Gluten and Your Brain

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturapth

Gluten sensitivity is most often thought of as a gut problem but for those that are gluten sensitive this is an even bigger brain and autonomic nervous system issue. As we learn more and more about gluten sensitivity it is becoming apparent that gluten destroys brain and nervous system tissue more than any other tissue in the body and this even includes the tissue in your gut. So if you feel as if your brain is not functioning at a high level recognize that a sensitivity to gluten can be causing an immune assault on your brain which will lead to brain inflammation and increase the risk for an autoimmune attack on your brain tissue.

So if any of these factors resonate with you as listed below, be sure to read through this entire article. I'll also add that approximately 86% of those with a gluten sensitivity are actually asymptomatic, so you may want to learn more about this regardless. Toward the end of this article I have also provided you with a link to a complimentary gluten assessment.

• Does consuming grains make you tired
• Does consuming grains make it difficult to focus and concentrate
• Does consuming grains make you bloated
• Do you feel better when you avoid bread and grains
• Do you react to grain products

Before we go further let's take a quick look at gluten. Often clients will ask me, "what's the big deal with gluten all of a sudden?" While gluten has been a slight issue for thousands of years, the problem has grown tremendously in our more recent history. Recognize that gluten is not what it used to be. While gluten would not be considered "genetically modified" it has definitely been altered based on the fact that this is not hybridized and deamidated. When a food is genetically modified genes are either inserted or deleted but during hybridization an new protein is created by combining different strains of wheat. This can actually alter the protein sequence by as much as five percent which will create a  very different product than the original source The process of hybridization has created a "new wheat" which has been shown to trigger immune reactions which specifically affect the brain and nervous system.

Deamidation is the other issue to address. This practice is used extensively in the food processing industry and yet another way in which gluten has become a further immune reactive food source. Deamidation uses acids or enzymes to make gluten water soluble when it is normally only soluble in alcohol. The reasoning behind this process is to make gluten easier to mix with other foods. While this will of course make wheat easier to use this has also shown to create a severe immune response in people.

While some may look at hybridization and deamidation as progress, this is actually a significant digression for people and a definite challenge for brain function.

While this information has been know for some time, I would share that the average neurologist has no idea that gluten sensitivity can create a neurological disease state. Scary but true!

Let's look a bit further into why gluten is so harmful to the brain and nervous system. Studies have found that gluten sensitivity is associated with disorders in every major part of your nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and the nerves that extend into the arms and feet. Gluten sensitivity has been shown to be at the core these neurological disorders below.

• Psychiatric disorders
• Movement disorders
• Sensory ganglionapathy
• Ataxia
• Neuroolgical impairment
• Neuromyelitis
• Multiple sclerosis
• Neuropathy
• Myoclonus
• Apraxia
• Myopathy
• Neuromuscular disease
• Multiple systems atrophy
• Cerebellar disease
• Migraines
• Hearing loss
• Cognitive impairment
• Dementia
• Restless leg syndrome
• Disorders in virtually every part of the nervous system

There are three main mechanisms that are creating these issue between gluten and your brain/nervous system.

1. The first is tied into a cross reactivity where your immune system can mistaken one protein for another. The protein structure of gluten is similar to the protein structures of your nervous system so when your body is gluten sensitive and is producing antibodies to tag gluten for destruction, your body may "accidentally" produce antibodies to the nervous system tissue every time you eat gluten. If this is the case, you may be creating an autoimmune attack against your brain and nervous system.
2. Another significant mechanism is the immune response against transglutaminase which are enzymes that help bind proteins together in the process of digesting wheat. Gluten can trigger reactivity to different forms of transglutaminase thus leading to autoimmune responses in the brain as well as other areas of the body.
3. The other mechanism is tied into the fact that gluten can break down your blood/brain barrier. The this lining  protects the brain from exposure to pathogens and toxins in your body. Without this protection we increase the risk of autoimmune reactions in the brain and nervous system.

So please understand that there is no single dietary protein that poses a greater risk to your brain than wheat gluten and/or gluten in general. If you do have a gluten sensitivity or a full blown autoimmune reaction to gluten referred to as Celiac disease it is essential that gluten is eliminated for you diet completely. I know this may sound a bit harsh, but isn't your health and happiness worth it?

For those the question if gluten is an issue personally, feel free to visit this link to take a complimentary gluten sensitivity assessment. If you find yourself to be somewhat likely or very likely to be sensitive to gluten, I would suggest giving up this dangerous food source.

If you would rather test this to be sure, there is only one test that I would recommend which is an Array #3 from Cyrex Labs. This is the most comprehensive testing for gluten sensitivity available today. Do not trust saliva testing for gluten or even blood testing for Celiac disease because neither of these look at the whole picture and one of the worst scenarios is to receive a false negative for gluten sensitivity. As an example I had one client use the Array #3 and while 23 of the 24 different components of gluten actually tested out negative, the 1 out of 24 actually showed an extreme reaction. This reaction was so strong that this had already shown to create brain autoimmunity. This definitely is not something that you want to miss.

If you have any questions or comments in regard to this article, please post this below for us to respond to personally. If you would like to complete the Array #3 to test for gluten sensitivity, feel free to call Depke Wellness at (949)954-6226.

Nothing taste as good as...

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

...as feeling good feels!

Just in case you missed me putting together the title of this article with the first line, let me repeat.

Nothing taste as good as feeling good feels!

While you may have heard this in the past and though, yeah right, I have a recent story to share with you that will help you understand this comment.

For those that have been following Depke Wellness for some time, you already know that I am not shy at all about sharing when I have a health issue personally. You may remember when I first tested for gluten cross reactive sensitivity in February of 2013.

To refresh your memory, a cross reaction test will assess your potential sensitivity to proteins that are similar to the proteins in gluten. This  potential sensitivity is to the food choices listed below.

• Rye, Barley, Spelt, Polish Wheat
• Cow's Milk
• Casein
• Casomorphin
• Milk Butyrophilin
• Whey Protein
• Milk Chocolate
• Oats
• Yeast
• Coffee
• Sesame
• Buckwheat
• Sorghum
• Millet
• Hemp
• Amaranth
• Quinoa
• Tapioca
• Teff
• Soy
• Egg
• Corn
• Rice
• Potato

Well, out of this list I was personally sensitive to the foods listed below.

• Casomorphin
• Milk Butyrophilin
• Whey Protein
• Yeast
• Coffee
• Sorghum
• Millet
• Hemp
• Amaranth
• Tapioca
• Teff
• Soy
• Egg
• Corn
• Rice

If it seems as though I was repeating the list, that is because out of a possible 24 different cross reactive foods, I was personally sensitive to 15 of these.

As I discuss with all of my clients, once you have a recognized gluten cross reactive food sensitivity, you should eliminate this for anywhere from 12 to 18 months prior to reintroducing. I say this because it takes this time period for you gut to reestablish itself on a cellular level. Yes that's right, in about 1 year to 1 1/2 years, you will have a brand new gut. 

