Is Gluten Your Beast? When Testing the GF diet, make sure it is REALLY gluten-free

The Tender Foodie speaks to a lot of people about their diet, and their reactions to food. 

CLEAR GLUTEN REACTIONS: With some people it is really clear - as soon as they have a beer, or bread, or pizza - they feel sick or get swollen joints, they feel tired, or have a headache, a runny nose, bloating and other signs of intestinal distress like diahrea or constipation. 

NOT CLEAR GLUTEN REACTIONS: Others believe that they react to gluten, but when they remove it from their diets, they find no change in how they feel.  My first question to them is:  have you REALLY removed the gluten?  Check your beauty products, your medication (can have fillers), personal care products like lotions, lip balms and shampoos, read labels of food and supplements super judiciously for hidden ingredients... and check your toothpaste for inactive ingredients (you might have to call the company who makes your products). And don't cheat.  If you have an allergy to gluten, this is a no brainer.  But if you can "get away with it", your brain tends to tell you that it isn't much of a problem anyway - beacuse gluten is tasty as heck.. and its flippin' everywhere.

But that doesn't mean that you should eat the gluten if it is behaving in a beastly manner toward you.

HOW LONG?  It is not easy to remove gluten, but if that is your issue, you will be glad you tried it.  Some sources say to try it for 3 weeks, others for 3 months.  But it depends upon what's going on in your gut.  Some people feel better after 3 days, others, because of underlying issues or intestinal damage can take longer. 

And if gluten isn't your issue... you can rule something out before you get to the underlying cause of what is keeping you from your beautiful, thriving life.