8 Reasons to Go Gluten Free in the New Year

Are you looking to change your diet, improve your health, or finally take your celiac disease or gluten sensitivity seriously? In this article, I feature 8 benefits of the gluten-free diet. This post is for informational purposes only and contains affiliate links. Please discuss any changes to your diet or health concerns with your doctor. Please read my disclosures and disclaimers.

There’s no time like the present to work towards healing your body and feeling your best self again, especially if this past year has been riddled with its fair share of ailments and/or weight gain.

While millions of Americans will be contemplating a “diet” in the New Year, I’m proposing that you instead ditch the diet and take a closer look at the gluten-free “lifestyle.”

There are so many benefits to the gluten-free diet – and depending on your health – it may just be the natural solution you’ve been searching for to change your life forever.

Maybe you want to ditch a chronic ailment once and for all, become less dependent on costly doctor’s visits and prescription medication, or maybe you just want to look and feel like a better and more youthful version of you.

Whatever the case, gluten might the natural remedy you’ve been searching for; and best of all, there’s little risk to try it.

In fact, you don’t have to be diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity to experience the benefits of the gluten-free diet. In fact, we know from published research that gluten causes an inflammatory response in all humans. Don’t believe me? Read the study here.

Of course, if you suspect you have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, please get tested first. It’s important to get tested while you’re eating gluten in order to get an accurate diagnosis. Read more about the importance of getting tested for celiac disease before eliminating gluten in this article.

If you’re contemplating a “lifestyle” change, and want to better understand how ditching gluten can help you, take a close look at these eight benefits of the gluten-free diet that may help you reclaim your health once and for all.

(1) You’ll Likely Feel Better… Much Better

Have you been dealing with any sort of chronic pain or issue this year? Think long and hard. Perhaps you have chronic migraines, eczema, mouth sores, joint pain, gastrointestinal or digestive issues, thyroid issues, or chronic fatigue?

The reasons you might suffer from any of these ailments could be attributed to gluten.

For people with celiac disease, the gluten protein damages the small intestine, making it virtually impossible for someone with celiac disease to properly digest and absorb food.

Every time someone with celiac disease eats gluten, their body gets confused and mistakenly launches an attack on the healthy tissue surrounding the small intestine (this is why celiac disease is considered an autoimmune disease).

While you may not have celiac disease, the detriments of eating gluten can be just as serious for someone with unmanaged gluten sensitivity. Over time, gluten will chip away at your health, making your symptoms worse and eventually turning into more serious conditions like cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease, dementia, and even early death.

In fact, Dr. Tom O’Bryan, one of the leading gluten sensitivity doctors in the world, says in his book, The Autoimmune Fix, that gluten sensitivity is often a precursor to celiac disease.

Furthermore, a 2009 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) set out to understand mortality issues associated with gluten disorders. This is the largest study ever published on this topic.

Researchers found that someone with gluten sensitivity has a higher risk of early death than someone with celiac disease! This is likely because people with celiac disease take their gluten-free diet seriously while someone with just gluten sensitivity is likely to be more lax – and may cheat – about their diet.

If you’re ready to feel better and lose the chronic inflammation that has plagued your life this year, you should definitely take a serious look at the gluten-free lifestyle.

(2) You May Lose Weight

The idea that someone can lose weight by going gluten free is one that makes many people with celiac disease roll their eyes. I get it. I, too, believe that you cannot lose weight just by going gluten free when you have celiac disease. A gluten-free donut is filled with just as much sugar and refined carbohydrates as a regular donut.

For people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, the gluten-free diet is a medically prescribed treatment for their conditions, not some fad, get-skinny-quick diet.

Ironically, a lot of people with celiac disease gain weight once they ditch gluten. It’s the first time their body is finally absorbing nutrients from the food they’re eating.

However, inflammation weight gain is real. Think about when your hurt your leg. It’s usually large, puffy, swollen and inflammed until it heals. Now think about if that kind of inflammation was happening inside of you all the time. This would mean you’d be retaining “inflammation weight” day-in and day-out.

Dr. Mark Hyman says that the root cause of inflammation can be anything from the sugar you eat, to high doses of the wrong kinds of fats and oils in your diet, hidden allergens and food sensitivities, as well as chronic stress and hidden infections. These all trigger what he says is a “raging, unseen inflammation deep in your cells and tissues.” He also says that 125 million Americans suffer from some sort of chronic inflammation too.