So what's next?

At this point, you can go on a rotation type of diet to add in the foods that you have originally eliminated while watching for symptoms and preparing for a retest. Well, here I am 18 months out and a have been rotating these foods in over the past 3 weeks. I have to say, I originally was very excited about this! After all, it has been more than 1 1/2 years since I have had cheese, butter, corn tortillas, eggs and rice, all of which I had missed on some level.

I started by adding back eggs and rice both of which did not seem to create any issues for me, but I did recognize that I had put on about 2-3 pounds at this time. I figured this could have been due to some other life event and didn't think much about it. 

Well than dairy came up next. Yikes! I had dairy along with my favorite birthday treat, which is a gluten free chocolate cake with a homemade whipped cream frosting. First of all, I was shocked by how much this simply tasted like cow. I know this may sound funny but that is the only way I can explain it. That was not the scary part though, since what happened after was the "yikes." After eating this I put on about 3 inches of girth around my waist and I felt like this ripped me up. All from the butter in the cake and the whipped cream frosting.

That was nothing though compared to the corn added in this past weekend. I originally was very excited about this because I have always enjoyed corn and have missed some corn products over the past 1 1/2. The though of having a taco on a corn tortilla sounded amazing and I always enjoyed an occasion treat of some corn chips with salsa and guacamole. This past weekend's trip to Mexico was the perfect place to add some corn in and "holy cow." Not only did I gain almost 10 pounds over the weekend but the amount of pain and discomfort I felt from this was truly not worth it. My whole body felt inflamed. I could not comfortably fit into my cloths, my gut was extremely bloated and I felt aches and pains in both my knees and ankles. Heck, somebody even asked me what I did to my ankle since it looked so inflamed. I laughed and told him that I ate corn and dairy.

So even though I was very excited about adding back in these foods again, it truly was not worth it. While off these foods my health has hit new heights, my weight reached levels that I have not seen in almost two decades and aches and pains that I have had for some years have almost completely diminished. But within three weeks I put on a bunch of weight, gain many inches in my gut and have reestablished some levels of pain and discomfort.

So do you get what I am saying when I shared, "nothing taste as good as feeling good feels!"

Thankfully my reintroduction period is over and I will retest to see what I am still sensitive to. Obviously I already know that both corn and dairy are still out and to be honest with you, if I do not get any of these foods back into my diet this would not be a concern at all, I simply love feeling health and happy. That's what is most important!

Please use my experience to look deeper at your food choices and how this can be affecting you. Most do not understand that eating foods that you are sensitive to will most often lead to:

• Inflammation
• Weight gain
• Inches gained
• Aches and pains
• Detoxification issues
• Immune system dysregulation
• Leaky gut
• Adrenal insufficiency
• And more....

There are three ways that we assist our clients at Depke Wellness in understanding food sensitivity. We either recommend a Cyrex Labs (array #4) gluten cross reactive blood test or an Immunolab Bloodprint154 blood test. For those that do not have the available finances to complete these blood tests, I always recommend a book "The Plan" by Lyn-Genet Recitas. This is one of the most comprehensive books I have seen to walk you through the process of discovering food sensitivity.

Remember, nothing taste as good as feeling good feels!

If you have any comments or questions in regard to this email, feel free to post below for us to respond to personally.

One of our BIGGEST Challenges

By Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

By far one of the single biggest challenges I see for my clients and those that follow Depke Wellness are tied directly into food sensitivity. You may ask yourself, why is this such a significant issue when you do not feel this is a problem for yourself personally? The answer to this is simply this, if you have a food sensitivity it is approximately a 86% chance that you are almost completely asymptomatic to this. That is correct, most of you living with a food sensitivity do not even know this is a significant health issue for you.

To define, when you have a food sensitivity, this will lead to inflammation in the gut. This inflammation will hinder you digestion, weaken your immune function and eventually blow out your adrenal gland function. Beyond this, since you have inflammatory receptors throughout your body, over time this will also lead to chronic inflammatory states and from there any chronic ailment known to man can develop. All because of a simple food choice. Yikes!

I know this first hand. I am just about to turn 50 soon (very excited!) and I first went gluten free at 42 years of age. When I originally did this, I did not even think I had a gluten issue, I simply did this because this was what we were recommending to patients when I was working along side Dr Mercola in the Chicago area. At the time, I figured that if I was going to suggest that everyone do this, I should do the same. Low and behold, I found that I had a gluten issue. So for years, I focused on living a gluten free life with some small windows of time that I would eat gluten on occasion. Eventually I learned that even these small windows were an issue and gluten was completely eliminated, except for the accidental exposure of course.

This all seemed to be fine but I still had some lingering personal health issues that it seemed impossible to find the root cause. Then came the Cyrex Array #4 Gluten Cross Reactive Food testing. This test addressed proteins that were similar in structure as compared to gluten that we could possibly develop and sensitivity to also. When this one came back, I then began to refer to myself as the cross reactive poster boy since I had about 17 different cross reactivities. Choices such as dairy, eggs, corn, rice, soy, coffee and all grains except for quinoa and buckwheat. This was a huge help for me to know that these foods were creating issues because ultimately, I wanted to get to the bottom of this.

While this did help, there was still something missing that had yet to be addressed. The problem though, was the fact that I was ignorant of this "something missing."

Thankfully from there I was introduced to a company called Immunolabs and their Bloodprint panels. I absolutely love Immunolabs words which were taken directly from their website, "70% of chronic diseases are preventable. You could be eating a balanced diet and doing what you can to improve your condition, without suspecting that the very foods you're eating are contributing to (or even causing) your problems."

I could not have said it better myself and the only thing I would add is that I feel they were potentially even a little low with their 70%. I actually feel that this is an even much bigger challenge by looking at my client base over the years.

So how did Immunolabs help me and how can they help you?

First off, when I did the cross reactive food testing, this only tested 27 different possible food sensitivities. This is absolutely correct though since they were only testing gluten cross reactive sensitivity. I needed and likely you need more than this. This is where Immunolabs come in. The actually have several different bloodprint panels, the BloodPrint154, BloodPrint115, BloodPrint88, BloodPrint Kosher and BloodPrint Vegetarian. Personally and professionally I recommend that BloodPrint154 because this assesses the largest amount of food choices. Take a look at the food choices of each test below.

When you are ready to move forward in understanding the nutritional choices that you may be making that are hindering your health and happiness, call our office at (949)954-6226 and we will get your Immunolab test kit sent out to you.

*Be sure to read beyond the test kits for more invaluable content.

