How to know if you’re sensitive to gluten or dairy?

How to know if you’re sensitive to gluten or dairy?

Gluten and dairy sensibilities by Queen of the Thrones

How to know if you’re sensitive to gluten or dairy?

Written by: Victoria Williams R.H.N. Victoria Williams Director of Operations at Queen of the Thrones Victoria Williams R.H.N.
Victoria is Head of Operations at Queen of the Thrones®. Victoria obtained a Pre-Health Science Certificate with Honours from Georgian College, which ignited her passion for natural wellness and nutrition.
Full bio

Medically reviewed by: Melanie Swackhammer B.A. 

Est. reading time: 7 minutes.

The clue to having gut glue

Having frequent digestive problems means not knowing when it will strike. During an important work presentation, a first date, or at the movies. Can you relate?

You’re at the mercy of loose stools, constipation, painful gas or bloating. And these symptoms might especially come after specific food items, unfortunately, many of which are your favorite, including pizza, fettuccine alfredo, or grilled cheese. This may make you wonder if gluten and dairy are the cause of your stomach problems?

Well, it might not be that one or the other is causing problems. It’s more so the combination of gluten with dairy.

You see, studies have shown that poor food combining can produce fermentation, indigestion, putrefaction, gas and bloating! 1

Like consuming dairy with wheat, this combination could create, what I like to call, “gut glue”! Yes, you read that right… gut GLUE!

Frequent consumption of these food combinations may result in exhausting and frustrating problems.

The good news: knowing what to have or avoid can allow you to feel fresh and be healthy even after consuming your favorite food items.

While you’re here, would you love to know how you can use Castor Oil Packs to support your gut health, and ease digestive problems?

Before we talk about gut glue, I would love to discuss a bit about gluten and dairy on their own.

What is Gluten?

Gluten is a protein commonly found in barley, wheat, and rye.

If you have tried gluten-free cookies, you know they are typically drier and crumble easily.

This is because gluten protein provides the elasticity associated with pasta and baked products.

And these gluten-free products are becoming increasingly popular, as the media has made many believe that this protein is bad for your health. Sound familiar?

But before getting on the gluten-free bandwagon, let’s understand whether it’s really all bad.

Gluten isn’t all bad

Frankly, what thoughts come to your mind when you think about gluten?

For most, it is sticky bowels or bloating, agreed?

However, it’s essential to understand that humans have been consuming gluten as long as the discovery of bread. It’s a great source of soluble fiber, protein, and other nutrients.

 

 

Let’s get scienc-y for a minute.

Your digestive system produces the enzyme protease, which breaks down proteins. But this enzyme can’t entirely break down gluten, and undigested gluten moves through your bowels.

Most people can manage undigested gluten.

So, the nutrients from gluten are beneficial for those who can tolerate it.

Studies have linked consumption of whole grains to lower risk of stroke, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. The participants of the study daily consumed two to three servings of grains daily, including wheat.2

Moreover, gluten also acts as a prebiotic, supporting the growth of “good” bacteria in your body. It can also help imbalance of bad and good bacteria associated with gut dysbiosis.

What about dairy?

Eating dairy products is the easiest way to get vitamin D, calcium, and proteins needed for the healthy heart, bones, and muscles.

It helps maintain bone density and reduces the risk of fractures.

Studies have even suggested that the right kind of dairy may prevent heart disease.3

So, why is there so much discussion about dairy-free foods?

Well, similar to gluten, your digestive system releases the enzyme lactase to digest sugar in dairy products called lactose.

If you have a problem producing lactase, you probably have symptoms of lactose intolerance, including stomach pain, diarrhea, bloating, and nausea. Makes sense, agreed?

Moreover, evidence suggests that dairy products may improve body composition by reducing waist circumference and fat composition.4

A review of 25 studies also found that various types of yogurt were linked to the lower risk of metabolic syndrome risk factors, such as obesity, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.5

With this in mind, let’s understand more about gut glue.

What about dairy?

My best and favorite example of this is how glue is made.

White school glue, if you didn’t know, is actually edible. You can essentially make it at home with milk, flour, and baking soda, and then the ingredient that is the pièce de résistance is vinegar.

This combination is basically what happens in your belly, when you combine bread (flour) with cheese (dairy/milk) and you swallow it down into your stomach that contains your stomach acid (like vinegar, because it’s acidic!) and bicarbonate (like baking soda).6

Guess what, you’ve got glue in your belly!