If you want to have a chance at permanent weight loss (and feeling better), you must address inflammation by eliminating hidden food allergies or food sensitivities and by eating an anti-inflammatory diet filled with naturally gluten-free and good for you foods.

Remember, for many people, eliminating gluten is only part of the problem when it comes to losing weight. Other inflammatory foods, like sugar, unhealthy oils and fats, and dairy, as well as excessive consumption of white, refined carbohydrates also can contribute to inflammation and weight gain or retention.

A clean diet filled with anti-inflammatory foods will be your best chance at losing the inflammation weight for good.

(3) You May Heal Your Gut

It’s no secret that gluten is a hard to digest protein. It’s been discussed at length by some of the leading thought leaders in gluten disorders. And this little hard-to-digest protein can cause a slew of issues in your body.

For starters, if your body has trouble digesting gluten, gluten may be the root cause of why your stomach acid bubbles up every time you eat. It’s bubbling up because you’re eating a food that is hard for it to break down and digest. Your body is telling you that the food you’re eating is hard for it to break down and digest.

Rather than taking proton pump inhibitors and antacids to queal the stomach bubbles, try removing the food(s), such as gluten, causing the stomach acid to bubble up in the first place. Many people find relief from heartburn and acid reflux simply by eliminating gluten.

Additionally, people with celiac disease find that consuming gluten causes the cells in their body to attack healthy tissue surrounding the small intestine. If you have celiac disease, eliminating gluten (and not cheating on your gluten-free diet) is a must.

If someone has a gluten sensitivity, gluten is hard for them to digest too. Undigested gluten particles go through the stomach without being properly broken down. They then break through the thin walls of the small intestine and enter the bloodstream (leaky gut), causing inflammation at weakest link in your chain (this weak link is different for everyone – it could be your brain, nervous system, skin or digestive system, etc.).

Dr. Amy Meyers, author of The Autoimmune Solution, says that gluten is one of the main causes of leaky gut in her patients with thyroid issues and autoimmune diseases, and she says that leaky gut is not just found in those with celiac disease rather she sees it among any patient with non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

Dr. Meyers writes on her website that “when anyone, whether they have gluten sensitivity or not, eats a gluten-containing food, the gluten proteins make their way through the stomach and arrive at the small intestine, where the body responds by producing zonulin, a chemical that signals the tight junctions of the intestinal walls to open up, creating temporary permeability. This permeability will heal as the gut cells renew every 48 hours. However, if you have gluten sensitivity and you eat gluten, then this permeability will not heal in that 48 hours and your gut remains leaky.”

When your small intestines are damaged, toxins, microbes, and food particles “leak” into your bloodstream and your immune system goes on high alert to neutralize all of these threats. When a gut is leaky, the threats keep coming and such threats continually put your body in a state of chronic inflammation and on a path towards a full-blown autoimmune disease.

In other words, the path to healing your gut (and calming inflammation) starts with eliminating foods (including gluten) that put your body in a state of inflammation in the first place.

(4) You’ll Likely Eat Better

One of the forced benefits of eating gluten free is that you end up passing on some of the most unhealthy and readily available foods at the table.

For example, you’ll pass on the bread basket at dinner and, for the most part, you’ll pass on those heavy-caloric desserts, too. By passing on the bread basket and dessert tray, you’ll:

health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load-for-100-foods(opens in a new tab)

Avoid consuming unneeded calories. When you consume less calories (especially calories from nutritionally devoid foods) you’ll naturally shed the pounds.
Avoid spikes in your blood sugar. Did you know that bread has one of the highest glycemic loads you can consume?!?
Naturally enjoy healthier foods, like a salad appetizer (instead of bread), and you’ll be hungry to eat your entree (which I hope consists of a healthy protein, fresh vegetable and gluten-free starch).
Enjoy desserts in moderation. When desserts are not readily available, you’ll enjoy them as a treat (as they should be enjoyed) rather than an everyday occurrence. Most restaurants offer fruit as their only gluten-free option anyway.

Overall, eating a no-gluten diet will encourage you to think long and hard about everything that crosses your lips, inevitably helping you crowd out the foods that damage your body the most.

(5) You May Prevent (and Maybe Reverse) Disease

Many people on the gluten spectrum are well on their way to getting what many experts, including Dr. O’Bryan, say are preventable diseases. Most people get diagnosed with serious afflictions – including autoimmune disease, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and dementia – only after significant tissue damage has already been done.

And you guessed it… the root cause of autoimmune disease is inflammation.

