by Allyson the Assistant

As many of you know, Sean has been feeling a bit under the weather this week so I’m stepping in to share with you guys some awesome info from Dr. Peter Osborne’s show on UW Radio last week, The Gluten Free Lie.

May 18th will mark my 3-year anniversary working for Sean and let me tell you, since then, I’ve learned a TON about the evils of gluten.

But the coolest thing about working for Sean is that I’m always learning more. I know consuming gluten is linked to developing autoimmune disease, but listening to Dr. Osborne’s podcast really helped shed some light on the science behind it.

Simply put, ignoring a gluten sensitivity leads to leaky gut.

And leaky gut leads to autoimmune disease.

How can this happen?

The cells in the gut that line the intestine are tightly bound together to keep bacteria and toxins from the food we eat inside the GI tract, preventing them from getting into the bloodstream.

Gluten can cause the gut cells to open up and drift apart, allowing food proteins to slip between the cells. Since 80% of our immune systems resides in the lymphatic system behind the gut wall, the escaped food proteins start to cause an immune reaction.

Here’s the kicker – molecular mimicry.

Some of the foods we eat have similar protein structures as other parts of our body such as cartilage, thyroid, and liver tissue. Once the immune system gets used to reacting to the food leaked from the gut, it can start looking at these structures in our body and think, “these guys look similar, let’s attack them too!” Thus creating autoimmunity.

I’d heard about leaky gut and tight junctions, but this concept really helped me make sense of it all.

Another big thing I learned from Dr. Osborne was what he classifies to be gluten. But you’re going to have to listen to the entire show for that.

I promise you’ll be surprised. Click on the player at the bottom of the post to learn more…

Here are my notes…

3:18 – How Dr. Osborne got into gluten research
3:54 – “This is a miserable field to work in because nobody ever gets better”
4:24 – 3 things in medical literature to arrest autoimmune disease
5:00 – Gluten – the agreed upon culprit for autoimmune disease
6:23 – The difference between Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity
7:10 – Why gluten sensitivity is not a disease
7:45 – Can somebody acquire a gluten sensitivity?
8:35 – Turning gluten sensitivity on
9:35 – Sean’s stress response
10:33 – Can stress trigger leaky gut?
11:12 – Is Sean allergic to eggs?
11:42 – 190 diseases associated with gluten consumption
12:06 – Your thyroid and the immune system
12:41 – Can gluten alter gut bacteria?
13:53 – “We know that gluten can impact any tissue in the body”
14:13 – What is leaky gut?
15:34 – Problems with leaky gut
16:25 – What gets through the leaky gut gate?
17:23 – Why does gluten cause so many problems?
18:36 – Caller Q – Besides removing foods from diet, are there other ways to heal the gut?
19:36 – Get the grain out!
21:28 – The Gluten Free Lie
23:10 – Why a traditional “gluten free” diet doesn’t work for Celiac disease
24:53 – Playing nutritional roulette
25:52 – Proof that JERF works
26:46 – What about beans and nuts?
29:36 – Does sprouting and soaking help the digestion process?
31:03 – Is gluten free for everyone?
32:20 – Listener Q – Are there false negatives in genetic testing?
34:10 – Was grain once ban for sale in the US?
35:53 – Caller Q – Can you leak oxilates through leaky gut and and not other foods?
38:50 – Delayed reactions to foods
40:11 – Caller Q – Can you add back in foods you were once sensitive to?
42:05 – Facebook Q – Are coconut products tolerated for those with leaky gut?
43:10 – Caller Q – Does eating grain-fed meat defeat the purpose of eating a paleo diet?
44:10 – Caller Q – Can you test for leaky gut?
45:01 – Caller Q – How do you know if your Hashimoto’s is under control?
47:00 – Caller Q – Why aren’t polysaccharides mentioned with regards to Celiac disease?
52:25 – Caller Q – What is the relationship between Tourettes, Autism, gluten and vaccines?
57:09 – Caller Q – Using nutritional supplements if you have gut permeability issues?
58:38 – Thyroid medication contains gluten
1:00:53 – Caller Q – Do you recommend applied kinesiology for gluten sensitivity?
1:06:08 – Caller Q – What tests do you run to know if the paleo diet works for you?
1:08:18 – Caller Q – What are your opinions on the GAPS diet?
1:08:47 – Caller Q – Is there really no cure for Hashimoto’s?
1:10:25 – Dr. Osborne’s Gluten Free Society

Check out this video clip about The Gluten-Free Lie!