So imagine what your gut is like, if you are consuming glue.

Let’s talk anatomy for a second. Ready?

Your small intestine is lined by finger-like projections called villi, that help you absorb nutrients from your food.

Gut glue could cause these projections to get stuck together and reduce your ability to properly digest your food!

In addition, because the carbohydrates and protein don’t digest well together, you get this glue moving all along your digestive tract.

All in all, it’s rarely only one thing that is causing discomfort. It is often multifactorial and there are many contributing factors and culprits.

 

This is simply an example where combining gluten and dairy together may not be ideal for digestion (they also happen to be some of the most common food sensitivities and allergies that people deal with).

This is not it.

According to the traditional Ayurveda medicine, excessive amounts of proteins, carbohydrates and fats should not be taken together as this leads to a feeling of heaviness in the stomach.7

Plus, milk is considered as a complete food.

It contains antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, proteins, good fats, amino acids, calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, lactose, and all nutrients necessary for a healthy body.

That is why in Ayurveda it has been advised not to take wheat products with milk.

What can you do about your digestion problems?

When we choose nourishing food combinations, time our meals accordingly, and create healthy habits like proper chewing, we reduce the chances of these uncomfortable, and sometimes painful symptoms.

Plus, adding the practice of Queen of the Thrones® Castor Oil Packs after your meal may further help with inflammation regulation and help to improve liver detoxification, lymphatic drainage and colon cleansing, which means less digestive problems. Amazing, right?

Would you love to know how Castor Oil Packs work and how they can support your gut health?

Are you a practitioner, health coach or wellness influencer? If you’re interested in recommending our easy-to-use tools and practically applying them in your health and wellness professional practice, in clinic, or online with the people you serve, you can join now!

Click here for references

1. Cömert ED, Gökmen V. Effect of food combinations and their co-digestion on total antioxidant capacity under simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Curr Res Food Sci. 2022 Feb 17;5:414-422. doi: 10.1016/j.crfs.2022.02.008. PMID: 35243354; PMCID: PMC8866489.

2. Ye EQ, Chacko SA, Chou EL, Kugizaki M, Liu S. Greater whole-grain intake is associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and weight gain. J Nutr. 2012 Jul;142(7):1304-13. doi: 10.3945/jn.111.155325. Epub 2012 May 30. Erratum in: J Nutr. 2013 Sep;143(9):1524. PMID: 22649266; PMCID: PMC6498460.

3. Lordan R, Tsoupras A, Mitra B, Zabetakis I. Dairy Fats and Cardiovascular Disease: Do We Really Need to be Concerned? Foods. 2018 Mar 1;7(3):29. doi: 10.3390/foods7030029. PMID: 29494487; PMCID: PMC5867544.

4. Abargouei AS, Janghorbani M, Salehi-Marzijarani M, Esmaillzadeh A. Effect of dairy consumption on weight and body composition in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials. Int J Obes (Lond). 2012 Dec;36(12):1485-93. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2011.269. Epub 2012 Jan 17. PMID: 22249225.

5. Khorraminezhad L, Rudkowska I. Effect of Yogurt Consumption on Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factors: a Narrative Review. Curr Nutr Rep. 2021 Mar;10(1):83-92. doi: 10.1007/s13668-020-00344-y. Epub 2021 Jan 6. PMID: 33405074.

6. G. Lynn Carlson. A New approach to the baking soda-vinegar reaction. J. Chem. Educ., 1990, 67 (7), p 597 DOI: 10.1021/ed067p597. Publication Date: July 1990

7. Sabnis M. Viruddha Ahara: A critical view. Ayu. 2012 Jul;33(3):332-6. doi: 10.4103/0974-8520.108817. PMID: 23723637; PMCID: PMC3665091.

How to know if you have belly fat or belly bloat? A simple home remedy you can do to find out

How to know if you have belly fat or belly bloat? A simple home remedy you can do to find out

Gluten and dairy sensibilities by Queen of the Thrones

How to know if you have belly fat or belly bloat? A simple home remedy you can do to find out

Written by: Marisol Teijeiro N.D. (inactive)
Medically reviewed by: Victoria Williams R.H.N.

Est. reading time: 12 minutes.

