“IT’S a diet for life – there is no cure,” said Lucille Cholerton, a nutrition counsellor who specialises in gluten sensitivity and coeliac disease, at a presentation at the Kloof Methodist Church on Saturday, May 13 entitled, ‘Gluten and Autoimmune Disorder Links’.
In speaking about no cure, Cholerton was referring to those who are intolerant or sensitive to gluten or who suffer from coeliac disease, and how she believed they should never eat gluten again. Gluten is a protein found in four types of grain: wheat, rye, barley and oats. Because wheat is used frequently in processed foods today, there are many things a gluten-sensitive individual should cut out of their diet.
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Besides multiple other problems, Cholerton said she suffered from rheumatoid arthritis in her 40s and was desperate for a cure for all her ailments. When she heard that gluten could cause autoimmune responses in the body and she cut it out for two weeks, she said she was surprised at how much better she felt. Not totally sure if it was the answer, upon instructions from a dietitian, she introduced it back into her diet. She said she felt awful, and from then on, never touched it again. Not only that, but she studied up on its harmful effects and has been presenting them to the public.
“Symptoms from gluten are not always gastric. Coeliac disease is the end-stage of gluten sensitivity, and it has been affecting your body long before that, before you develop coeliac disease. So, it’s advisable that if you have any gluten symptoms, you cut it out completely as it can build up in the body and cause untold harm.
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“Of about 88 autoimmune diseases recognised worldwide, 40 of them have been linked to gluten in research studies. When your body is sensitive to gluten, the T cells (white blood cells) multiply to fight what it considers an invader. The problem is they become out of control and attack not only the gluten protein but our body’s tissues (which are also proteins), causing autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune disorders are reversible. I reversed my autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis within four and a half months.”
Soon after her health improvement, Cholerton started a support group in 1995. With twenty years of research under her belt and years of helping people who came to her for advice, she wrote the book, Spotlight on Gluten, published in 2012.
Cholerton offers consultations, and you can read her detailed and comprehensive book or the information on her website. Contact her via her website: https://glutenfree4life.org/ or email her at lucille.c@ledom.co.za. She will be at the Kloof Methodist Church on July 29.
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