Enjoy the show!

Allyson Drosten-Brooks
World’s Greatest Assistant (Sean wrote that!)

by Sean Croxton

The doctor is in the house.

And, as always, he’s packing nothing but truth bombs!

Yesterday, gluten superhero Dr. Tom O’Bryan stopped by the studio to share a handful of facts that you probably didn’t know about gluten sensitivity.

If you’re dealing with headaches, skin problems, fatigue, mood issues, or know a child with celiac disease, you’ll want to check this out.

Here’s what you’ll learn…

* The connection between recurrent headaches, dead brain tissue, and gluten consumption.

* How skin problems can be the sole manifestation of gluten sensitivity.

* How removing gluten from the diet may be the key to restoring your energy and vitality.

* Why getting off of gluten can be so difficult, and how to find a trained Certified Gluten Practitioner to help you with the transition.

* Why there is a 40-96% increased risk of suicide in children with celiac disease versus non-celiac children.

* How people with celiac disease who consume gluten once a month are six times more likely to die early in life compared to the general population. Wait until you hear how much gluten we’re talking about!

* Why kids diagnosed with celiac disease are three times more likely to die early in life with or without a gluten-free diet.

Check out the video below to hear Dr. Tom tell it. Share your thoughts and comments below!

Be sure to check Dr. O’Bryan’s site at www.thedr.com.

He’s the man.

Out.

Sean
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss

by Sean Croxton

Last night, I cracked open my copy of Wheat Belly by next Tuesday’s Underground Wellness Radio guest Dr. William Davis. I’ll admit that after reading hundreds of health-related books, I’m becoming quite the book snob. If the author can’t get my attention within the first ten pages, I’m done. Moving on!

Wheat Belly had me hooked from page one. This guy can write! The information is scientifically backed, written in plain English, and absolutely spot-on. I even let out a giggle here and there. Can’t wait for our interview!

You know a book is good when you’re carrying it around the house with you – which is exactly what I was doing around dinner time. While cooking up a lamb burger (no bun), I recommended Dr. Davis’s book to my very fitness-minded roommate Jennifer. She and I have talked about the evils of grains several times before. Despite our discussions, she’s still not sold.

It’s cool. She’ll come around.

To her credit, my roomy brandished what I consider to be the most powerful dogma-defeating weaponry in the entire arsenal: logic.

When confronted with the erroneous misgivings of saturated fat and cholesterol by Real Food skeptics, I routinely respond by wondering aloud how an old school food (or nutrient) can cause brand new diseases. To her credit, Jennifer threw that very same logic right back at me. She wondered how grains – which have been around for at least ten thousand years – can all of a sudden cause so many health problems.

How can something that The Bible refers to as The Staff of Life be the source of so much modern illness? Didn’t God nourish the Israelites with the bread (manna) from Heaven? Well, according to gluten expert Dr. Thomas O’Bryan, seven out of ten people are sensitive to gluten, the toxic protein found in most grains! Were the Israelites somehow exempt from gluten’s wrath? Or was the all-knowing God just a little behind on his research?

The truth is that we are not eating the same grains that Moses may have snacked on as he hiked up Mount Sinai. In fact, we’re not even eating the same grains our grandparents ate! In just a mere 50 years, grains – wheat, in particular – have become a mutant species crafted by the hands of human intervention in the name of increased crop yields, resistance to drought, disease, and heat, as well as an end to world hunger – all of which are honorable causes and tremendous scientific achievements. However, the accelerated evolution of wheat through hybridization – a feat that would make Gregor Mendel proud – has been to the detriment of human health.

To understand how wheat has gone from a comparatively innocent wild grass to what the New England Journal of Medicine recently declared the cause of 55 diseases, we have to go back.

Way back.

Its origins dating back to the year 8500 BC, modern wheat’s eldest ancestor einkorn grew wild in what we now call the Middle East. The Natufians – a semi-nomadic tribe – harvested the wild grain and may have been the first to store its seeds and cultivate it.

This ancient form of wheat was nothing you’d want to bake with, as its genetic makeup was fairly simple with only 14 chromosomes and very poor pliability. In other words, even if the Natufians knew how to bake bran muffins, they would have turned out flat and crumply. Instead, einkorn was ground by hand and served as a porridge.