Have you ever asked yourself, ‘is my belly bloated or is it belly fat?’ You wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, turn to the side and you can see that your belly is expanding more and more each day. You know you’re not pregnant, all you know is you can’t do up your favorite jeans and it feels like your stomach is like a balloon slowly being inflated with air. Can you relate?

Maybe you feel like a broken record constantly complaining about your belly and you would love a new and easy way to…

  1. Understand the difference between belly fat and belly bloating?
  2. Do an at home screening so you can discover if it’s belly fat or belly bloat?
  3. Help reduce belly bloat naturally?

You’re in the right place, because there’s a belly bloat at-home screening test you can do at home by simply using the Queen of the Thrones® Castor Oil Pack. Sounds good, right? So, first thing’s first, you might be wondering…

Can belly fat feel like bloating?

Here’s the thing, it may not be fat, and in most cases it isn’t. Wait, what? Well, you see, that bloat could be caused by many reasons, but often it is simply water retention¹.

This is a contributing factor why when you go on a diet, at first you lose so much weight so fast! What you’re losing here is water that you’ve been retaining to quench the fire happening in your gut (gut inflammation).

You see, fat is weight gain and bloating is often caused by water retention to reduce the gut inflammation caused by food sensitivities, allergies, intolerances, an unhealthy microbiome, stress, chewing your food too fast, eating on the go and the list goes on².

Kind of like how a fireman quenches a fire with water, your body does the same thing in your belly to protect itself from the fire by retaining water, leaving your belly logged with water. Hence the bloat! Makes sense, right?

How to see if it’s belly bloat or belly fat

Well, taking anti inflammatory supplements and food can help but it can take a long time. Would you love to know a new and easy screening test you can do like your Naturopathic Doctor or Integrative and Functional Medicine doctor does?

It’s as simple as wearing your Queen of the Thrones® Castor Oil Pack overnight so you can see if your belly bloat subsides in the morning or if it’s still there. Stay with me here.

How to relieve belly bloating using a castor oil liver pack

Are you wondering why wearing your Queen of the Thrones® Castor Oil Liver Pack overnight matters? Well, because the period of time when you cleanse is in the evening. Plus, your body works on a time clock and when the moon is in the sky, according to the circadian rhythm, it’s your time to clean up. Amazing, agreed? So, your pack supports your liver so it can do its job and cleanse like it’s meant to while you sleep³. So awesome, agreed?

Plus, if you’re cleansing properly overnight and you wear a castor oil pack, because it happens to be a natural anti-inflammatory, it reduces the fire in your belly and some of that water⁴ will dissipate by the time you wake up in the morning. Sounds amazing, right? Oh, you might also notice that you have to pee a lot more when you wake up.

Now you might be asking, “How will I know if the castor oil pack test worked?” Good question! When you wake up in the morning and take off your Queen of the Thrones® Castor Oil Pack, if you notice that your bloating has disappeared or you see that your love handles are smaller and when you turn to the side in your mirror, your belly looks flatter than before, then you know you were bloated. Easy test, agreed?

But, if it doesn’t go away, then you know it’s simply just fat. But no harm no foul because overtime, wearing your castor oil pack still helps. But how? Well, because fat cells are inflammatory cells⁵, wearing your castor oil pack helps reduce your gut inflammation  making a fire in your belly. So overtime, it can have an effect on the fat cells in your belly, too.

So now that you know how to test, you might be wondering, “how are gut inflammation and fat cells connected” and also…

Can inflammation cause weight gain?

Because inflammation can make you bloat initially, the longer you have inflammation, say because you are eating a diet high in sugar, the more your body will try to protect itself by padding your body with fat cells, making you gain weight over time⁷.

But it’s a vicious cycle because fat cells create more inflammation⁸ – so as your inflammation fire grows, more padding (fat cells) gets added to combat the fire. Makes sense, right?

But, wearing your Queen of the Thrones® Castor Oil Pack every night gives your body the opportunity to naturally stop the evil cycle. You see, it gives your body a break from needing to defend itself by adding more and more fat cells to stop the fire. So instead of your body’s go-to defense of adding fuel to the fire, your castor oil pack is kind of like a gentle sprinkler for your gut⁹. Sounds soothing, agreed?

Plus, since inflammation is the cause of all disease and affects all aspects of our health¹⁰, like how irritated we feel¹¹, to how we absorb our food and supplements¹², you can help your body naturally reduce inflammation with your castor oil pack¹³. Amazing, right?

