Review: Gluten Free Muffin-in-a-Cup Mixes from Wheat Free Market
“The Ancient Greeks described inflammation as the ‘internal fire’…which suggests that our understanding of inflammation hasn’t increased that much over the past 2,000 years!”
~ Barry Sears, Ph.D. from Toxic Fat
Got inflammation?
I’m willing to bet that you’ll answer ‘no’ to this question and most likely you’re wrong. Dead wrong. The reason I say this is that you’re here at Gluten Free School because your health indicates for whatever reason a gluten-free lifestyle. And maybe you can answer affirmatively to any of the following:
- Digestive problems
- Food sensitivities
- Hormonal problems (thyroid issues, diabetes, etc.)
- Cholesterol issues
- High Blood pressure
- Celiac disease
- Inability to lose weight
- Difficulty sleeping
- Feeling overly stressed or prone to stress
Yep — you’ve got inflammation. About 90% of all clients come to me struggling with issues that all stem from silent inflammation. Not to be mistaken with the more painful, sore, heated type you’ve come to know in life when you get cut or break a bone, for example. Silent inflammation is something much more insidious that even the Greeks hadn’t yet discovered and it’s a big deal – for each and every single person here at Gluten Free School.
I first learned about the concept of silent inflammation from Dr. Barry Sears (you may know of his life work as the creator of the Zone Diet) back in 2008. His research caught my attention because at the time I was just learning about how my own food sensitivities were wreaking havoc in my body resulting in a nearly 20 lb weight gain, the inability to wake up in the morning, and feeling bloated and tired all day long. (Read more about my journey here and my thoughts on the gluten-free diet & inflammation.)
Inflammation is the precursor to many of the physical issues/diagnoses we develop. To effectively deal with the dis-ease your body experiences, you’ve got to go to the source and make changes there to fully experience a cascade of positive effects. But most of us don’t have any idea what or where this silent inflammation even is, let alone what to do about it. That’s where Dr. Sears’ book Toxic Fat: When Good Fat Turns Bad
Toxic Fat: When Good Fat Turns Bad is one of the best and most reader-friendly explanations of silent inflammation. Dr. Sears clearly breaks down the various dietary and lifestyle factors as well as misconceptions of our current American health crisis (and yes they are TOTALLY applicable to us Gluten-Free folks). These factors sadly pigeon-hole you into a state of bad chronic health which is completely avoidable. Yep — avoidable through simple changes that you can make in your own kitchen and at each meal.
Dr. Sears blows holes in many of the great dietary fallacies that keep your health teetering on the brink of disaster. Partly due to many physicians relying too heavily on problematic medication-maintenance ‘solutions’, your physical issues never get addressed from the ground up. By looking at hormonal systems and specific blood tests, doctors would have clear data indicating problems years before a serious diagnosis would even be rendered (like Diabetes — to which the GF crowd is especially not immune!). When it comes to your health, I share in Dr. Sears’ sentiment that its easier to turn the ship around earlier than later.
Now why should you care? Because inflammation is what underlies every issue you have. Gluten is a convenient ‘demon’ to which you can stay alert, but the inflammation that hides underneath this protein and all the problems it wreaks is what you should actually consider to be the greatest threat. Getting gluten out is great, wonderful even, but if you don’t address the inflammation, your health won’t ever get to where it should be.
Toxic Fat: When Good Fat Turns Bad explains the nuts and bolts of inflammation in your body and how to deal with it in simple, easy ways. And if you want to ‘nerd out’, the appendixes in the back of the book delve deeper for those who want to deepen their studies on things like Fish Oil, Adipose Tissue, Gene Expression, and what Anti-Inflammatory meals look like (FYI – these meals are not specifically geared to be GF, so you would need to insure making GF substitutions and a few minor omissions when cooking).
Not a day goes by where I do not talk to a client about silent inflammation, so please check out Toxic Fat: When Good Fat Turns Bad. You’ll be so glad that you did!
Wanna learn more from Dr. Barry Sears himself?
Join Dr. Barry Sears for a FREE Master Class this Thursday, Feb. 16th @ 8pm ET/ 5pm PT for “Gluten & Inflammation”.
This tele-class is accessible to all from the comfort of your own home. Can’t make it? No worries – I’ll send you a copy of the recording the next day!
Plus, Dr. Sears is giving away copies of his book Toxic Fat: When Good Fat Turns Bad to 3 lucky registrants of this class. To register and grab your seat, CLICK HERE.
