Food Toxins – Another Great Post by Black Box Ft Worth

If you haven’t noticed, many of the posts we include on the Modig Fitness website come from a gym in Texas called Black Box Ft. Worth. Today’s is no exception. This latest addition to the Modig Lifestyle section focuses on Gluten and its affect on your body – regardless of whether you have allergies or suffer from celiac disease. Read below and share with your friends.

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At BlackBox we get many people with differing goals but overall most goals are either performance driven or aesthetic. There is nothing wrong with that BUT your HEALTH is important as well and we don’t want to leave that behind in pursuit of looking perfect. I rant about this because there are some things that may not seem to be so bad and don’t impact your aesthetic goals too much but in fact are making you less healthy. There are about 5 categories of food toxins we will explore over the next couple days.

First Food Toxin we will explore is GLUTEN (Or Lectins).

I want this to be a simple guide to help you understand why it’s no bueno and how to explain to your friends why you are not eating it. First of all Gluten is in a family of proteins called Lectins which are present in all “Cereal Grains” as well as legumes. Cereal grains are: Wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, oats, rye and millet. Legumes are: Beans (all kinds), peanuts, lenitils, peas and soy. Lectins are generally harmful but not usually to the same degree as Gluten, which is mainly found in the cereal grains excluding corn and white rice.

When you think of food toxins that are present in food, you have to shift your thinking and realize that these toxins work in a different way than, say a toxin from an animal. i.e. Venom in a snake. Food toxins are something that can make you very, very sick but unless you have an allergy to them (meaning you have an immediate reaction like swelling up or hives) or a disease like celiac  that causes serious health effects like abdominal cramping, distension of the belly, or chronic diarrhea, they aren’t always recognized. It is a common misconception that if you don’t have these immediate symptoms that you don’t have an issue with food toxins. You need to look a bit deeper at what these things produce.

Gluten specifically causes inflammation, poor intestinal absorption of nutrients, leaky gut. Exactly what it sounds like. Things in the gut leak into the blood stream. Not Good.  Allergies (food and environmental due to leaky gut or inflammation), skin rashes and much more depending on the person.

In order to get the benefits of being gluten free you must allow your gut to heal. In order for it to heal you have to take the things that are harming it OUT COMPLETELY. That means you must remove Gluten for enough time to allow your gut to heal. Usually 30 days is sufficient but it needs to be completely OUT. I use this example and it may help you explain it as well:
If you were to take a piece of sandpaper and rub it on your arm in the same spot for 5 minutes every Sunday, would that spot ever heal? No, it would scab up and begin the healing process, which includes inflammation and forcing the body to fight off infection. The kicker is that each Sunday you pull out the sandpaper and rub that same spot for 5 minutes. So, you can see that your arm will NEVER heal until you quit rubbing it with sandpaper. Gluten is the Sandpaper.

Remove Gluten, allow your body to heal and see if you notice ANY difference in the way you look, feel or perform. You may also notice that allergies aren’t as bad, go away completely or that skin rash you’ve been battling is totally cleared up. Even if you don’t feel these things immediately,  I would venture to say that you be less likely to get sick in the future based on a decreased inflammation response from you body.

When your body is not inflamed it can recover better and you can train harder. Thats worth it to me. What about you?

Go tell your friends. We learn best by teaching.

(Source: Black Box Ft Worth)