Discover if sourdough is suitable for gluten-free diets and its impact on children with ADHD. Get informed for healthier choices.
Navigating Sourdough: Gluten-Free Considerations for Children with ADHD
The question of whether families should avoid sourdough bread when adhering to a gluten-free diet, especially in relation to conditions like ADHD, is a common concern among many. Sourdough bread is often perceived as a healthier option due to its fermentation process, which can break down gluten and make some nutrients more accessible. However, for individuals with celiac disease or severe gluten intolerance, even trace amounts of gluten can lead to adverse reactions, making it essential to evaluate the potential risks and benefits of including sourdough in their diet.
In discussions about dietary choices for children with ADHD, some studies suggest that certain dietary modifications can have a positive impact on behavior and concentration. Families exploring gluten-free options might wonder if sourdough could be a suitable alternative. While it may offer some benefits, it is crucial to approach this decision with careful consideration and professional guidance, particularly for children who may have multiple dietary restrictions or sensitivities.
Navigating Gluten-Free Choices: Sourdough, ADHD, and Your Child’s Diet
Should we avoid sour dough if we are glutenfree and our kiddo has ADHD if you’ve ever wondered this question you are definitely not alone and you are in the right place it comes up so often with the families that I work with so guys hi Dana K here if you are tuning in just give me a wave in the comments I want to make sure that I’m coming.
Through okay you can see me you can hear me clearly I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving uh oh I want to make sure hi hi thanks for giving me a a hi Veno if you can see me okay and you can hear me okay I’m wondering why I’m oh I’m not in the screen there we go hi Maddie’s Mommy thank you for tuning in um I am.
Excited to be here today hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving yay I loving all the the waves thanks guys love it love it love it now Jenny came to me earlier this week and she asked the best question um she said to me I’ve heard that sour dough is more easily digested and that many people who are gluten-free can.
Still have sourdough is this correct or should we avoid sourdough too if we’re gluten-free I think this is an awesome question I have seen it so many times uh among families in my program so I wanted to jump on here live with you guys and answer it for anyone else who might be wondering so guys let me know in the comments if you’ve ever wondered about.
Sourdough okay let me know yes I have wondered about sourdough uh or uh no I haven’t um also you can let me know are you guys gluten-free or are you considering going glutenfree now before we dive in uh I do want to introduce myself uh to any of you that don’t know me yet I am Donna Kay board certified health and nutrition practitioner and I.
Work with families of kids with ADHD helping them to naturally reduce challenging ADHD symptoms uh CJ Willoughby is very curious about sourdough yes well we’re going to be answering that question for you today but just give me a yes to others if you have wondered if it’s okay to eat sourdough now I just want to start by.
Explaining especially for any of you who are new here why I recommend families of kids with ADHD to avoid gluten okay um I can see that someone’s saying we are gluten-free and very curious about sourdough yes someone else is saying yes very curious okay well let’s start with gluten gluten is so inflammatory and the inflammation uh is gluten related to.
ADHD yes madd’s Mommy I’m going to explain that to you right now Lisa is saying yes I bake sourdough with older oldfashioned grains yes definitely uh uh yes GF here and avoid it Okay so we’ve got some we’ve got some um people here that are experts in the gluten-free that is awesome got others who haven’t haven’t heard of it before so super.
Excited about this now gluten is highly flry uh and I talk about a lot inflammation creates and exacerbates ADHD symptoms okay now gluten is so inflammatory that I really say that no one should be eating it even those without ADHD or a known gluten intolerance like it is the way that it’s processed these days the antinutrients.
In it the the the glyphosate all these things contribute to it plain and simple gluten is pretty much harmful for just about everyone but that’s because gluten triggers leaky gut in everyone increased intestinal permability is the sort of technical term for it even those who actually don’t show an allergic response to it um yes someone is saying yes.
Gluten-free with an autoimmune issues perfect to be gluten-free with autoimmune issues now uh intestinal permeability refers to the breakdown of the gut lining the intestinal World walls and when it’s functioning properly the walls of the intestine sort of form this you know barrier around it and allows the water and the nutrients to.
