Feeling bloated and uncomfortable in your tummy after eating is the last thing you need. It’s your body’s way of throwing its arms in the air, saying “I can’t digest that properly!”. With trillions of bacteria residing in your gut, focusing on finding balance is a key part of developing a nurturing relationship between your diet and health. Inflammatory responses, such as bloating or diarrhoea, are big signs that something isn’t right. We now know that as many as 1 in 70 Australians are born with coeliac disease, a disease where the gut can’t properly digest gluten, leading to all sorts of health problems including lethargy, joint pain and gastrointestinal issues.
Even if you don’t have coeliac disease, considering the indigestibility of gluten means your body can still react sensitively to gluten with symptoms like bloating and fatigue – just to name a few. Similar to filling up your car with the wrong type of petrol, your gut health can’t thrive if you continue feeding it gluten whilst having gluten sensitivity.
So what exactly is gluten, I hear you ask? Good question! Gluten is a protein found in some grains, and is often hidden in lots of products like salad dressings and sauces.
It’s essentially the binder that holds all the ingredients together.
Try making the switch to gluten-free grains, such as quinoa, buckwheat and also switch to gluten-free bread and gluten-free pasta and test whether your symptoms start to clear up. More often than not, if it’s bloating and other gastrointestinal problems causing you distress, you may find eating gluten-free helps balance out the bacteria in your gut.
When you first undertake testing the waters with gluten, it may also be useful to take a probiotic capsule or get a good dose of prebiotics, such as Kehoe’s sauerkraut, to boost the good bacteria in your gut.
Always ask your health care professional for further advice and as always you can speak to one of our qualified Naturopaths in-store.
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