This is post is from Brandi's mom. My name is Denise and I'm 53 years old. As Brandi mentioned in her post, going gluten free had several unexpected good health side effects. Neither Brandi nor I had any idea our heart valve could or would, get stronger, producing less leakage/regurgitation. Since that time I've had several other unexpected side effects of going gluten free.
But first let me explain why I went gluten free to begin with. I had been taking a large number of pharmaceutical medications for various health problems for many years: high cholesterol, mitral valve prolapse, post menopause, hypoglycemia, migraine headaches, allergies, asthma, lactose intolerant, and for many years was plagued with recurrent urinary tract infections and pneumonia. The recurrent pneumonia resulted in a calcium deposit on my right lung. One day my husband saw the list of medications I was taking and was very concerned. It didn't bother me, because (a) my doctors-many of them specialists-were aware of the various drugs and, (b) I felt that's what it took to be 'well'. Doctors have been trained. They should know what they're doing, right?
Well, just before my husband and I began traveling, mid 2014, a friend of mine suggested I watch a Netflix documentary on juicing for health. It sounded like a good idea, so I decided to try it for 2 weeks. Those two weeks were an amazing revelation for me. As a self professed chocoholic, I was surprised I felt energetic, slept well, wasn't hungry, and didn't crave chocolate. At the end of the two weeks, I realized I had been on the elimination diet, having eliminated all 8 of the most allergic foods. Deciding wheat would be my first test case, I ate a saltine cracker. Within 20 minutes I had a headache. (I decided it must be a fluke.) So I continued to juice for 3 more days, then had my favorite fast food fish burger. 20 minutes later the headache came and it progressed to a 3 day migraine headache. I was miserable as even my migraine meds did nothing to relieve the pain. Since then I have been gluten/wheat free. Occasionally there have been incidences where the restaurant preparing my food wasn't careful, and within 20 minutes, here comes the headache. So that's my beginning.
Since going gluten free, and adding an organic juice or smoothie now and then, my dental checkups have been fantastic! Both my dentist and hygienist have asked-'What are you doing?' There's literally nothing to scrape off my teeth, and I only floss about once every two weeks should I eat something that gets stuck. I haven't done 'oil pulling', which I'm sure would be another heath benefit. But Brandi and I agree, one thing at a time. You can't do it all, even when you know it's all good for you.
Another amazing side effect: my vision has improved! Yes, you read that correctly. I made a special visit to my ophthalmologist in January 2015 thinking my vision was getting worse. I was having to wear my night time glasses all the time, and I was still seeing blurry. After the exam, he said the vision in my right eye had improved and I now have perfect vision in that eye. Don't wear the glasses! Wow! I was very surprised. I was seeing blurry because I was looking through glasses I didn't need.
Bottom line: The body can heal itself. We just need to feed it properly.
But first let me explain why I went gluten free to begin with. I had been taking a large number of pharmaceutical medications for various health problems for many years: high cholesterol, mitral valve prolapse, post menopause, hypoglycemia, migraine headaches, allergies, asthma, lactose intolerant, and for many years was plagued with recurrent urinary tract infections and pneumonia. The recurrent pneumonia resulted in a calcium deposit on my right lung. One day my husband saw the list of medications I was taking and was very concerned. It didn't bother me, because (a) my doctors-many of them specialists-were aware of the various drugs and, (b) I felt that's what it took to be 'well'. Doctors have been trained. They should know what they're doing, right?
Well, just before my husband and I began traveling, mid 2014, a friend of mine suggested I watch a Netflix documentary on juicing for health. It sounded like a good idea, so I decided to try it for 2 weeks. Those two weeks were an amazing revelation for me. As a self professed chocoholic, I was surprised I felt energetic, slept well, wasn't hungry, and didn't crave chocolate. At the end of the two weeks, I realized I had been on the elimination diet, having eliminated all 8 of the most allergic foods. Deciding wheat would be my first test case, I ate a saltine cracker. Within 20 minutes I had a headache. (I decided it must be a fluke.) So I continued to juice for 3 more days, then had my favorite fast food fish burger. 20 minutes later the headache came and it progressed to a 3 day migraine headache. I was miserable as even my migraine meds did nothing to relieve the pain. Since then I have been gluten/wheat free. Occasionally there have been incidences where the restaurant preparing my food wasn't careful, and within 20 minutes, here comes the headache. So that's my beginning.
Since going gluten free, and adding an organic juice or smoothie now and then, my dental checkups have been fantastic! Both my dentist and hygienist have asked-'What are you doing?' There's literally nothing to scrape off my teeth, and I only floss about once every two weeks should I eat something that gets stuck. I haven't done 'oil pulling', which I'm sure would be another heath benefit. But Brandi and I agree, one thing at a time. You can't do it all, even when you know it's all good for you.
Another amazing side effect: my vision has improved! Yes, you read that correctly. I made a special visit to my ophthalmologist in January 2015 thinking my vision was getting worse. I was having to wear my night time glasses all the time, and I was still seeing blurry. After the exam, he said the vision in my right eye had improved and I now have perfect vision in that eye. Don't wear the glasses! Wow! I was very surprised. I was seeing blurry because I was looking through glasses I didn't need.
Bottom line: The body can heal itself. We just need to feed it properly.