BloodPrint154

• Alfalfa
• Almond
• Amaranth
• Apple
• Apricot
• Asparagus
• Avocado
• Banana
• Barley
• Basil
• Bay Leaf
• Bean, Green
• Bean, Kidney
• Bean, Lima
• Bean, Mung
• Bean, Navy
• Bean, Pinto
• Bean, Yellow Wax
• Beef
• Beet
• Blackberry
• Blueberry
• Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Buckwheat
• Cabbage
• Cantaloupe
• Carrot
• Catfish
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Cheese
• Cherry
• Chicken
• Cinnamon
• Clam
• Clove
• Cocoa - Chocolate
• Coconut
• Cod
• Coffee
• Corn
• Crab
• Cranberry
• Cucumber
• Cumin
• Currant
• Date
• Duck
• Egg
• Eggplant
• Flounder
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Goose
• Grape, Concord
• Grape, White
• Grapefruit
• Greens, Mustard
• Haddock
• Halibut
• Herring
• Horseradish
• Lamb
• Lemon
• Lentil
• Lettuce
• Lime
• Lobster
• Mackerel
• Malt
• Melon, Honeydew
• Milk, Cow’s
• Milk, Goat’s
• Millet
• Mint
• Mushroom
• Mustard
• Nut, Brazil
• Nut, Cashew
• Nut, Filbert
• Nutmeg
• Oat
• Olive
• Onion
• Orange
• Oregano
• Oyster
• Papaya
• Paprika
• Parsley
• Pea
• Peach
• Peanut
• Pear
• Pecan
• Pepper, B/W
• Pepper, Cayenne
• Pepper, Green
• Pepper, Red
• Peppermint
• Perch
• Pimento
• Pineapple
• Plum
• Pork
• Potato, Sweet
• Potato, White
• Pumpkin
• Quinoa
• Rabbit
• Radish
• Raspberry
• Rhubarb
• Rice
• Rye
• Safflower
• Sage
• Salmon
• Sardine
• Scallops
• Sea Bass
• Seed, Caraway
• Seed, Dill
• Seed, Rape (Canola)
• Sesame
• Shrimp
• Snapper
• Sole
• Soybean
• Spinach
• Squash, Yellow
• Strawberry
• Sugar, Cane
• Sunflower
• Tangerine
• Tapioca
• Tea
• Thyme
• Tomato
• Trout
• Tuna
• Turkey
• Turnip
• Vanilla
• Venison
• Walnut, Black
• Walnut, English
• Watermelon
• Wheat
• White Fish
• Yeast, Baker’s
• Yeast, Brewer’s
• Zucchini

BloodPrint115

• Alfalfa
• Almond
• Amaranth
• Apple
• Asparagus
• Avocado
• Banana
• Barley
• Bean, Green
• Bean, Kidney
• Bean, Lima
• Bean, Mung
• Bean, Pinto
• Bean, Yellow Wax
• Beef
• Beet
• Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Buckwheat
• Cabbage
• Cantaloupe
• Carrot
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Cheese
• Cherry
• Chicken
• Cinnamon
• Clam
• Clove
• Cocoa - Chocolate
• Coconut
• Cod
• Coffee
• Corn
• Crab
• Cranberry
• Egg
• Eggplant
• Flounder
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Grape
• Grapefruit
• Haddock
• Halibut
• Herring
• Lamb
• Lemon
• Lentil
• Lettuce
• Lime
• Lobster
• Mackerel
• Milk, Cow’s
• Milk, Goat’s
• Millet
• Mushroom
• Mustard
• Nut, Brazil
• Nut, Cashew
• Nutmeg
• Oat
• Olive
• Onion
• Orange
• Oregano
• Oyster
• Papaya
• Parsley
• Pea
• Peach
• Peanut
• Pecan
• Pepper, B/W
• Pepper, Chili
• Pepper, Green
• Perch
• Pineapple
• Plum
• Pork
• Potato, Sweet
• Potato, White
• Pumpkin
• Quinoa
• Radish
• Rice
• Rye
• Safflower
• Sage
• Salmon
• Scallops
• Seed, Rape (Canola)
• Sesame
• Shrimp
• Snapper
• Sole
• Soybean
• Spinach
• Strawberry
• Sugar, Cane
• Sunflower
• Tangerine
• Tea
• Tomato
• Trout
• Tuna
• Turkey
• Walnut
• Wheat
• White Fish
• Yam
• Yeast, Baker’s
• Yeast, Brewer’s
• Zucchini

BloodPrint88

• Almond
• Amaranth
• Apple
• Avocado
• Banana
• Barley
• Bean, Green
• Bean, Kidney
• Bean, Lima
• Bean, Mung
• Bean, Pinto
• Bean, Yellow Wax
• Beef
• Beet
• Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Buckwheat
• Cabbage
• Cantaloupe
• Carrot
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Cheese
• Cherry
• Chicken
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Cocoa - Chocolate
• Coconut
• Cod
• Corn
• Crab
• Cranberry
• Egg
• Ginger
• Grape
• Grapefruit
• Halibut
• Herring
• Lamb
• Lemon
• Lentil
• Lettuce
• Lime
• Lobster
• Milk, Cow’s
• Milk, Goat’s
• Millet
• Nut, Brazil
• Nut, Cashew
• Nutmeg
• Oat
• Olive
• Orange
• Oregano
• Papaya
• Pea
• Peach
• Peanut
• Pecan
• Pepper, B/W
• Pepper, Green
• Pineapple
• Plum
• Pork
• Potato, Sweet
• Potato, White
• Pumpkin
• Quinoa
• Rice
• Rye
• Safflower
• Sage
• Seed, Rape (Canola)
• Sesame
• Soybean
• Spinach
• Strawberry
• Sugar, Cane
• Sunflower
• Tangerine
• Tea
• Tomato
• Tuna
• Turkey
• Walnut
• Wheat
• Yam
• Yeast, Baker’s
• Yeast, Brewer’s
• Zucchini

Obviously the BloodPrint Kosher would eliminate non-kosher food choices and the BloodPrint Vegetarian would eliminate most animal based meat products.

So why did I provide this information today?

So you can get your butts out there and assess what nutritional choices you are making right now that are leading you down a path of chronic inflammation and chronic disease. I would like to share some inspiring quotes from one of the owners of Immunolabs, who be the way is and amazing man with high intergrity.

• Are you on the right diet, but eating the WRONG foods?
• Do you know which GOOD foods are BAD for you?
• If there was just one food that was causing your symptoms, wouldn’t you want to know what it is?
• 95 out of 100 people are suffering from Toxic Food Syndrome…Are you one of them?
• When you sit down to eat a meal, how do you know which foods are right for you?

So I welcome you to visit the Immunolabs website and enjoy an amazing video about food sensitivity and grab a "boatload" of free information for yourself. And when you are ready to move forward in understanding the nutritional choices that you may be making that are hindering your health and happiness, call our office at (949)954-6226 and we will get your Immunolab test kit sent out to you.

If you are anything like me, you will greatly appreciate this information, it could just save your life, as it has mine.

Please let me know if you have any comments and/or questions by posting these below and I look forward to discussing your Immunolab results with you soon.

Everything in moderation...

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

...is typically not the best way to go!

The saying "everything in moderation" is something I hear from people that do not want to make the commitment to what is important to address it their life. This saying can go right along another "ignorance is bliss" when the reality is that ignorance can kill you.