Dr. O’Bryan’s comprehensive work on this subject demonstrates that all inflammation is triggered by some sort of sensitivity to gluten/wheat, another food sensitivity and/or environmental exposures – all which pour “gasoline on the fire.”

In The Autoimmune Fix, Dr. O’Bryan says the science is clear. “You can arrest and eventually reverse the damage of many autoimmune diseases when you stop throwing gasoline on the fire [by eating gluten].”

Remember, chronic ailments are not solely the results of bad genes or aging. We are not victims of our genes and you have quite a bit of control in how your genes express themselves (this is called epigenetics). You can reverse damage and disease by changing how you eat and live your life.

(6) You’ll Likely Look Better

You may find that you’re not only losing inflammation weight, but your skin starts to glow as a result of you ditching gluten.

After eliminating gluten (and excessive dairy) from my diet, and adding in lots of green juices and anti-inflammatory foods – my skin began to glow. Your skin is the largest organ in your body and is a direct reflection of the health of your insides.

If you want to rid of acne and slow the aging process of your skin, you must eat in a way that heals vs. hurts you. As discussed, gluten is the root cause of so many chronic inflammatory diseases in the U.S., and many of those chronic ailments impact the largest organ in your body… your skin!

(7) You’ll Likely Improve the Health of Your Brain

There has been extensive research about the brain-gut connection.

Dr. David Perlmutter is one of the leading thought leaders in this space and changed how we think about brain disorders when he published his #1 New York Times bestselling book, Grain Brain, in 2013.

In the book, Dr. Perlmutter discusses how gluten affects all sorts of brain disorders from anxiety and depression to headaches, migraines, dementia and cognitive decline (Alzheimer’s).

Once again, when you rid of inflammation (which we know is often caused by gluten), you may just rid of all the devastating symptoms that come as a result.

Want to have a healthy brain (or have a healthy brain well into old age)? Ditch the gluten and protect your most precious organ from permanent, devastating damage.

(8) You’ll Likely Have More Energy

There are so many reasons that your energy can be zapped due to gluten consumption.

For starters, if you have celiac disease, your body’s inability to absorb nutrients is off the charts. Lose the gluten, heal the lining of your small intestine, and you’ll find your body is ready and willing to properly absorb nutrients from the food you eat.

Related Reading: Take My Free 7-Day Heal Your Gut Challenge

Furthermore, many people with thyroid disorders suffer from low energy. In fact, thyroid issues are often diagnosed once you complain to your doctor about low energy.

For many people with thyroid issues, including those with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune condition, the root cause of their thyroid dysfunction is often linked to an undiagnosed and unmanaged gluten sensitivity.

As Dr. Meyers, says “… gluten is also particularly damaging and inflammatory to the thyroid and that ditching gluten is one of the most important steps you can take in restoring your thyroid function.” She goes on to say that the majority of thyroid dysfunction is caused by autoimmunity.

She also says that one of the biggest contributing factors to autoimmunity is gluten as gluten wreaks havoc on the gut, increases the inflammatory fire inside of you, and it can directly cause your immune system to attack your thyroid.

Ready to Get Started?

I’m not here to convince you to be gluten free; rather, I’m here to tell you how you might be helped by ditching the good-for-nothing protein for good.

However, I also want to warn you that eating gluten free is a difficult lifestyle to maintain, and, on top of it all, you won’t get much support or sympathy from your gluten eating friends either.

In fact, many of your gluten-eating friends will send you articles – and even this silly misleading heart disease study – about why you don’t need to be gluten free just so they can justify their own reasons for continuing to eat gluten.

But you must be stronger and smarter – and not so quick to judge the gluten-free way of life.

I suggest, instead, that you experiment on yourself. Eliminate gluten for 90 days and see if your [fill in the blank] symptom(s) clear up. I also suggest you get tested for a gluten sensitivity. Read more about how to do that in this article.

Only you can know for sure how gluten contributes to making and keeping you sick and fat. Perhaps by eliminating gluten from your diet, you might be able to reverse damage and turn your health around for good.

Ready to give the gluten-free lifestyle a go?

If so, I’ve got everything you need to understand the gluten-free diet and get started. Just visit my Start Here page to begin your gluten-free journey and be sure to get this book, Dear Gluten, It’s Not Me, It’s You, which will teach you how to survive without gluten in your diet and life.

You can also find support by subscripting to this dedicated gluten-free meal planning service, which will ensure you never run out of meal ideas and recipes. You can also download a free 7-day gluten-free meal plan below: