Miss Jane vs The Gluten Gorilla

For years, I have been wondering what was going on inside of my body. I ate extremely well, used good quality supplements, followed a great training program and there was something that had a hold inside of me that I couldn't put my finger on.

It would show up occasionally over the years in the form of flu like systems, although I usually never had vomiting or diarrhea. I would usually describe it as fighting a bug in my system, I must have the flu! What was odd about this is I only ever used to get sick from my allergies and that was it. This type of flu bug seemed to be changing that. For the last 9 months or longer, I have been walking around feeling like I am fighting a flu bug and it continually worsened.

During the summer months I read Paul Chek's book, How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy and I stumbled upon a chapter related to digestion. http://www.eatmoveandbehealthy.com/

Right in front of me was a diagram (see above) that showed exactly what I had been feeling for the past 5 months. The problem was I didn't have an ND to share it with. My MD had already told me he didn't have anything more he could do for me and I didn't want to go the route of seeing specialists, yet. I tried to heal myself with my superpowers of perserverence, determination, intuitiveness, strength. However, I was unable to determine what was ailing me. Gluten had already been tested by my doctor on my request, paid for by me and had come back negative. Gluten was crossed off my list as the insistent culprit. I was unsuccessful and my strength was fizzing out fast.

From Paul Chek's book I knew that despite all my positive attitude, super clean eating, good training program and quality supplements that if I had a digestion problem it could impede all the good practices I followed like a religion. I began to eat super clean, only eating grains after training. The problem was I rarely had the energy to train, so I was eating many grains. I noticed I felt much better eating like this. In fact in the spring when I was very sick I went of gluten at one point and felt much better. However, I thought that couldn't have been the problem because I had tested negative on my gluten blood test. Over the past few months at times, I have been on and off gluten at times. I noticed that I would feel much better when I was off it.

At my first appointment with my Naturopath, Jen Newell ND http://newellnd.ca/ I brought Paul Chek's book. When we got to the part in our 1 and 1/2 hour appointment where we discussed my stomach issues, I pulled out the diagram that I had related so well to in the summer. Very quickly the picture became clear to my Naturopath what could be wrong with me. We decided to do Celiac Test at our next appointment. If I was celiac then I had a gluten allergy that was affecting my small instestine. I mindfully went off gluten for almost 2 days. I started feeling good for a day, then I realized that I need the gluten in my system for my celiac test. Each day for 6 days I made sure to consume a good quality source of gluten.

During the 6 days of Gluten, I learned that I had a Gluten Gorilla inside of me. He was very strong and powerful. Each time I consumed even a small amount of gluten, my body reacted in minutes with body aches, fog in my head, stomach cramps, irritability, exhaustion, zero energy and unrelentless bloating. The day after I began eating gluten I was in bed for a day and a half. Eating the gluten each day put me in a constant state of these symptoms. I took 2 days off work to try to gain some strength to go into work. However, my adrenal glands are non functioning and have been for some time according to my Naturopath, due to the stress of having an allergic reaction each time I consumed gluten, cause my body to be in a constant state of flight or fight. Without proper working adrenal glands my blood pressure is off and when I went back to work for a day I was in a constant state of dizziness as I bent and turned to address my kindergarten children for for hours. By lunch I called Brandon 3 times because I thought I might pass out, I admitted to him that he was right, he should have driven me to work that day.

My appointment seemed to be so far off in the future as my health worsened each day. However, the day arrived, I was tested for celiac disease and I was negative. The test is a pregnancy type test and is done in office within 10 minutes by a pin prick of blood. The results are good because I didn't want to have any damage inside of me due to my allergy. However, my ND concluded that it is her belief that I have a SEVERE gluten intolerance. I now have a reason for what what happening inside my body and it is remedied at home by cutting out all gluten from my lifestyle. I am back in control again, no more trying to figure out what is wrong and put my figure on it.

Many people out there are trying to get stronger, healthier, leaner. If you have a digestion problem no matter how positive your attitude, clean your eating, good your supplements are you might not be getting the results you are looking for. I suggest finding a Naturopath who specializes in Food Sensitivities and begin finding out what could be holding you back. Once you have the answer, you  can take your health back. Perserverence, determination, intuitiveness and strength will free you like it did me, to conquer all your goals.

And so begin the adventures of Miss Jane versus The Gluten Gorilla. Please join me on my new blog, The Gluten Gorilla to find out what Miss Jane does to tame the Gluten Gorilla inside of her. I look forward to sharing my journey as I become gluten free, tackling the Gluten Gorilla inside of me with everything I have. For those of you who know my "Be Strong" motto, you will see how I apply it to an entirely different challenge. Join me on my new adventures, Miss Jane vs The Gluten Gorilla. 

Brandon Steen Jane Vs The Gluten Gorilla http://www.brandonsteenart.com/

Look for my first adventure coming to my blog this week ....