Let's look at this deeper today.

I "get" what people are meaning when they say everything in moderation but this often leads us to significant health issues. Take food sensitivity as an example. If I test a client and find that they are gluten, dairy and corn sensitive, this cannot be consumed in moderation. If the goal is optimal health and happiness, these foods would have to be eliminated from their diet.

This is essential because an intolerant food will create inflammation, digestive issues, adrenal imbalance and weakened immune system states. Looking at this even further we can all understand that all you need to do is consume a food that you are sensitive to only once per month to continue the inflammatory response, which in turn creates issues with digestion, immunity and adrenal function. Yes, you did hear me correctly, only once per month. This is why I cringe when I hear people say, "everything in moderation."

So how important is it to understand your food sensitivities? HUGELY important!

Almost all of my clients will test their gluten sensitivity cross reactive foods. These are foods that are similar in protein structure to gluten, so if you have a gluten sensitivity and have been eating gluten long term (most of us), your immune system starts to attack the cross reactive foods also. Yikes!

I am likely the best person to hear this from not only because I do this with my clients all the time, but more importantly because personally, I am the cross reactive poster boy. I actually have 17 or the potential 27 different cross reactive sensitivities. Dairy, corn, rice, coffee, yeast, eggs and almost every non-gluten grain also, just to name a few.

When people get this news, it is often perceived as bad news but I always share that this is simply a perception. While others may feel that food sensitivities are a restriction, I say eating food that you are sensitive to is actually restricting your right to optimal health and happiness. It is all how you look at it.

So what approach do you take to addressing your food sensitivities? First off, test them. As mentioned earlier I always recommend a cross reactive food testing and I am currently working with another company to perhaps take this even a step further. If this is a desire of yours feel free to contact my office directly at (949)954-6226. Now once you recognize your food sensitivities, it is sooooo important to eliminate these from your diet. I actually use and analogy in my own mind comparing my food sensitivities to a rock. If I see a rock on the ground there is not a thought in my mind that this is a viable food choice. If I see a food or food ingredient that I am sensitive to, this is a rock to me. That simple!

One more note to make is that I most often will recommend being off your sensitive foods for 12 months while working on a gut restorative program. It takes approximately 12 to 18 months to completely turn over you gut on a cellular level, so removing these foods while restoring your gut is the best option to potentially getting some of these foods back in your diet.

You cannot do this though if you do not have these foods defined.

Another factor to consider is tied into your overall meal plan. Just another area where everything in moderation can create some issues. It’s important to understand that we are all bio-chemically different and while one person may thrive on a particular diet; this same diet may be detrimental to another. This is tied into our genetics as well as any existing functional challenges. This is something that I refer to as your Nutritional ID. Understand that if you are eating foods in moderation that imbalance your nervous system or oxidation everything in moderation will not work out well for you. To learn more about Nutritional ID and to also assess your own personal Nutritional ID at no cost to you, follow this link.

So in the end, please be sure to question the belief that "everything in moderation" is OK for us. Perhaps it is if you only want to feel "OK", but I like to believe that followers of Depke Wellness desire to live into optimal health and happiness and rock their lives. I know this is you!

Enjoy rocking your life!

The Perfect Storm

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

So what is the perfect storm?

The holidays of course!

I know, we like to think of the holidays as a time for giving, spirituality, joy, love and so on. Think about it though. What do you often recognize during the holidays? Stress, less sleep, poor nutrition and far too much alcohol. Now I'm not asking you to not enjoy yourself, but let's look at how we can quiet this storm a bit.

Let's look at the stress first. During this time of the year, one of the biggest issues is that many of us over commit and make promises that are almost impossible to keep. This is the most important time of the year to use the power of "NO." I "get" that you want to make everyone happy and make every gathering, but one of two things will most often occur. Either you do not keep your integrity of being somewhere that you have committed to or you are so completely stressed out because it ends up being another thing that you have to do. Yikes to both!

A reality during this time of year for all of us is the fact that there will be more stress than other times of the year. To assist with dealing with this stress I would recommend visiting www.DepkeWellness.com and registering for the complimentary 4 part video series on the home page. The fourth video will provide easy to use yet powerful tools to assist with the stress of the holidays.

The next area is lack of sleep. Very often during the holidays we just simply do not get to bed early enough. I would suggest setting some boundaries for the times you are going to leave your holiday parties and of course, honor those boundaries. If you have an agreement with yourself to leave the parties at 9:00PM you will still have time to be in bed soon after that and get a full nights' sleep. The challenge for most is that they do not set a leaving time. Just show up a bit earlier and hold your integrity to the boundary you set.

Another factor is trying to fit "things" in late at night. I would suggest that instead of adding extra work at night, which ultimately lead to a lack of quality sleep, simply get up earlier. This will still allow some extra time to accomplish your tasks, but this will also mirror more of a natural sleep cycle and likely provide you more energy and mental clarity through the day. Understand that it is healthier to sleep from 10:00PM to 6:00AM than it is to sleep from Midnight to 8:00AM. Got it?

Poor nutrition is often an issue for most during the holidays. This is not only poor choices such as too much sugar, gluten and alcohol, but also typically far too much of all of these. Now for those that know they have a gluten intolerance or other cross reactive food intolerance, the holidays are not a time to "sneak" some in. Remember that if these foods are an issue for you, eating them will lead to inflammation in your gut, a weakened immune system and adrenal fatigue. Now as far as the sugar and alcohol are concerned, if this is not a huge issue for you, go ahead and indulge. Understand though that having one piece of fudge or one drink will typically not be an issue for most, but have several drinks, many sweets and throwing in some gluten can be a HUGE issue for so many. To assist with proper absorption and assimilation of your food choices during the holidays, make sure you are using your 1,2,3 of Digestion.

Also, when you are thinking about alcohol specifically, the timing is very important. The worst thing you can do is walk into your party and start with a glass of wine or a cocktail. If you have this on an empty stomach, watch out! This is an issue because alcohol is actually absorbed right through the stomach wall and an empty stomach allows a quick trip to the blood and the brain. All I can say is, not good! So if you are going to drink, make sure this is after you eat and not before. One more trick is to also eat fat when you are drinking, such as nuts, cheese or guacamole. The added fat will slow the release of the liquid sugar you are drinking and help to normalize blood sugar for you.

I would also add the focusing on all your fundamentals of health during this time will assist you in quieting this perfect storm. Remember that you can easily receive the complimentary 4 part video series for your fundamentals of health on the www.DepkeWellness.com home page.

Here is a late entry info for you...

A study, led by University of California at San Diego sociology professor David Phillips, looked at 57.5 million death certificates from 1979 to 2004. It found 42,325 more people died of natural causes -- which make up about 93 percent of all deaths -- during the two-week Christmas/New Year holiday period than would normally be expected, given the typical winter increase in deaths.