After a rather long monogamous existence, the now-cultivated einkorn got itself a girlfriend – goatgrass – and made a baby. They named it emmer. According to Dr. Davis, “plants such as wheat have the ability to retain the sum of the genes of their forbears.” The 12 chromosomes of goatgrass combined with einkorn’s dozen, making for a more complex emmer plant containing a total of 24 chromosomes. For thousands of years, einkorn and emmer went unchallenged as the most popular forms of wheat. The latter is likely the grain referred to in biblical texts.

Due to their poor baking characteristics, chances are your lips have never touched either of these ancient crops.

You’re eating something else.

At some point – likely just before Biblical times – emmer wheat hooked up with another grass, Triticum tauschii, and made a 42-chromosome baby named Triticum aestivum, genetically closest to what we call wheat. (Davis, 20) Due to its genetic complexity, this heir to the wheat throne was more bakery-friendly than its predecessors.

For many centuries, Triticum aestivum went fairly unchanged. That is, until science recently caught up to it and elected to exploit its “genetic pliability” to develop literally thousands of varieties – only 5 varieties existed in the mid-18th century.

As mentioned earlier, while the reasons for altering wheat strains through man-made intervention is both understandable and commendable, no studies were ever conducted to confirm their safety when consumed by humans. It was assumed that wheat was, well, just wheat. This, too, is understandable – in my opinion – since the research on gluten-related illness was in its infancy at the time.

To understand just how much wheat has changed in just a mere half-century, I suggest you put your thinking cap on, and let Dr. Davis preach the gluten-free gospel!

“The gluten proteins produced by einkorn wheat, for example, are distinct from the gluten proteins of emmer, which are, in turn, different from the gluten proteins of Triticum aestivum. Because fourteen-chromosome einkorn, containing the so-called A genome (set of genes), has the smallest chromosomal set, it codes for the fewest number and variety of glutens. Twenty-eight chromosome emmer, containing the A genome with the added B genome, codes for a larger variety of gluten. Forty-two-chromosome Triticum aestivum, with the A, B, D genomes, has the greatest gluten variety, even before any human manipulation of its breeding.

“Hybridization efforts of the past fifty years have generated numerous additional changes in gluten-coding genes in Triticum aestivum, most of them purposeful modifications of the D genome that confer baking and aesthetic characteristics of flour. Indeed, genes located in the D genome are those most frequently pinpointed as the source of glutens that trigger celiac disease.

“It is therefore the D genome of modern Triticum aestivum that, having been the focus of all manner of genetic shenanigans by plant geneticists, has accumulated substantial change in genetically determined characteristics of gluten proteins. It is also potentially the source for many of the odd health phenomena experienced by consuming humans.” (emphasis is mine)

In other words, today’s wheat contains more destructive gluten than ever before. We have derailed Mother Nature’s natural order and seemingly created the trans fats of the grain family, trading our health for better baking.

But as Dr. Davis acknowledges, it’s not your fault.

Tune in tomorrow when we’ll discuss how the government’s recommendation to eat more whole grains has been a disaster, and how a slice of whole wheat bread may be worse than consuming table sugar.

I’m out.

Good talk, Jennifer.

Sean Croxton
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss

by Sean Croxton & Scott Kustes

I have a weakness.

And it goes by the name of chocolate!

Last month (I’m way behind), my main man Scott Kustes of Naked Food Cooking stopped by the UW Kitchen to show us how we can satisfy our chocolate cravings semi-healthy style with this flourless chocolate cake.

To be totally honest, I thought I was gonna hate this one since it had coffee in it. Coffee disgusts me. Yuck!

But I totally dug it!

It’s reeeeally simple with just a handful of ingredients. And it’s quite tasty, especially the ganache!

Scott put together the directions for you. Here they go!

Try it out and let us know how it turned out.

Stay tuned. Scott and I also made some delicious Pork Belly with Pineapple Salsa. I’ll get it edited and uploaded some time next week.

Click HERE to learn more about Scott’s online cooking course!

Out!

Sean

by Sean Croxton

I used to be the King of Whole Grains.

Indoctrinated to be a processed food salesman by my university-taught nutrition courses, I spent several years drilling the base of the USDA Food Guide Pyramid into the skulls of my personal training clients.

“Six to eleven servings of bread, rice, and pasta a day, you people!! How on Earth do you expect to meet your energy and fiber requirements? Do it! DO IT NOW!”

