Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The best diet for celiac/gluten sensitivity is the GAPS diet.

The pathology of gluten sensitivity/celiac disease is in the connective tissues that are structurally and functionally different and the resultant permeable intestine sometimes called a "leaky gut". 


To really thrive, the best diet is the GAPS diet or the Gut and Psychology diet developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. She updated the specific carbohydrate diet using the newest information we have about foods.The GAPS diet tries to heal the "leaky gut". Supplements are also recommended both to make up for the nutritional deficiencies brought on by the "leaky gut" and because there are higher needs for some vitamens because of genetic (connective tissue) abnormalities.

I don't recommend a gluten free diet because I rarely see gluten sensitive/celiac persons do well on it. (Perhaps 1 out of 10). Autoimmune diseases still continue to present themselves and nutritional deficiencies persist. There are lots of problems with the flour substitutes from contamination, undiagnosed food allergies to high glycemic load. And store bought gluten free products are also made with seed oils which aggravates the omega 3-6-9 ratio. And grains have anti-nutrients in them.


A gluten free (GF) diet does help to some degree, for example we know that cancer rates start to drop from four times higher and by five years on a GF diet the risk of cancer (in a gluten sensitive/celiac person) is at the rate of the general population (RR =1). But is that enough when a person still doesn't feel well?

A GF diet, as apposed to a grain free diet or GAPS diet, rarely heals or stops any inflammatory processes that already exist nor stops the onset of autoimmune diseases (which are 12 times more common in GS/Celiac). Why does the GF diet fail? Because it doesn't heal the "leaky gut".

One of the best GAPS diet blogs is produced by Kat .