluten free foods available. :)

My World

Six years ago, in my quest to determine why I felt so bad I had self-diagnosed myself to have Celiac Disease (Gluten Intollerance).  I have a close friend whose child has Celiac and I watched as they struggled to find out what was going on with his body.  I resonated with his "bloated tummy and listlessness"  To the glory of God, I was also able to watch that child start to thrive again in a rather short period of time.  

So after remembering this...I was in... I ate gluten free for a full year. On Valentine's Day of that year, I had a colonoscopy (Happy Valentine's Day to me! ) "proving" that I did not officially have Celiac.  BUT after allowing myself to add gluten back into my diet.. I KNOW I feel better when I stay away from it.  So even if I"tested" negative for Celiac, I personally believe staying away from gluten helps tremendously. 

Here's to feeling better!