Research has linked Endometriosis to gluten sensitivity in the past few years.
Gluten is a protein along with gliadin which is in wheat, rye, barley and oats (oats contain less gliadin).
Gluten is quite sticky to the gut and very difficult to digest, which can lead to bloating and stomach pain.
Imagine when you were at school and used to mix flour and water together to make glue. This is exactly what it does in your gut!
How does gluten affect endometriosis?
Wheat also contains phytic acid which can aggravate symptoms in endometriosis sufferers.
It may be the hormones in the wheat or the phytic acid locking up some of the minerals (magnesium is a muscle relaxant for instance!) and modern wheat contains a lot more gluten than ever before.
Try ancient wheat
“Ancient wheat” such as spelt and Kamut flours contain a lot less gluten and usually cause fewer symptoms and tend to be better tolerated.
You can find them in your local health food shop or you can order them from.
Perhaps you could try switching to spelt or kamut bread for 10 days and see whether there is an improvement.
Or sourdough?
You could also try Sourdough bread (made with a starter culture only and NOT commercial yeast), which is a natural fermentation of flour by natural yeast.
It is the old-fashioned natural way of making bread. This fermentation causes the dough to rise and makes the carbohydrates more digestible and absorbable.
Again, you are better off asking your health food shop who will know what to advise and where it can be bought.
They might even have a delivery of fresh sourdough bread once a week.
Take the plunge and cut out gluten
Alternatively, you could try to cut out gluten completely (wheat and any wheat-related flours such as spelt and Kamut, rye, barley and oats) and do a pulse test which challenges your body and see what symptoms recur.
Remember to always do this under the guidance of a doctor or a qualified nutritional therapist.
Try a food sensitivity test
My personal view would be to do a food sensitivity test with a qualified Naturopath or Nutritional Therapist to identify exactly what is going on instead of trying to guess yourself.
Once you have clearly identify which exact food family affects you, you can start improving your health, digestion and immune system and even start re-introducing certain food later on.
We offer food intolerance tests at Amchara – both at the UK and Malta retreat.
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