 

There also were increases in every major disease group of 1 percent to 10 percent and in every demographic group of 3 percent to 9 percent. In particular, the study looked at deaths from natural causes in which the patient either was dead on arrival (DOA) at a hospital or died receiving emergency care, and it found significant spikes throughout the holiday period. In fact, the three days when the most people die of natural causes in either a DOA situation or in an emergency setting are Dec. 25, Dec. 26 and Jan. 1.

Thanks to Dr Dan Yachter at www.elevationhealth.com for sharing this info.

Begin your focus on quieting the storm today and you may survive the holidays like never before. Here's to a happy and healthy holiday season!

Cranky and Bloated...

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

The title tells you exactly what my day was like yesterday...yikes!

Those that are clients of DepkeWellness would find it hard to believe that I could be cranky. Now while most would not have recognized this, I felt like I was living yesterday with a little demon inside of me. Not only was that little demon wreaking havoc over my mood, emotions and non-physical energy, I would have sworn it was living in my stomach due to the extra girth I put on over night. Even using all my tools to address my emotional state, I could not get out of it.

So how many times has this happened to you?

I am sure more than once. 

So what the heck was this? 

Thankfully I figured this out and you may or may not be surprised.

I purchased some food out on the evening before and ordered a chili. While the chili was actually very tasty, this was the fuel for cranky and bloated. I really put all the responsibility on myself because I am usually very good at confirming what is in my food, especially when I eat out. Well, it turns out that gluten was in my chili. It was likely used as a thickening agent, but little did they know that it was actually a cranky and bloated agent instead. 

Thankfully I was able to take a powerful natural anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and some liquid emulsified vitamin D in a high dose and I woke up this morning myself again. Yay!!!

For those that do not know this, I am a definite proponent of living a gluten free lifestyle, if gluten is an issue for you. Just and FYI, this is most of you reading this article. I have been gluten free for some time and every once in a while some mistakenly finds its way into my diet and obviously I can recognize this exposure. Interesting enough, my body did not want to hold onto the gluten and I vomited this up later in my evening. Sadly, the damage was already done. This led to some immediate inflammation in my gut and due to the direct link between the gut and the brain, this lead to the little cranky demon mentioned above. Thankfully I was able to recognize my state and simply keep my mouth shut whenever I could. I did not want the little cranky demon escape to create any damage to those around me.

I wanted to bring this up because so many people have this type of an issue with gluten and they never connect the dots. Gluten is not only a gut issue, this can be a brain issue (mood) as well as an inflammatory, immune and adrenal issue.

Scary right? Well, it should be!

Here's another example.

I have a client that went off gluten for more than 30 days. Lost a bunch of weight (20 lbs.), lived into more energy and enjoyed and improved mood. Now this client is back on gluten, only occasionally, but his significant other has noticed that moodiness and cranky has should up big time. Now is my client thinking that gluten is the issue? Of course not. Likely the mood is being blamed on others or the moodiness or crankiness is not even recognized. That is until I was able to be a part of this communication.

So how many of you are eating gluten and feel regular states of anxiety, crankiness or depression? 

And out of those the regularly struggle with this, do you even think gluten is a possible factor in your mood? 

Recognize some simple stats. There are approximately 330 million Americans. Out of this,

approximately 90 million are undiagnosed gluten intolerant. Now that does not count those that are either living with Celiac disease or those that already know gluten is an issue for themselves, myself included in that group. Approximately 30% of the US population have the genetic marker to makes them predisposed to Celiac and there's more. There are many that do not have the genetic marker, such as myself, but are completely intolerant to "Americanized" wheat. This is the hybridized and hydrolyzed wheat that we get in the US and Canada. Somebody like myself can go to Italy and eat all the bread and pasta we want but watch out when you get home. Our "Americanized" wheat will come out and bite you in the "you know what."

One more not to make is the fact that most people will not respond in the way I did. It is thought that approximately 86% of those challenged are actually asymptomatic when they consume gluten. This means, you are damaging your body without any knowledge of this. Or you may have symptoms that you simply do not tie into the food you eat, such as my crankiness expressed earlier.

So let this article be an eye opener for you. Click on this link and take the complimentary gluten assessment for not only yourself but for those around you. While I know you don't want to visit your cranky, nobody else does either.

If you find that you are somewhat likely to likely gluten intolerant due to the complimentary assessment, the next step is to eliminate gluten from you diet for at least 60 days. To assist with this you can also print out another complimentary form from the link above for your gluten foods in categories. This will help separate gluten and non-gluten choices for you. Also understand that being gluten lite does not work. It does take a full elimination of gluten to get the benefits of living gluten free. This is due the fact that all you need is gluten once per month to continue the inflammation, immune disruption and adrenal dysfunction for yourself.

As someone that has been gluten free for almost 7 years, except for a few mishaps such as this, living gluten free is much easier that most would think. I will also share that the benefits are also much higher than you may think.

Once you have eliminated gluten completely for 60 days, you have two choices. Choice number one is that due to the health benefits you have received, make the choice to stay away from gluten with the confidence of knowing that this is creating a happier and healthier you. The second choice is to add gluten back in to see how you respond after being off gluten for 60 days. 

There is a very specific way to add this back in though. 

To add gluten back in, eat a small amount of gluten with each meal for up to 3 days. This may look like a half an English muffin with breakfast, an open face sandwich on one piece of bread for lunch and a very small bowl of pasta with dinner. During the 3 days and for 2 days after, look for a response. This could be:

• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Bloating
• Flatulence
• Belching
• Noticeable states of anxiety, depression of overall moodiness

If you happen to notice any of these or any other brain or gut distress over the 5 day period, gluten is an issue for you and needs to be eliminated. The reason for the 3 days on and the following 2 days off is due to the fact that it can take up to 5 days after reintroducing gluten to actually feel the symptoms. So yes, gluten you ate on Monday can affect you on Friday.

All my best to your gluten free lifestyle choices!


  

Chemical Sensitivity

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Chemical sensitivity used to be for the select few chronically ill but these days, I am seeing

chemical sensitivity on significant levels for so many of my clients both young and old.

So why is this becoming such a huge issue?

Why are so many children seemingly starting off life with these sensitivities?

Is there one cause or many causes?

Is there hope for those with chemical sensitivities?

Today I will answer these questions and more but to shed a little light at the beginning, there is hope for those that are chemically sensitive! 

Let's start by defining this simply by looking at life's events. Imagine that you walk into an office the was freshly painted and newly carpeted. For most people, walking into this office would bring nothing more than a simple recognition of the odor telling you that the carpet is new as well as the paint. For the individual that is chemically sensitive though, this chemical expression can be maddening, almost to the point that they have to run out of the office.

So why is it that one person simply responds with recognition while another is running out of the office?

I would like to say there is one easy answer for all but one answer for all does not exist. The good news is that there are a combination of areas to look at ASAP that can be addressed to assist the body in responding to these chemicals in a less dramatic fashion, with the eventually goal of a release of chemical sensitivity.