Fast-forward ten years to present day and I can’t help but wonder how much damage my whole grain zealotry may have caused. Who knows how many of my clients were overweight, fatigued, depressed, and more due to undiagnosed gluten sensitivity.

I honestly didn’t know any better.

And even when I thought I knew the intricacies of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease, I really didn’t. Yeah, I knew more than the average person, but I was still in the Stone Age as far as the research was concerned.

That all changed last week when I had the privilege of attending Dr. Datis Kharrazian’s Understanding the Complexity of Gluten Sensitivity seminar here in San Diego. As always, Dr. K blew my mind with his thorough research and clear presentation on a topic that literally affects millions of people. The doc dropped some monster truth bombs!

I also had the unexpected opportunity to meet Dr. Thomas O’Bryan, the world’s leading expert on gluten. If you missed his appearance on UW Radio, be sure to check it out. It’s definitely one of my all-time favorites.

With new information comes responsibility. So, even though I can’t by any means claim to be an authority on gluten, I feel it is my duty to share what I believe to be a new, promising paradigm in the detection and diagnosis of gluten sensitivity. This is literally information that will not only change lives, but save them as well.

Gluten sensitivity is an immune response to gluten, which is found in commonly consumed grains such as wheat, spelt, kamut, oats (unless designated gluten-free), rye, and barley. In other words, it’s pretty much the bottom of the food pyramid I was at one time enamored with, the very same foods we are advised to eat the most often. I could probably write a short book on how this errant dietary recommendation has caused much pain and suffering by way of inflammation, intestinal destruction, neurological disorders, and autoimmunity, but today we’ll stick to the matter of detection. Again, I direct you to Dr. O’Bryan’s interview to learn more about the repercussions of gluten sensitivity.

In my own Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practice, one of the first recommendations I give to my clients is the removal of all gluten-containing grains. Actually, these days I even go a step further and not only remove gluten, but all grains, legumes (including peanuts), and dairy products. It never ceases to amaze me how the removal of gluten alone can cause such a profound improvement in my clients lives. Energy improves. Bloating disappears. Bowels become regular. Libido returns. Brain fog dissipates. Skin clears up. One simple recommendation can make a world of difference.

Despite their apparent improvements on a gluten-free diet, many of these same people had at one time been tested for celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. All had tested negative, giving them no conclusive reason to stop consuming gluten.

But if the tests came up negative, then why do they feel so much better when they stop eating gluten?

The answer is that the tests most commonly used to detect gluten sensitivity are nowhere near as thorough as you’d think.

Let’s start with celiac disease, a genetic autoimmune condition that falls under the umbrella of gluten sensitivity. With celiac, the consumption of gluten causes damage to the small intestine. According to Dr. Kharrazian in his bestselling book Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms?, “the disease affects up to one in 100 Americans, although only 1 in 8 are expected to be aware of their condition, as symptoms are silent.”

Dr. O’Bryan describes celiac as one of the most common lifelong disorders in the United States and Europe. In fact, autoimmune disease (when your immune system attacks your own glands, tissues, and organs) is ten times more common in those with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity than the general population (1). Coincidence? I think not. When we consider that autoimmune disease is the number three cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrialized world, you can understand why detecting sensitivity to gluten is of critical importance. At the same time, we must also wonder why it is so seldom diagnosed.

The gold standard for celiac diagnosis is a small intestinal biopsy, which requires a sample of the cells in the intestinal wall to detect gluten-induced injury. An extremely uncomfortable procedure to begin with, intestinal biopsy commonly results in false negatives since intestinal damage can vary from one location to the next. Also, since the intestinal cells are replaced every few days, the biopsied area may have healed prior to the procedure. In fact, the intestine will appear perfectly normal after just a week or two of strict compliance with a gluten-free diet (2). Hardly a definitive test by any stretch, many true celiacs slip through the cracks. Told that gluten is not the cause of their health challenges, many spend the rest of their lives seeking help for “unexplained illnesses”. Meanwhile, they are eating themselves sick.

Another marker for celiac disease is tissue transglutaminase and endomysial antibodies. This blood test is said to be 97% accurate, an extremely impressive statistic when taken at face value. However, it only exhibits such pinpoint accuracy when there is total villous atrophy, or when the small intestinal lining has been worn all the way down! With only partial villous atrophy the test’s accuracy plummets to 32%. What this means is that the test is wrong 7 times out of 10 and that in order to be diagnosed with celiac the intestinal wall has to be demolished beyond recognition! In other words, you may in fact have celiac disease, but your gut just isn’t bad enough yet for the doctor to diagnose it. So you just continue eating gluten until sufficient damage accumulates for standard diagnosis. Silly, I know!

