Gluten Or Other Food Sensitivities That Can Cause Weight Gain And Bloating

Feb. 15, 2012 - PRLog -- Gluten Or Other Food Sensitivities That Can Cause Weight Gain and Bloating

Having gluten or other food sensitivities can cause weight gain, bloating and just a general run down feeling.  Many people don’t even realize that they have a food or gluten sensitivity making them feel less than energetic.   Of course, a severe allergy will produce acute symptoms obviously requiring immediate medical attention.  What happens though if your body is just sensitive to a particular substance?  

Gluten And Other Food Sensitivities Can Share “Leaky Gut Syndrome”

Gluten or other food sensitivities that can cause weight gain, bloating or other symptoms react similarly in that they often set up a condition called “leaky gut syndrome.”  This condition is due to the offending allergens hitting the intestines all the time.  It causes damage to the intestine, which disrupts the built in protective mechanisms.  The result is undigested food particles and toxins that can pass into your blood stream, then be taken around the body.  A person can have a variety of reactions depending on where the toxins or undigested food particles tend to congregate.  This can be different symptoms for different people.  It may be pain somewhere in the body, increased nasal congestion, fatigue, bloating, abdominal discomfort, etc.  An undigested food particle roaming around where it doesn’t belong is seen as an enemy invader.  To combat it, the cells release chemicals to rid the body of this enemy invader.  These chemicals cause collateral damage and inflammation, which often involves water retention.  There are other dietary insufficiencies  that can cause this similar disruption also.  

This process can also cause damage to the blood vessel structure, which can cause fluid to leak into the tissues.  This edema can make one look and feel bloated, not to mention contribute to weight gain.  Once this happens, fluids in the tissue take time to reabsorb, so if the gluten or other food sensitive allergen continues, well, one might suffer from perpetual bloat.

Elimination Diet For Gluten And Other Food Sensitivities

Finding the offending gluten or food sensitivity can be challenging on your own.  There are suggestions out there for elimination diets, which have you severely restrict certain food groups that are common offenders.  After you restrict these possible culprits for a certain time, some say 2 weeks, some 6 weeks, then you introduce one food at a time back in your diet, allowing at least 3 days in between.  Of course, if your symptoms didn’t go away after that elimination time period, you may need to look into eliminating something else or considering another possibility for your symptoms.  When introducing foods back into your diet, you’ll want to pay very close attention to whether your symptoms return.  Common foods that are eliminated in these diets are wheat, dairy, corn, soy, eggs, peanuts, flour and sugar.  You will need to be sure to eliminate all foods with even traces of these substances in them.  This can be very challenging.

Processed Foods Increase Food Sensitivities

Our food supply is so processed these days, it is no wonder that it has created havoc in our bodies.  This advanced technology may be good in some ways, but it often strips good food of its full nutrients and adds preservatives, dyes and pesticides.  Methods are used that damage the enzymes in these products.  These are enzymes that help us with digestion.  The refining of our flours and sugars cause gastrointestinal problems as well.  It would not be unreasonable to assume that more people probably have physical symptoms related to their daily food intake than people realize.  Physicians and researchers have been finding more and more that many health conditions and diseases are related to our diets.

Discovering Gluten or Other Food Sensitivities Through Blood Test

Due to the difficulty of tracking down gluten or other food sensitivities on your own, you should seek out a physician if you are having unexplained weight gain, bloating or other physical symptoms.  There is a blood test, which can detect if you are sensitive to a particular food or to gluten.  This test will likely cost you less than trying to buy all the special foods on your own.  It also will shorten the gap in finding your answers.  Besides the above concerns, doing an effective elimination diet on your own may add the danger of severely restricting needed nutrients and may even cause further weight gain.  Seeing your physician for guidance if you suspect gluten or other food sensitivities that may be causing weight gain, bloating or other symptoms is advisable.