The 28-Day Gut Health Plan: Lose weight and feel better from the inside. Jacqueline Whitehart

We know that wheat cannot be fully digested and may cause small tears to appear in the intestines.

       Cut out wheat entirely

      As wheat is in so much of the food you eat you’ll need to start looking at the packaging of every food you buy. Even better, stick to whole, natural foods which don’t come in a packet, and get back to basics with your cooking.

       Foods to avoid

      Bread

      Cake

      Biscuits

      Pastries

      Pies

      Crackers

      Pitta or wraps

      Beer

      Malt or malt extract

      Pasta

      Noodles

      Pancakes

      Breakfast cereals

      Barley

      Rye

      Bulgur wheat

       Gluten-free products – good or bad?

      You need to approach gluten-free food products with caution. These processed foods are often full of very quick-release carbohydrates such as rice flour and sugar. Your best bet is to prepare your own food, which you can guarantee as gluten-free naturally.

      However, I have found that it helps to feel less restricted if you can have access to a gluten-free bread now and again. We are lucky that there are now hundreds of gluten-free products available. If you find a gluten-free bread that you like, then you should treat yourself occasionally. Even better, buy a gluten-­free bread flour and make your own gluten-free bread. I have perfected my own recipe for this and you’ll find it in the Step Up Recipes section.

EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT

       MY OWN JOURNEY

       Jacqueline, in her forties

       Symptoms – bloating

      I used to feel bloated even after eating a small meal. Bloating is so subjective, it’s hard to know the exact cause and solution. I didn’t tend to feel poorly, so it was hard to pin it down to any one cause. I also got eczema on my face and had a tendency to migraines.

      After much experimentation last year (this programme is intended to cut out the grey areas allowing you to reach your own conclusions much quicker), I discovered that wheat was the problem. The difficulty is that with bloating caused by wheat intolerance (which is so common), it doesn’t come straight after eating wheat; it comes maybe a day later and lasts about forty-eight hours. So if I eat wheat on the Monday, I might not get symptoms until Tuesday and they won’t completely disappear until Thursday. It’s so easy to eat a little bit of wheat every day and then the bloating never really goes away.

      I cut out wheat completely for a few months and felt a lot better for it. My eczema cleared up nicely and the frequency of my migraines decreased. All due to cutting out wheat.

      That’s not quite the end of the story. And this may be familiar to some of you. I was feeling better and I knew this was due to cutting out wheat. I wanted to try and reintroduce it slowly. I missed bread. And the first few times I experimented with bread it seemed fine. A bit of bloating the day after eating wheat is easy to overlook. Unfortunately, this led to me, almost imperceptibly, going back to eating wheat every day. And slowly but surely my symptoms returned. It took seeing my stomach in the mirror to acknowledge it. My tummy was not fatty or flabby … just bloated.

      My new plan, which I have been following successfully for the past few months, is to cut out wheat entirely once again. But I make a wheat-free loaf of bread and eat gluten-free bread most days (see here). I have to use a rice flour to make the bread, which isn’t ideal. But I have realized that total wheat restriction is no fun in the long run. So my long-term rules for me are: no wheat and no processed foods. But if I want to eat chocolate, gluten-free bread or make some cookies containing real sugar, I do.

      Let’s hear from some other people I have helped find their own trigger foods, and who enjoy their life more due to a greater understanding of their gut health.

       ANGELA

       Angela, in her fifties

       Symptoms – stomach cramps at night

      Angela has been getting stomach cramps at night for thirty years. Not every night, but sometimes they are so bad that she barely sleeps at all. She noticed a correlation with nightshade, so for a long time she has avoided tomatoes in all their forms. Her symptoms became progressively worse over the years. She then tried removing wheat and dairy from her diet with little success.

      It was only on total removal of all gas-producing foods that her symptoms improved.

      Angela’s triggers are nightshade and gas-producing vegetables. In particular, she knows that even a tiny bit of onion or garlic will trigger her symptoms. Tomatoes in small doses and cooked tinned tomatoes are less of a problem.

      Her solution is to avoid onions, garlic, leeks, beans and lentils totally. She also takes probiotics when her stomach is weak or when she needs antibiotics. She takes a fibre supplement (a teaspoon of ground psyllium) daily.

      Angela allows herself to consume tomatoes and peppers in small amounts up to three times a week. She also eats wheat and dairy freely.

       STEPHEN

       Stephen, in his forties

       Symptoms – loose bowels

      Stephen is a busy executive who has a stressful job. In a particularly difficult period at work, his symptoms became unbearable and made it difficult for him to do his job properly.

      On the advice of the doctor, he cut out all five triggers until his symptoms abated. Then, after a long period of trial and error, it became clear that it was the milk in his many cups of tea that was the problem. Stress also exacerbated the symptoms. His treatment involved probiotics for three weeks to rebuild the gut.

      He now does not have milk or yogurt, although cheese is fine. He also is careful about how much red meat he eats. Meat in moderation is fine, but overindulgence can cause his symptoms to reappear.

       ANTONIA

       Antonia, in her thirties

       Symptoms – severe stomach cramps, bloating

      Antonia found her symptoms were making her miserable and interfering with her life. She chose to take a food-intolerance test, which highlighted red meat, milk and wheat.

      Antonia avoids these three triggers entirely and she is now symptom-free.

       JOHN

       John, in his seventies