Here is the list of what typically has to be addressed with those suffering with chemical sensitivities.

• Adrenal function - While your adrenals basically play a role in the whole of your being, they also play a direct role in chemical sensitivity due to the impact they have on the mucosal tissue lining (immune systems first line of defense), every level of detoxification, immune system regulation, the pro/anti inflammatory response and your overall neural connectivity. Since I have never seen someone with chemical sensitivity that does not have an adrenal issue, this is a great place to start.
• Inflammation - Chronic inflammation also known as an NF-kB state, is typically one of the significant factors behind chemical sensitivity. Understand that the NF-kB state will likely cause immune system dysregulation which in turn will often lead to chemical sensitivity. Addressing both the triggers for inflammation plus the inflammation itself is a key.
• Gluten or cross reactive intolerance - If you are consuming foods the you body is intolerant to, this is an issue in regard to chemical sensitivity. This is due to the fact that intolerant foods that are not addressed lead to digestive disorders, neurological imbalance, immune system disorders, inflammatory states, adrenal imbalance and poor blood/brain barrier function. ALL of these play a role in chemical sensitivity.
• Gut/brain/immune connection - If your gut/brain connection is suffering on any level due to pathogens, intolerant foods, stress, brain trauma and/or poor diet this will generally lead to immune system issues and chronic inflammation which is turn will contribute to chemical sensitivity.
• Poor blood/brain barrier function - Barrier function occurs in your gut, lungs and brain. The barrier that pertains with chemical sensitivity is the blood/brain barrier. This barrier keeps toxins from entering the brain via blood flow. If this barrier is not healthy, toxins will cross into the brain and create chemical sensitivity.
• Poor liver/colon function - The liver takes on the detoxification of approximately 80% of the toxins in your body. This will take place via a phase I and phase II liver detoxification. To simplify, phase I converts fat soluble toxins into water soluble toxins for eventual release via the colon. Once this phase I occurs it is essential that these are released via the colon because this phase I conversion actually makes the toxins more toxic. Yes, you heard that correct, your body's conversion of these toxins actually does create a higher level of toxicity. With that said, if you do not have healthy bowel movements (2 per day or more) you are actually releasing this toxic load back into your body and round and round you go. All this creates a significant toxic load and can be a big part of chemical sensitivity.
• Poor drainage - Often when we talk about detoxification, we forget the most important part. That part is drainage. To detoxify without drainage can lead to a toxic overload in your body and chemical sensitivity. See above while understanding that drainage is so much more than just your colon. Lymph, kidneys, skin and lungs also play a role.

While there may be some fringe areas to address beyond these listed above, most will find a significant release of chemical sensitivity symptoms or even a complete elimination of these symptoms by addressing these areas.

I also wanted to talk about one other area of chemical sensitivity that is so important and that is with children. With younger children, this is typically tied into food intolerance, the gut/brain connection and/or poor blood/brain barrier function. Addressing these first will often show relief for you children.

To take this a step further, let's look at the main reasons so many kids seem to be born with these chemical sensitivities. The fact is that this starts with the health of the parents upon conception and the health of the mother throughout pregnancy. Please understand the importance of a healthy gut/brain/immune system in the mother which will coincide with a healthier gut/brain/immune function with your child. Often women are living with an undiagnosed autoimmune reaction or every a full blown autoimmune disease. These challenges are easily transferred into the developing child and unfortunately this occurs far too often. With this said, make sure that a part of your family planning includes optimal health for both parents and have confidence in the gut/brain/immune health for the future mother. Doing this can release years of frustration down the road for both parents and children.

One other factor to consider is the high amount of chemicals that are in our environment via the air we breathe, water we drink, foods we eat as well as chemicals on cloths or products we put on your skin. These areas can be improved on every level also to take away some of the chemical load thrown at us on a daily basis.

• Air we breathe - Take a look at this article on air purifying plants for your home and office.
• Water we drink - My general recommendation is a Reverse Osmosis filtration system that includes a minimum of 4 filters. You can also purchase a portable aquagear system that will filter tap water at any time. Great for traveling or regular use. Learn more about AquaGear.
• Foods we eat - Consume whole natural and organic food whenever possible. Processed foods and a sugar are a part of a toxic lifestyle.
• Chemicals on your body - Use natural cleaning products and do not put anything on your skin that has a chemical base. There are many natural products that you can use on your skin available today. Here is a link to some of these natural products. Remember that your skin will easily soak up your toxic exposure.

In the end, recognize that once you are chemically sensitive this does not have to be a life long struggle for you. Take the necessary steps to live a life free of these sensitivities. It will be more than worth it!

Cancer and Inflammation

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Today we will dive into the intimate relationship between cancer and inflammation. Before we do this, let's look at some simple stats.

This year alone, over 1.7 million Americans will be told that they "have" CANCER and 33% of those people will die. Every 30 seconds somebody is diagnosed with cancer. And the numbers continue to grow worse with each passing year, despite more medical inventions and technology promising early detection.

How about not partaking in this statistic? 

If this is your goal, you will definitely want to learn more about the inflammatory tie into cancer. Recognize that when I talk about inflammation I am discussing longer term chronic systemic inflammation. I am not referring to acute inflammation due to injury.

When you are living with long term chronic systemic inflammation, this would be referred to as an NF-kB state. Often clients will ask me what this stands for so here you go. This is a nuclear factor kappa beta state. I know, this does not help at all. To define this further will likely create the clarity you are looking for. NF-kB is a protein complex that controls the transcription of DNA. 

Sounds rather important in regard to cancer?

When an individual is living with chronic inflammation this leads to immune system dysregulation. Immune system dysregulation can and will hinder the body's apoptosis. We discussed this briefly a few weeks ago. To review, apoptosis is basically cellular suicide. Understand that the way your body was created, if a cell because "broken" that cell is actually programmed to commit suicide. This will inhibit that "broken" cell from becoming another "broken" cell and so on and so on. If apoptosis is not functioning properly due to immune system dysregulation, which is caused by chronic inflammation, this "broken" cell will continue to replicate. The long term result of this would be a major contributing factor to cancer.

I do want to be very clear that I am not saying that inflammation is the only cause of cancer but this is a major contributing factor as mentioned above.

Now that you understand the role chronic inflammation play in cancer, what causes the chronic inflammation? The main causes of chronic inflammation are listed below.

• Food intolerance such as gluten and similar cross reactive foods
• The standard American diet high in processed foods and sugar
• Chronic infection
• Chronic stress
• Chemotherapy
• Obesity
• Alcohol/drug addiction 

So the key to addressing cancer is addressing inflammation and the key to addressing inflammation is working on the areas above. Start by assessing your likelihood of gluten intolerance by taking this complimentary gluten assessment.

Focus on reducing your sugar and processed food intake as much as possible. There are also two tests that we would recommend with regularity to address the underlying factors of inflammation. Once is a Cyrex Labs Gluten Cross Reactive Food test and the other is a comprehensive stool collection kit to assess the likelihood of a chronic gut infection. We find gut infections to be a challenge with about 75% of our client base and an even higher percentage that are living with gluten and/or cross reactive intolerance.