Speaking of silliness, gluten sensitivity (which may or may not be celiac) is often detected by what are called gliadin antibodies. Gluten is actually made up of two components, gliadin (the protein part) and glutenin (the sticky part). The gliadin protein is believed to be the immune-reactive component (more on this later). A positive gliadin antibodies test indicates the immune system is mounting a defense against the protein.

The big problem with the gliadin antibody test is that there are four components of gliadin: alpha, beta, gamma, and omega. However, this test only measures the alpha portion, since it is most commonly associated with celiac disease. The test ignores the remaining three potentially reactive gliadin components! You can test negative for alpha, but may still be positive for beta, gamma, or omega. Unfortunately, you’d never know since you were not tested for them! This is the “state-of-the-art” testing we’ve relied upon for the detection of a potentially debilitating condition.

But wait, there’s more.

Glutenin: Gliadin’s Other Half
As mentioned above, gluten is composed of gliadin and glutenin. It has long been believed that only the gliadin portion is responsible for gluten sensitivity. According to a study published in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2006), “it is highly probable that the glutenin proteins are toxic.” In other words, laboratories are only testing for half of the potentially immune-reactive components of gluten. And for the half that they do test (gliadin), only one-quarter of it is being measured (alpha gliadin).

Traditional gluten testing does not look for glutenin antibodies.

Deamidated Gliadin
We have yet another reason to avoid processed foods. By way of a process called deamidation, food manufacturers alter the gliadin protein in order to make it more water soluble and easier to mix with other foods and liquids. This deamidation process also occurs naturally in the intestines, which can be a problem within itself. But the use of deamidated wheat isolates in our food supply has become a hidden source of food allergy. In fact, immune T-cells respond more readily to deamidated gliadin than non-deamidated gliadin.

What all this means is that an individual can have no sensitivities to any other forms of gliadin but its deamidated form in processed foods. And the immune system’s response to it will be far more aggressive.

Traditional gluten testing does not look for deamidated gliadin antibodies.

Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA): Rethinking Sprouted Wheat
WGA is the lectin component of wheat. As I mentioned in my previous blog, lectins are present in all grains and can pass through the gut wall in their intact form, causing the immune system to recognize them as foreign invaders and mount a defense against them. WGA, the most studied of the lectin family, is found in high concentrations in whole-wheat products, especially sprouted wheat. Maybe that Ezekiel bread isn’t so good for you after all.

WGA reactions can cause red blood cells to clump together. Not good. It can also break down the blood-brain barrier and inhibit nerve growth factor (just as bad as it sounds). Common WGA-induced symptoms are poor circulation, cold hands and feet, reduced learning capacity, and brain fog.

Traditional gluten testing does not look for wheat germ agglutinin antibodies.

Gluteomorphins: Are You an Addict?
Many people who go gluten-free claim that the diet actually makes them feel worse. This can be quite baffling if one is unfamiliar with gluteomorphins. Common in autistic children, gluteomorphins are opiod peptides formed during the digestion of the gliadin component of the gluten protein (3). For these folks, getting off of gluten can be like kicking a cocaine habit!

The discontinuance of any addictive substance will result in a period of withdrawal lasting a few days to several weeks. In the case of gluteomorphin withdrawal, symptoms can include neurochemical imbalances, altered mood, and gastrointestinal distress. Yes, gluten can be a drug.

An individual whose immune system is making antibodies to gluteomorphins will have a much tougher time in the early phases of a gluten-free diet.

Traditional gluten testing does not look for gluteomorphin antibodies.

Wrapping It Up
Ugh! I hate when my blogs turn out this long. Another antibody to look for is prodynorphin. A basic building block of endorphins, the manufacturing of prodynorphin can become depleted in gluten sensitive individuals, leading to vulnerability to drug addiction, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and a form of epilepsy (3).

Lastly, many gluten sensitive individuals go off of gluten and continue to have problems. This can be due to cross-reactivity with other foods, including rice, corn, quinoa, chocolate, cow’s milk, and more. Your best bet is to avoid all grains. And while you’re at it, cut out the legumes and dairy too. If you don’t think you can do this, I highly recommend you get tested for any cross-reactive foods.

