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Gluten isn't the only Reason to Avoid Wheat - "The Dirty Truth" - Good Gut Products

[fa icon="calendar'] Apr 17, 2017 9:19:00 PM / by Isadora Guggenheim

Stories of Americans who suffer with allergies and food sensitivities travel to Europe and enjoy pasta and other wheat products without allergic and digestive reactions. Why?

 

Hi, it's Winter! I can speak first hand on this phenomenon. Not only do I find that I have a sensitivity to gluten, but also allergies to most fruits, nuts and vegetables. After traveling to Italy for the summer, I not only enjoyed bread and pasta without reaction but also fresh fruits and raw vegetables without any reaction. It is scary and I wondered why my allergies magically disappeared upon traveling outside of the country.

There is obviously something very wrong with the wheat products in this country that goes beyond gluten. Gluten has been in wheat and consumed forever, so why are so many people having such severe sensitivities to it now?

The problem comes from the way wheat is harvested in the United States.  Harvest protocols, in the United States, is to drench the wheat in ROUNDUP, yes, Roundup, several days before the harvesters work through the fields because withered dead wheat plants are less taxing on farm equipment and that allows for an earlier, easier and bigger harvest.

Over the past 15 years it has become routine to apply the herbacide Roundup and/or other herbicides containing the deadly active ingredient glyphosate to wheat and barley.  It is typically used 7-10 days prior to the harvest. According to the US Department of Agriculture, as of 2012, 99% of durum wheat, 97% of spring wheat, and 61% of winter wheat has been treated with herbicides. This is an increase from 88% for durum wheat, 91% for spring wheat and 47% for winter wheat since 1998.

Roundup is a known carcinogen.

Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup claims that application to plants at over 30% kernel moisture result in roundup uptake by the plant into the kernels. Farmers like this practice because Roundup kills the wheat plant allowing an earlier harvest. 


"This practice is not licensed. Farmers mistakenly call it “dessication.” Consumers eating products made from wheat flour are undoubtedly consuming minute amounts of Roundup. An interesting aside, malt barley which is made into beer is not acceptable in the marketplace if it has been sprayed with preharvest Roundup. Lentils and peas are not accepted in the market place if it was sprayed with preharvest roundup….. but wheat is ok.. This farming practice greatly concerns me and it should further concern consumers of wheat products.

 

The currently accepted view is that ghyphosate is not harmful to humans or any mammals.  This flawed view is so pervasive in the conventional farming community that Roundup salesmen have been known to foolishly drink it during presentations! However, just because Roundup doesn’t kill you immediately doesn’t make it nontoxic. In fact, the active ingredient in Roundup lethally disrupts the all important shikimate pathway found in beneficial gut microbes which is responsible for synthesis of critical amino acids.

 

Gut bacteria aid digestion, prevent permeability of the gastointestinal tract (which discourages the development of autoimmune disease), synthesize vitamins and provide the foundation for robust immunity. Round up significantly disrupts the functioning of gut bacteria and contributes to permeability of the intestinal wall.

In synergy with disruption of the biosynthesis of important amino acids via the shikimate pathway, glyphosate inhibits the cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes produced by the gut microbiome.  CYP enzymes are critical to human biology because they detoxify the multitude of foreign chemical compounds, xenobiotics, that we are exposed to in our modern environment today.As a result, humans exposed to glyphosate through use of Roundup in their community or through ingestion of its residues on industrialized food products become even more vulnerable to the damaging effects of other chemicals and environmental toxins they encounter!

 The negative impact of glyphosate exposure is slow and insidious over months and years as inflammation gradually gains a foothold in the cellular systems of the body.

So what do you do? Avoid toxic wheat at all costs! Even if you do not have Celiac or a gluten/wheat allergy or sensitivity. The effects of glyphosate on the body are so insidious that the lack of symptoms means nothing. If you have already developed and allergy to wheat you MUST avoid it, but if you have not how can you eat it safely? You can source organic, low gluten, unhybridized Einkorn wheat for breadmaking, pancakes and cookies.

You can recolonize, repair and renew your intestinal microbiome with Good Gut products.

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Isadora Guggenheim

Written by Isadora Guggenheim

Isadora Guggenheim, ND, FNP, RN, MS, CNS, LMT, owner of Second Nature Naturopathic Care, LLC
For all appointments: Tel: 845 358-8385 Fax: 845 358-2963 drguggenheim@msn.com