It is also important to note that your adrenal gland function also play a significant role in your immune system regulation as well as inflammatory states. Trying to accomplish your inflammatory roles without assessing adrenal function and addressing this with a proper adrenal protocol, will hinder your progress. If you have heard me talk about adrenals before, remember that here at Depke Wellness, we have reviewed well over 4,000 adrenal test kits and have seen only 4 come back normal. In fairness, we work with health challenged individuals, but if you have a health challenge you have almost a 100% chance of living with an adrenal issue. Check your adrenal function now.

Once you have addressed these areas, you can then work on the chronic inflammation. This cannot be taken lightly though. The chronic inflammation needs a strong "kick in the head" to be eliminated. This "kick in the head" involves a specific combination of supplements, with proper dosing to assist the body in shifting out of the chronic inflammatory state.

Once you have addressed all the common causes of chronic inflammation to the best of your ability and you have begun an adrenal balancing protocol, you are ready to provide the strong "kick in the head" in regard to inflammation. This would have to be addressed one on one. When you feel that you are ready to accomplish this task, reach out to Depke Wellness at (949)954-6226 to set up your complimentary 20 minute phone consultation. 

Don't be a statistic in the cancer and inflammation world. Address the underlying factors of inflammation and keep your immune function and apoptosis is full function.

If you have any comments or questions in regard to this article, post these below for us to address personally.

Gluten & Autoimmunity

by Glen Depke

Autoimmunity is a much more significant issue than most are lead to believe. Today we will discuss autoimmunity deeper than in the past and discuss one of the biggest factors leading into autoimmunity, which is gluten.

Last weeks article "Thyroid Treatment...Ridiculous!" brought up the point that the higher percentage of individuals that are diagnosed with thyroid issues are actually dealing with autoimmunity and not a thyroid issue per say. 

This has to be addressed!

Understand that autoimmunity is not just a thyroid issue. This can lead to challenges throughout the body and most likely lead to issues in the gut/colon, skin, nervous system tissue, pancreas, liver, brain, joints as well as the thyroid.

Let's first define autoimmunity as a production of antibodies against the tissues of your own body, producing autoimmune disease or hypersensitivity reactions. I tend to refer to the hypersensitive reactions as an autoimmune reaction.

Before we move on let me shed some light on conventional medical diagnosis of an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease cannot be diagnosed until you are in a full out tissue destruction state. That would be like you lending me your car and I bring it back only to tell you that your brakes are shot. But then say, don't worry about fixing your brakes until you actually run into someone or something and you hurt someone or something or kill someone. 

This does not make sense, does it? 

Thankfully autoimmune reactions can be recognized much earlier and you can address this early in the game before it is a life altering issue for you. This can be realized by addressing one of the most significant percursors to autoimmunity, which is gluten.

Here are the early steps to be recognized: 

1. Test and recognize antibodies to the proteins in gluten for those without health symptoms.
2. Test and recognize antibodies to the proteins in gluten for those with health symptoms.
3. Test and recognize full blown tissue destruction.

So you get to pick at which level you would like to recognize this challenge. I don't know about you, but I know where I would want to pick this up at and honestly I can share that I found my answer about 6 years ago in the first and earliest stage. 

You could too.

You may ask, what is gluten or am I referring to Celiac disease?

First of all, gluten is defined as the mixture of proteins, including gliadins and glutelins, found in wheat grains, which are not soluble in water and which give wheat dough its elastic texture. Let's take this a bit further though to mention that gluten is in far more grains than just wheat. Wheat just happens to be the biggest culprit here.

The other referring to Celiac disease can best be put into this statement. A gluten intolerance would be an immune system reaction to the consumption of gluten while Celiac disease would be a full blown autoimmune reaction to gluten. A gluten intolerance would be recognized as tested gliaden or glutelin antibodies, while Celiac disease would be assessed as a autoimmune disease. It is recognized that currently, 1 in 100 people in the U.S. have Celiac disease but the numbers would be staggeringly higher for those that are simply gluten intolerant. A couple of other interesting facts is that 87.5% of those with Celiac disease are asymptomatic, which means they have zero gut symptoms. Only 12.5% actually have symptoms. 

I also want to mention that the correlation between gluten intolerance and future autoimmunity is extremely strong. So strong that it is suggested that a gluten intolerance that is not addressed will have almost a 100% likelihood of becoming an autoimmune issue within a 5 year time span.

Yikes!

Of those "not addressed" gluten intolerances, 33% will create gut inflammation and gut issues while the other 67% will create other negative symptoms of the body seemingly unrelated to the gut.

This is often why people do not want to even look at gluten. I'll hear comments like, "I know gluten is not an issue for me because my digestion is very healthy." 

My, how often they are surprised! 

As a person with a gluten intolerance progresses, this can be recognized in one of 3 ways:

• Intestinal challenges
• Silent or without symptoms
• Symptoms outside of the gut
• Nervous system
• Skin
• Hormonal
• Joints
• Other

Another big question I get with regularity is," Why is gluten such a big deal all of a sudden?" 

First of all, this is not all of a sudden. This has been progressing rapidly over the last 50 years. The biggest issue with this is what has happened to our grains and specifically wheat. Wheat is now a significantly genetically modified food. It is deamidated which is a processing to make gluten more water soluble, which in turn also makes it more inflammatory. It is stored for long periods. The typical turn around between wheat being harvested and ending up on your dinner table is 2 years. This is a long time to develop enterotoxin contamination. This is also exasperated by other factors such as hygiene, leaky gut, chronic stress, poor nutrition and enzyme insufficiency.

While some people have to stay away from gluten containing products at all times, there are other that can do quite fine consuming gluten products in other areas of the world, such as Europe due to the fact that gluten products are not genetically modified or deamidated. In other words, often subjects have no reaction to a true native wheat flour but have severe reactions to deamidated wheat flour.

Get this...this is not a trend...this is real! 

So for those of you reading this today, what percentage of you actually are gluten intolerance? Is this 50%, 70% or even closer to 90%. I would suggest higher rather than lower.

So what do you do now?

• First take the gluten intolerance assessment which is complimentary at Depke Wellness. Click here for you free assessment.
• If you find score a 5 or above, I would recommend you do one of two things. First if possible, via testing assess antibodies to gliadins and/or glutelins as well as the wheat germ. If you do not have this as an option, I would eliminate gluten from your diet. For those testing, it is extremely likely that you would be eliminating gluten after reviewing test results.
• Test for other cross reactive foods or go on an anti inflammatory diet for at least 30 days, and slowly reintroduce the eliminated foods to assess your reactive states.
• Test for autoimmunity within your body.
• From here, there are supplement protocols to address the gut, brain and immune damage as well as intervention to assist with chronic inflammation. There are also protocols to support immune system regulation and assist with regaining balance in your immune function.

