Gluten and Toxins: When Food Fights Back
Gluten, lectins and oxalates oh my! Is my food trying to kill me? When I thought about this topic, I realized it was far too complex to cover in one article. I will leave that to the experts. I will touch on a few ideas to help anyone who may be going through some health challenges and have yet to get answers.
What Are Plant Toxins?
Growing up we are told to eat our vegetables and now we are finding out that this may have been bad advice. I mean no offense to vegans or vegetarians. If you are thinking of pesticides, that is just one of the dangers. This is about the built into their DNA as a defense mechanism. These toxins provide protection from threats like bacteria, fungi, insects, and predators such as animals and, you guessed it, humans! As a healthy eater particularly fond of spinach and dark chocolate, I recently discovered just how much damage can be unleashed by .
Typical Story
I was a typical kid who wasn’t very fond of salads and didn’t like many vegetables. I grew up in a home where we ate meat and potatoes, and vegetables like peas, green beans, carrots, or corn. Sometimes there was canned spinach because we needed to be strong like Popeye! By the time I was a teen it was pizza, fast food, and lots of soda. Once I was on my own, I realized I needed to clean up my act.
I learned about gut health and discovered probiotics. In my twenties, I was diagnosed with IBS, and I continue to learn so much about food and gut health. For years I leaned into eating salads and veggies and taking my supplements, but I still had gut issues. I took more and more probiotics and ate yogurt until I felt like I could no longer tolerate dairy. The food sensitivities were increasing and the list of foods I could eat was shrinking. By the time I was in my forties, I had embraced a gluten-free diet in an effort to cure my migraines and improve my gut health. Like many people, I could no longer tolerate gluten.
Gluten
While gluten is not a toxin but rather considered an intolerance, I previously thought my reaction to gluten was due to previous health issues. I have come to realize a lot of people cannot tolerate gluten, which is an undigestible protein in grains. The gluten protein from wheat, barley, and rye due to the high proline content. This protein is like glue that binds foods together, so imagine what it’s like for your gut.
Some of us have a gluten sensitivity while others are diagnosed with , an autoimmune condition that causes the immune system to attack gluten in the small intestine. Another issue is glyphosate, an herbicide sprayed on wheat that can interfere with the causing an autoimmune response due to the undigested wheat left behind.
Lectins and Oxalates
Plants have natural defenses to protect themselves against predators. are anti-nutrients that interfere with the absorption of minerals. They are a type of protein that can bind to carbohydrates and cause digestive issues because they cannot be broken down in the gut. Phytohaemagglutinin(PHA) is a type of lectin that can cause red blood cells to clump together and GI issues like nausea and vomiting.
Many people think of kidney stones when they hear the word oxalate and most doctors will only test for oxalate overload if a patient has them. Out of the 4 types of kidney stones, the most common is created when in the urine. Fortunately, it is now being recognized that adequate calcium in the diet or from supplementation can bind to the oxalate before it moves to the kidneys. However, the list provided doesn’t address all the foods that are dangerously high in oxalate.
We have always eaten plants, so why is this a problem? Modern humans have lost much of the beneficial gut bacteria that our ancestors had. is a species that can dwell in the colon and consume oxalate, according to Dr. William Davis in his book . Without the ability to unload excess oxalate from our diet, we can accumulate an overload and this can lead to a variety of health issues. Without a proper diagnosis, we continue to eat high-oxalate food causing even more damage and some develop autoimmune disorders.
Blinded By Science
Like many others, I was following the advice of the many ‘experts’ out there who recommend a limited meat, low fat, low sugar diet with plenty of vegetables, whole grains, fruits, and nuts. Here is an example of the grains recommended by the nutrition source at Harvard:
Amaranth, barley, brown rice, buckwheat, bulgur, corn, kamut, millet, quinoa, rye, oats, sorghum, spelt, teff, triticale (triticum), wheat berries and wild rice are on this within the article for a . The problem with this chart is all but 2 items on here are high to very high (danger) as far as oxalates. I gathered this information from and I got my oxalate numbers from her data companion. The Oxalosis & Hyperoxaluria Foundation has information on its as well, including a chart that gives the milligram range. Those with health issues should try to keep their daily oxalate consumption under 100mg per day.
The emphasizes whole grains, fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, dairy, and protein sources like poultry, fish and eggs. This looks like a good choice but again, a lot of the veggies have a high oxalate content. Red meat seems to be a good choice due to its high glutamine content, so it seems unnecessary to eliminate it. It’s the type of red meat that can be problematic if you are eating processed lunch meat with nitrates, for example. Unprocessed, grass-fed beef is very nutritious and the heme iron is more readily absorbed than the non-heme iron from plants.
It’s About Balance
“Balance is not something you find, it’s something you create.” — Jana Kingsford. While we all need a balance of , there is not one diet out there that works for everyone. Extreme diets seem like a recipe for disaster!😏 I know some people who cannot or will not eat meat and I respect that. We have all had our own experiences with food and our health.
What we do need to recognize, however, is how dangerous some of the so-called ‘healthy’ foods can be for our bodies. I recently read by Sally K. Norton and I highly recommend it. What could it hurt to adjust your diet to see if your health improves?
What I Have Learned
I spent the last year trying to figure out what was causing my subacute cutaneous lupus symptoms and now that I cut out high oxalate foods, it has almost completely resolved. My hope is for everyone reading this to have an open mind and consider their diet when facing health challenges. Maybe we can finally get back to business of living life!
Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is to simply provide information. It is not intended to replace the medical advice of a physician. Please speak with you doctor if you have questions or concerns.