Pass through but blocking other things from entering the bloodstream now when a person has increased intestinal um permeability this is leads to something called leaky gut and leaky gut allows toxins other harmful substances to enter the bloodstream that aren’t supposed to be there and what happens by the body when something’s not meant to be there.
It leads to an inflammatory response the body turns on this inflammatory response and this inflammation exacerbates ADHD symptoms and can make them significantly worse inflammation isn’t the only issue with gluten gluten also has the potential to create opiate like effects in some individuals opiates crazy I mean it’s crazy so in individuals who have.
Gut inflammation which is super common in kids with ADHD their enzyme in their guts and not fully breaking down gluten and what happens as a result they get these antibodies in the body it’s called Uh anti sorry glut morphins and these glut morphins the protein structure of them it’s similar to Morphine okay gluto morphins are absorbed into the.
Bloodstream they cross the bloodb brain barrier they then bind to the opiate receptors in the brain and also the gastrointestinal tract and if you think about those who are addicted to Morphine okay okay they might be unable to sit still they could have huge meltdowns over small things they might be unable to handle transitions uh in many ways.
They have ADHD like symptoms don’t they and so when parents of kids with ADHD remove gluten and thus remove the opiate glut Morphin these opiate like instances begin to be fewer and further in between now when we removed gluten from my son’s diet he became a completely different child he was calm he was focused he was able to sit still you know um someone’s.
Saying I had ADHD first there is a link uh yes gluten-free with okay interesting um that you you had that as well and the autoimmune condition there is a definite link um uh you know maybe that all that inflammation is you know causing those autoimmune autoimmune condition and then also those exacerbated ADHD symptoms now one thing keep in mind when removing.
Gluten is that some people go through a glut Morphin withdrawal response think of this like a detox period now during this period their ADHD symptoms might actually get worse for a time before they actually get better and that’s because their bodies are flushing out that gluten you know just like you have withdraw ruls from morphine I mean it’s.
A similar process now another thing to keep in mind is it can actually take 3 to six months months for gluten to stop completely reacting in the body and the body start to heal so don’t give up if you don’t see results immediately sometimes it can take a few months before the body fully reduces the inflammation caused by that gluten so.
Now to sourdough what I promised you that I was talking about um there are a few reasons that I I think people are often confused about sourdough and gluten and the first reason is the fermentation process that sourdough goes through sourdough bread undergo a fermentation process where natural bacteria breaks down some of the gluten.
And this can reduce the gluten content leading some people to believe that sourdough is low enough in gluten to be safe for those that are avoiding it but remember it’s a misconception that the fermentation process removes all the gluten from the sourdough B bed while fermentation can break down some of the gluten it actually doesn’t eliminate it.
Entirely so sourdough does typically contain gluten which as I explained a moment ago creates inflammation in the body it can lead to exacerbated ADHD symptoms now another reason for the confusion is marketing claims some sourdough products are marketed as easier to digest or lowering gluten leading consumers to believe they are.
Safe options for a glutenfree diet now there are also traditional beliefs and anecdotal evidence suggesting that sourdough especially made with certain grains and long fermentation times is less likely to cause gluten related issues and this can cause confusion among those that are strictly avoiding gluten so think of sourdough as low.
Gluten rather than gluten-free but in reality even the reduced gluten content in sourdough is enough to create inflammation in the body for some people so you know definitely as we’re trying to reduce those ADHD symptoms and and as we’re trying to help our child Thrive it’s my recommendation to avoid traditional sourdough products and stick.
To products that are that are actually gluten-free now if you’re watching this live you’re likely here because your child is struggling with their symptoms this indicates to me that their health is compromised they are probably suffering from inflammation they’re probably suffering from leaky gut and if a child has no health issues or is not.
Struggling with ADHD symptoms then yes they can eat sourdough it is a much much better option especially an organic sourdough bread um than other unhealthy breads out there but once inflammation and leaky gut sets in and the body becomes triggered by wheat and gluten it needs a reprieve to heal it needs a break to reduce that inflammation um I.
Actually uh um run this lab test called a wheat Zumer um I can’t pull it up on the screen here um but basically uh this looks at all the different peptides inside Wheaten and glut and um you know even those that are just eating sourdough I have seen countless numbers of these tests that can show me that how reactive these kiddos are to the.