So, how do you get tested for what today’s standard lab tests tend to miss? Well, as of today you can’t. Remember, I did say that this is a NEW paradigm of gluten sensitivity detection. After over a year of anticipation, Cyrex Laboratories will finally open its doors on January 11, 2011 and will make the definitive tests for gluten sensitivity available to the millions of people who desperately need them. For more information, please visit www.cyrexlabs.com. This is a very exciting time in the field of immunology and autoimmunity!

Again, I’m no expert on gluten sensitivity. Nor should any of us have to be in order to get the best testing possible for such a potentially debilitating condition. The effects of undiagnosed gluten sensitivity are far-reaching. It can literally affect all parts of the body and be involved in any disease process. You can be gluten sensitive and have absolutely no gastrointestinal symptoms. In fact, more people will have gluten disruption against the brain than against their intestinal tracts. It can be a silent killer slowly wearing down the body until enough destruction has occurred to warrant an autoimmune disease diagnosis. If the antibodies are present, autoimmunity can’t be far behind.

Get tested. And get the right test.

Hang tight. January 11th is right around the corner.

Disclaimer: The author is in no way affiliated with Cyrex Laboratories. He just thinks this stuff is really cool!

Sources
1. ACAM Podcast: Antibody Array for the Detection of Autoimmune Disease Disorders Associated with Gluten Sensitivity and Celiac Disease presented by Dr. Thomas O’Bryan. Available on iTunes
2. Dangerous Grains by James Braly, M.D., and Ron Hoggan, M.A.
3. Dr. Datis Kharrazian, Understanding the Complexity of Gluten Sensitivity lecture slide notes

Sean Croxton

by Sean Croxton

Class is in session!

‘Tis the season to lie in bed and get my read on! These past three or four weeks I’ve had my head in the books. I read Deep Nutrition by Cate Shanahan M.D. three times and can’t wait to read it again. That book is a masterpiece, in my opinion. When I was sick as a dog in the Bay Area, I read Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution and reread Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint. Then I moved on to Genetic Nutritioneering by Jeffrey Bland. And now, I’m just about done with Primal Body, Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudus. My mind is literally spinning with all of this great information!

In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell states, “…researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.” In other words, to be a true expert you have to spend at least 10,000 hours studying your craft. If I had to guess, I would figure that I’ve put in about 6343 hours. I’ve got a long way to go.

Despite all of those hours, I’m always amazed by how new pieces of information can make me rethink what I once believed to be true. I could probably write a bunch of separate blogs about each of the ideas and concepts running through my brain right now. Actually, I will. But today I’ll try to keep it brief and let you in on what I’m pondering.

Here goes!

As nutritionists, we’ve been taught to believe that glucose is the primary source of fuel by all of the body’s cells. This is extremely hard for me to believe. If it were true, the Ice Age would have been the end for us all. Carbs don’t grow on ice. Try telling an Eskimo that he needs more carbs! In fact, the only cells in the body that actually require glucose are our red blood cells and some areas of the brain. The rest of the body, including the heart, liver, kidneys, and majority of the brain, runs more efficiently on ketones. In other words, the vast majority of our bodies run better on fats! This makes a ton of sense when you consider that for the last 90-95% of human history carbs were hard to come by. Grains are a relatively new food (if you wanna call them that). Even the fruits our ancestors sparingly consumed were nowhere near as sweet and sugary as they are today. Just why on Earth our Creator (God, Mother Nature, the aliens, whoever!) would put us on a planet with so few sources of dietary glucose while at the same time making glucose the supposed primary source of cellular energy really makes little sense to me.

This brings to mind the ridiculous (in my opinion) idea that low-carb diets are causing adrenal exhaustion. The foundation on which this stands is shaky to say the least. The idea is that since so few carbs are coming in, the adrenals have to keep cranking out adrenaline and cortisol in order to keep blood sugar propped up. If this were the case, our meat-eating, low-carbing ancestors would have been royally screwed. Their adrenals must have been a mess! Consequently, they must have had horrendous thyroid function, chronic fatigue, insomnia, and major libido issues. That doesn’t sound a whole lot like the “superhuman” natives written about by the explorers and missionaries, and of course, Weston Price.

