You see “gluten-free” everywhere you go: on restaurant menus, cakes and breads, flour and baking mixes. But do you really need to avoid gluten?

What is Gluten?

Gluten is a type of protein. It’s found in wheat, rye and barley, so is in a lot of bread products; it’s what gives our bread that chewy texture. Bread without gluten has an almost gummy texture. While the current “gluten-free” craze has people believing that gluten is something we should avoid, it’s actually a protein that our bodies need.

Gluten makes bread rise, helps it keep its shape, and gives it its absorbency (which is why you can soak up gravies or broth with your bread.

So far, it doesn’t sound like something dangerous; in fact, there are many problems that can come from avoiding gluten in your diet.

Deficiencies from a Gluten-Free Diet

Like many substitute diets, if done incorrectly, you can end up with nutritional deficiencies. In the case of a gluten-free diet, essential nutrients such as calcium, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, iron and fiber do not meet the recommended daily amounts.

Obviously, this isn’t exclusive to gluten-free diets. Any alternative diet, such as vegetarianism or veganism, can cause nutritional deficiencies unless you’re careful to find substitutions for the nutrients lost from the excluded foods.

Should we Avoid Gluten?

A recent study illustrated that gluten increases a person’s risk of death from heart disease and cancer. BUT this increased risk was in people with gluten sensitivity, or that had celiac disease. If you don’t have either, there isn’t any reason to avoid the consumption of gluten.

If this is true, then why are so many people avoiding it by eating a gluten-free diet? As far as I can tell, the experts state that you COULD have either a gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, therefore you should avoid eating gluten.

Signs of Gluten Sensitivity

A paper published by the New England Journal of Medicine advises that several diseases have the root cause as eating gluten:

• Osteoporosis
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Anemia
• Cancer
• Canker sores
• Fatigue
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Lupus
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Other Autoimmune Diseases
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Schizophrenia
• Dementia
• Epilepsy

The list continues…but you get the idea. We have finally hit upon why so many people are eating a gluten-free diet. But should you eliminate gluten from your diet?

A Simple Test for Gluten Sensitivity

There is a very simple test to see if you are sensitive to gluten and need to eliminate it from your diet. This is a great way to show how it affects your body.

For a time period of between two and four weeks, eliminate gluten from your diet; don’t eat ANY bread products, and read the labels of everything to make sure they don’t contain gluten.

At the end of the trial, add gluten products back into your diet, and see how you feel. If the re-introduction of gluten creates any sickness, feeling bad or otherwise “off” physical symptoms, you are sensitive to gluten and should eliminate it from your diet.

“Gluten-Free” Labeling

Surprise, surprise! The FDA allows companies to lie about gluten labeling…nothing new there, they haven’t exactly endorsed honesty with anything else, right? Gluten is on the FDA’s list of “Generally Recognized As Safe” ingredients, meaning food manufacturers aren’t required to list gluten as an ingredient.

This makes avoiding gluten even more difficult, obviously. One thing you should know is that foods labeled as “gluten-free” are not 100% without gluten. The reason for this is simple: it just isn’t possible to remove all of the proteins from wheat and the other grain sources of gluten.

So, the decision is up to you: avoid gluten or not? Try the test as described above, see how you react to gluten. Then make your decision.

Soy: the ultimate health food. Or is it? For years, we have been told that soy is so much healthier for us. So called “health nuts” went purely soy; soy milk, soy bars, tofu…unfortunately, yet again the food industry lied. Soy is so incredibly bad for our bodies, especially those of our children!

If you or your children are eating soy products, or drinking soy milk, please read this article. I’m about to tell you why you need to dump that milk down the sink and throw the soy foods away. Don’t let your children eat or drink these toxins!!!

Soy Infant Formula

Have you been told that soy formula is the best alternative to breast milk? Did you, or are you, feeding your infant soy formula? I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you are poisoning your child. You may as well pour some Spic and Span into that bottle! Soy is very dangerous to infants. It isn’t healthy for any of us, but the results of feeding your precious baby soy formula can be devastating.

Soy contains plant estrogens called phytoestrogens, which our bodies treat as extra estrogen. Think about it; what do you think happens when a baby boy gets tons of extra estrogen? That’s right, it can hinder his growth and development of sexual organs. What about a baby girl? It enhances their development, and girls have been known to enter puberty before the age of 3! Let me say it again: boys’ puberty is retarded, and girls go into puberty as early as BEFORE THE AGE OF 3.

Does that sound healthy to you???

You might as well just go grind up 4 or 5 of your birth control pills, dissolve them in water and feed them to your baby. That’s the equivalent amount of estrogen your baby intakes daily when drinking soy formula.

In addition to the dangers soy presents to infants, the phytoestrogens that soy contains can lead to infertility, breast cancer, autoimmune thyroid disease, hypothyroidism and thyroid cancer. Soy doesn’t sound much like a health food to me; in fact, it sounds more like a tool for genocide!

Soy’s high levels of phytic acid are also a concern. Phytic acid blocks our body’s absorption of critical minerals: iron, magnesium, calcium and zinc. This is especially devastating to our infants and children because it affects their growth and development.

What are your views on soy now? Are you holding your infant’s bottle of “healthy” soy milk as you read this, watching her slurp down all those phytoestrogens and phytic acid? If I haven’t convinced you yet that soy is dangerous to your child, don’t worry! There’s more to come…

Soy contains trypsin inhibitors…in plain English, this means that soy blocks trypsin. Trypsin is something that helps us digest protein. By inhibiting our body’s ability to digest proteins, soy causes a multitude of digestive problems, including cramps, nausea and stomach bleeding. It can also lead to problems with the pancreas and stunt your child’s growth.

I’m still not done. In addition to the phytoestrogens, phytic acid and trypsin inhibitors, soy products contain toxic aluminum. Toxic aluminum affects our kidney functions and our nervous system. In infants and children, it is toxic to the development of their kidneys and central nervous system.

I know what you’re thinking. If soy is so dangerous for us and for our children, why do all the big companies tout how healthy it is??? Think about it for a minute. Do you really think the food industry big wigs are worried about the health of our children? Hell no! They’re only concerned about their bottom line: profit.

Remember, WE are the only ones who are going to look out for the safety of our children. Please, put down the soy burger, throw away that soy infant formula…and as always, read the labels on the products before you buy them! !

Remember eating Barnum’s Animal Crackers as a snack when you were a child? I used to love them! My Mom thought that since they didn’t have sugar in them, that they were a healthy snack. Carrying on this tradition, I have always thought that animal crackers were a healthy alternative (or at least healthier) to Oreos, brownies, cakes and other sugary treats that children seem to crave.

So what’s up with the animal crackers? The Barnum Animal Crackers contain high fructose corn syrup, one of the biggest culprits behind child obesity in this country.

Ingredients: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, SOYBEAN OIL, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, CALCIUM CARBONATE (SOURCE OF CALCIUM), BAKING SODA, SALT, SOY LECITHIN (EMULSIFIER), ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

Since starting this blog, I keep finding more and more things that are unhealthy for my kids…but are being advertised as being healthy! As I find them, I will update you with the ingredients and products that are being advertised as healthy. This way, you can be sure your children stay healthy too!