Different peptides inside wheat and inside gluten so in order to stop that reaction happening I think I’ve run over a thousand of these tests you know to date so I’ve seen so many of them um and can tell you definitely the most uh are extremely reactive and many of those different peptides in gluten they’re reacting to so in order to stop that.
Reaction reduce that inflammation heal that leaky gut it does need to be removed now for that reason I recommend all the families that I work with to avoid sourdough just like they avoiding other gluten containing foods but that’s it for today guys um any questions for me drop it in the comments um I hope this live has been helpful if um the.
Live has finished you can drop it I’m going to post this to my feed so you can watch it again and ask any questions or send me a DM as well um if if there’s any questions about this contact that I’ve sh uh content that I’ve shared today just reach out and let me know but that’s it for today um okay so I’ve got a question so you recommend a complete.
Gluten-free diet I have a 9-year-old uh girl and a new diagnosed 5y- old boy and we’ve never heard of this yes we definitely do recommend a glutenfree diet um if you check the link in my in my profile I have a free uh Master Class where I talk about all the things uh that will help you reduce your both your kids uh ADHD symptoms naturally um you.
Can check that out in the link my bio um wonder and Wells yes my daughter has a neuroimmune disorder pans and pandas and we did the neural Zuma yes so definitely um you know a glutenfree d for her as well is what’s needed to really stop that inflammation I’ve worked with a lot of kids that have uh pandas and you know the gut is also a big part of that um.
And taking out gluten and dairy helps so much yes that’s awesome that is awesome um so yeah guys hope this is has been helpful uh someone saying we are gluten-free diet since 3 months first days he was amazing but then he changed his hyperactivity again so that tells me either he is still getting gluten and you’re unaware of it um or he’s getting.
Little bits of it say at school or from someone else and you’re unaware of it and so the body’s actually going through this detox and then it’s getting it again and then it’s going through a detox and then it’s getting it again so just really want to you know use that investigative like uh what are they called um just put your.
Investigative hat on and see if you can find whether or not he is getting it from somewhere else also if he isn’t and you’re 100% certain then you may need to go deeper that’s where I suggest lab testing um we have uh if you if you want to send me a PM and ask for the lab testing video totally do that I’ll share the top sort of four Labs that we do.
That will help you sort of um uh oh I love that inflammation detective yes 1,000% um uh uh if you just send me a PM and you want that lab testing video I’ll share the top four Labs that I use for kids with ADHD so if someone’s been on a gluten and dairyfree diet and they’re really eating Whole Foods you know.
Majority of the time that 80 20 Whole Foods you know and you’re not just replacing packaged Goods with packaged Goods um then you may need to go deeper really look at the gut look at what else is going on in that body that’s exacerbating those symptoms is this still recommended for medicated kids so yeah that’s a really.
Good question there um my son back in the day when he was diagnosed he’s he was on three medications at once uh the doctor wanted him on a fourth medication and that’s when I said hold on this doesn’t seem right he was now only five and he was on a um yes MSG is a massive trigger for RH 1,000% um so my son was on the blood.
Pressure medication as well in tun he was also on methylphenidate and he was also on clonidine um and we started this process when he was on that um and I was able to work with his doctor to then completely remove out his medication he’s now 15 he is thriving he has not been on meds for years um and he’s doing so so well so yes a lot of the kids that.
I work with are on medication but you should always work with your doctor in terms of increasing or reducing medication I can’t advise you on that but um it is common that kids are are on medication and are able to either reduce it or get off it um based on what we find in labs and and making changes to the diet um but yes MSG is AE trigger as.
Well so you know we’ve got to start somewhere though um small slow steps uh Rome wasn’t built in a day as I always say um you know really trying to focus on those Whole Foods to really feed the body what it needs um you know MSG and those preservatives and those artificial colors can definitely exacerbate ADHD symptoms but hopefully today’s been.
Great you guys have been awesome uh you have been really engaging and I love it love coming on here um if you’ve got any questions let me know and I will talk to you all soon that’s it for today bye for now