I understand that this may seem like an insurmountable task for many but trust me, it is much easier than dealing with the symptoms of tissue destruction of an autoimmune disease.


Remember, you can address an autoimmune reaction long before it is a full blown autoimmune disease and an unaddressed gluten intolerance is one of the biggest factors to address for most.


For those choosing to eliminate gluten, first off, congratulations. This is a significant commitment to health and happiness. Second, there is another complimentary download for you at Depke Wellness. You can get a free list of Gluten Foods in Categories that makes this commitment much easier. Get your list now.
 

Glen Depke

If you have any comments or questions in regard to this article, please leave them below and they will be addressed personally.

Gluten, the Silent Killer

by Glen Depke

I say silent killer because most are not aware of their own personal challenges with gluten. The long term response by your body can be chronic health issues and yes, even death.

When you visit restaurants and grocery stores these days, you will find quite and array of gluten free foods. Understand that when something such as gluten intolerance because so recognizably dangerous to the general public, even big business jumps in.

Gluten is a real problem and in no way a reoccurring fad!

Gluten is a major contributing factor to many chronic ailments including but not limited to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancers and brain disorders such as dementia and depression. 

Complimentary Gluten Assessment.

The biggest challenge for us is wheat but gluten is also within rye, spelt, bulgar, semolina, couscous, triticale, and durum flour. Gluten can also be hidden in so many of the foods we eat so you also have to be very careful with reading labels. Be wary of modified food starch, dextrin, flavorings and extracts, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, imitation seafood, and creamed products such as soups, stews and sauces.

With wheat being the most significant factor when discussing gluten, did you know that the average American now consumes approximately 55 pounds of wheat flour per year. Wow!

Since the biggest challenge is wheat, let's look at the main culprit.

Did you know that today's wheat would barely be recognizable some years ago? Wheat is now a dwarfed, weakened and genetically manipulated likeness of itself. The scary fact is that modern wheat has been manipulated to produce a higher yielding plant that contains much higher amounts of starch and gluten.

Both of these are an issue.

The higher starch creates significant blood sugar and insulin issues, eventually leading to disorders within the endocrine system such as diabetes and adrenal challenges. This is just the start of the problems though.

From a gluten perspective, it is my understanding that wheat used to contain approximately 3% gluten, yet after genetic manipulation, it now contains approximately 50% gluten. While if may create a better bread product, is it really worth it?

The answer is a resounding, NO!

Please recognize that a gluten intolerance does not necessarily mean you have Celiac Disease. If you have a negative test result to Celiac this is not free game on gluten. Even low level gluten intolerance can create significant health issues that honestly, you do not have to endure.

So what do you do now?

Here's an easy way for you to gain some personal knowledge for your likelihood of being gluten intolerant.  Feel free to visit our website to take your complimentary Gluten Intolerance Assessment and if you find that gluten is a challenge for you, we also supply you a complimentary list of Gluten Foods in Categories.

This assessment and food list is our gift to you. Please take advantage of it, it may just save your life!

If you would like to visit the Depke Wellness Gluten Intolerance page to view a video or further information follow this link.

If you have any comments or questions to this article, please leave a response below for us to respond to personally.

Celebrate 100 Consecuctive Depke Wellness Newsletters!

by Glen Depke

Today is actually number 100! Yes, this is 100 consecutive weeks of research, articles, blogging, and releasing health information to you.

I have to say that it is a pleasure for Depke Wellness to provide this for you and we trust that you can feel our joy and excitement through our articles, blogs and videos. This is all a labor of love, except of course for the occasional technical difficulties. LOL!

With all the excitement behind us we want to share that there is so much more building. Coming up as we speak, our website, newsletter and blog is undergoing quite a facelift. We are going to be providing additional online assessments to...

• Assess your Nutritional ID
• Assess your Adrenal Fatigue
• Assess your Gluten Intolerance
• Video introduction into the healing protocols used by Depke Wellness
• And so much more

We are also changing the Depke Wellness Store...

• Adding a Kids Supplement area
• Adding the line of homemade soaps, candles and so much more from Dawn's line of sacred scents
• Increasing the video availability of every aspect of Depke Wellness Protocols
• Adding more easily absorbed and assimilated liquid based supplements

We also wanted to share that we are going to be offering a variety of games, giveaways and fun in building our newsletter list this year. We have been sending our newsletter to approximately 1100 individuals over the past 2 years and we are making the commitment to reach out to 10,000 total by the end of 2012.

For every new person that views our newsletter, blog and website, that is simply one more person that will be provided with a deeper level of understanding in regard to natural health, natural healing protocols, and the underlying core values of our health and happiness.

Remember, Depke Wellness is not only about wellness for yourself, but Wellness for the World!

Do You "Get" What Gluten is Doing to You?

by Glen Depke

If you have not noticed yet, the shelves in the grocery stores carry quite a bit of gluten free items. So do you thing this is some new taste craze or some new way of preparing food that benefits the manufacturers?

Absolutely not!

There is so much gluten free food on the market because even conventional wisdom has caught on to the fact that gluten is actually killing people. Well now, to be real, it will never say that on the death certificate but it may as well.

Before I go further with this, let me be clear that not everyone has a gluten intolerance. Actually, in other countries gluten is not even as big of a challenge as here in the US and Canada. The challenge is both the modification of the wheat kernel as well as the processing and storing of these dangerous grains.

I have been promoting and discussing eating a gluten free lifestyle for some time now and I have to say that both personally and professionally, I have seen some dramatic results across the board. Heck, I even have clients telling me that they share my gluten intolerance assessment with their friends and/or loved ones. Often the success shared by these fortunate souls is miraculous. It sounds to good to be true, but if you have a gluten intolerance and you stop consuming gluten containing products, your entire life can make a positive turn for the better. I see it all the time in my clinic.

I wasn't looking to write an article getting into gluten containing foods or the multiple of health challenges potentially created by consuming gluten. You can find this in a past article I wrote by following this link here.

My motivation for writing this article is so more people would actually assess their likelihood of a gluten intolerance and learn more about living a gluten free life. If just one person reading this article assesses their level of gluten intolerance and removes gluten from their life to enjoy health and happiness...well then, it was all worth it.

To assess your own level of gluten intolerance you can visit the Depke Wellness, Gluten Intolerance page and scroll down to take the gluten intolerance questionnaire at no cost to you. What a combo, no cost and potentially life saving.

Visit this link to take your free test today. If you find yourself as somewhat likely or very likely to be gluten intolerant, it would be a magnificent idea to remove gluten from your diet. If this is the case, you will find a gluten free foods in categories list by following this link and scrolling down to the bottom of the page.

This is a FREE questionnaire and information because it is just that important. For the stubborn individuals that recognize that gluten is an issue but you need more proof to give this up, you can contact me directly for a blood test that will put your mind at ease.

If you have any comments or questions in regard to this article, leave a post below and I will answer this personally.