At the same time, I do agree that the adrenals can be negatively impacted by low-carbing it. But the impact is transitory. Since we’re a grain- and sugar-addicted society, our metabolisms have shifted away from fat-burning and morphed into fat-storing and sugar-burning by way of insulin and leptin resistance. If you’ve ever tried to switch from a high-carb to a low-carb diet, you were probably hit with a big can of SUCK! You were irritated. You craved sugar. You were tired and listless. Part of that was due to grain and sugar withdrawal. But you were also going through a shift in metabolism. And this shift does not happen overnight. It can take several days, even weeks to switch over to using fat (ketones) as your primary energy source. In the meantime, your body is freaking out wondering where in the hell the glucose went. This is stressful and will crank up the adrenals. But again, it’s transitory. Once the metabolic shift occurs, the adrenals calm down. Actually, the adrenals will be better off since they no longer have to deal with your frequent blood sugar swings from having cereal bars for breakfast, Subway for lunch, and pasta for dinner.

I say the proof is in the pudding! I’ve switched a lot of clients over to low-carb diets and haven’t seen a single one come up with worsened Adrenal Stress Index scores upon retesting. All I see are a lot of people feeling a whole lot better and losing a whole lot of weight once they make it through the SUCK phase.

Speaking of carbs, I’m beginning to rethink grains. Not just gluten-containing grains, but ALL grains. Yes, gluten is a major problem, but why are lectins getting a free pass? Lectins are a component of all grains and they’re not broken down by the normal digestive process. These guys not only damage the gut lining, but once they make it into the bloodstream (they get through intact), they are recognized as foreign invaders and the immune system mounts a defense against them. In the long run this can create autoimmune issues. Not good! Again, lectins are in ALL grains.

Now I can hear the Weston A. Price folks (I love you all!) admonishing me for such blasphemy. The wonderful people Dr. Price visited in the Loetschental Valley did eat whole rye bread. Absolutely true. But that was a long time ago. And those folks more than likely were birthed by healthy mothers, were breast fed, and had the proper nourishment to build strong intestinal barriers. Times have changed. There is no doubt that we live in an immuno-compromised society. Eighty-percent of the immune system resides in the gut. That would mean that we as modern people have some pretty jacked up digestive systems. We don’t have as much room for error as the people Price observed. One of the tests I run in my Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practice is an Intestinal Barrier Function Screen, which gives me a huge window into the gut. I haven’t seen a normal one in the three years I’ve been running them.

Again, none of this stuff is set in stone. It’s just what I’ve been pondering lately. I’ll let my research play itself out and see where it takes me. Any and all of your comments are appreciated. Let’s learn together!

Perfect segue! I was going to write a dedicated blog about this next topic, but I figure a couple paragraphs here will suffice. It’s about what I call Zombies. You may have heard me use the term “Paul Chek Robots” at one point or another on Facebook. These are the peeps who repeat everything Paul says without taking the time to ponder what they think themselves. I’m as guilty as the next robot. If you watch my old YouTube videos, you’re hearing Paul Chek. I would memorize parts of his You Are What You Eat CD-series (great info, by the way) and just repeat them in front of my webcam. In fact, I’ve been a Bill Wolcott robot. Reed Davis robot. Josh Rubin robot. I’ve even run into some Sean Croxton robots. Weird!

Learning is a process. It happens in stages. For most people, one of those stages consists of putting all of our eggs in one basket or one person. This can be an awesome experience until you run into another “guru” saying something completely different. At this point, you go through a state of confusion and don’t know what to think about anything. It can be quite frustrating. I’ve been there. I still go through it. Haven’t you been reading this blog! For example, Ray Peat says fish oil is bad. Weston A. Price and just about everyone else says it’s good. Who’s right? Well, it’s really up to you. This is where you do your due diligence and see what argument YOU resonate with. You also see what works for you. This is the art of being a true student of the nutrition game. No one is 100% correct about everything. There are no health and wellness Yodas out there with all of the answers. You just keep chopping away at those 10,000 hours and see where it takes you. It’s a fun, confusing journey. Just keep your mind open and everything will work itself out. But the worst thing to be is a Zombie. Like Timothy Leary said, “Question authority and think for yourself.” Sometimes you’ll be wrong. Sometimes you’ll be right. It’s all part of the game. I’m 6343 hours deep and I’m still going through it.

Never stop learning.

Damn, this blog was long! Thanks for reading!

Peace.

Sean Croxton
www.undergroundwellness.com
www.youtube.com/undergroundwellness
www.blogtalkradio.com/undergroundwellness
www.twitter.com/ugwellness