Speaking of how we absorb our food and supplements, do you ever feel like you’re pretty much just flushing them right down the toilet because you’re not absorbing them? Or maybe it feels like you’re that much more bloated because you’re not absorbing the nutrients from your food and supplements, can you relate?

You’re still in the right place because there’s a special FREE eGuide for you so you can know how your Queen of the Thrones® Castor Oil Liver Pack can support better absorption.

Would you love that?

Click here for references

1. Mari A, Abu Backer F, Mahamid M, Amara H, Carter D, Boltin D, Dickman R. Bloating and Abdominal Distension: Clinical Approach and Management. Adv Ther. 2019 May;36(5):1075-1084. doi: 10.1007/s12325-019-00924-7. Epub 2019 Mar 16. PMID: 30879252; PMCID: PMC6824367.

2. Lacy BE, Cangemi D, Vazquez-Roque M. Management of Chronic Abdominal Distension and Bloating. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2021 Feb;19(2):219-231.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2020.03.056. Epub 2020 Apr 1. PMID: 32246999.

3. Holm T, Brøgger-Jensen MR, Johnson L, Kessel L. Glutathione preservation during storage of rat lenses in optisol-GS and castor oil. PLoS One. 2013 Nov 19;8(11):e79620. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079620. PMID: 24260265; PMCID: PMC3834120.

4. Suganami T, Tanaka M, Ogawa Y. Adipose tissue inflammation and ectopic lipid accumulation. Endocr J. 2012;59(10):849-57. doi: 10.1507/endocrj.ej12-0271. Epub 2012 Aug 9. PMID: 22878669.

5. Kawai T, Autieri MV, Scalia R. Adipose tissue inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in obesity. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2021 Mar 1;320(3):C375-C391. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00379.2020. Epub 2020 Dec 23. PMID: 33356944; PMCID: PMC8294624.

6. Vieira C, Evangelista S, Cirillo R, Lippi A, Maggi CA, Manzini S. Effect of ricinoleic acid in acute and subchronic experimental models of inflammation. Mediators Inflamm. 2000;9(5):223-8. doi: 10.1080/09629350020025737. PMID: 11200362; PMCID: PMC1781768.

7. DiNicolantonio JJ, Mehta V, Onkaramurthy N, O’Keefe JH. Fructose-induced inflammation and increased cortisol: A new mechanism for how sugar induces visceral adiposity. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2018 May-Jun;61(1):3-9. doi: 10.1016/j.pcad.2017.12.001. Epub 2017 Dec 8. PMID: 29225114.

8. Maurizi G, Della Guardia L, Maurizi A, Poloni A. Adipocytes properties and crosstalk with immune system in obesity-related inflammation. J Cell Physiol. 2018 Jan;233(1):88-97. doi: 10.1002/jcp.25855. Epub 2017 May 3. PMID: 28181253.

9. Vieira C, Evangelista S, Cirillo R, Lippi A, Maggi CA, Manzini S. Effect of ricinoleic acid in acute and subchronic experimental models of inflammation. Mediators Inflamm. 2000;9(5):223-8. doi: 10.1080/09629350020025737. PMID: 11200362; PMCID: PMC1781768.

10. Strowig T, Henao-Mejia J, Elinav E, Flavell R. Inflammasomes in health and disease. Nature. 2012 Jan 18;481(7381):278-86. doi: 10.1038/nature10759. PMID: 22258606.

11. Dantzer R, O’Connor JC, Freund GG, Johnson RW, Kelley KW. From inflammation to sickness and depression: when the immune system subjugates the brain. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2008 Jan;9(1):46-56. doi: 10.1038/nrn2297. PMID: 18073775; PMCID: PMC2919277.

12. Farré R, Fiorani M, Abdu Rahiman S, Matteoli G. Intestinal Permeability, Inflammation and the Role of Nutrients. Nutrients. 2020 Apr 23;12(4):1185. doi: 10.3390/nu12041185. PMID: 32340206; PMCID: PMC7231157.

13. Vieira C, Evangelista S, Cirillo R, Lippi A, Maggi CA, Manzini S. Effect of ricinoleic acid in acute and subchronic experimental models of inflammation. Mediators Inflamm. 2000;9(5):223-8. doi: 10.1080/09629350020025737. PMID: 11200362; PMCID: PMC1781768.

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