JJ’s Gluten Rant

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Welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show with celebrity nutrition expert, fitness hall of famer and four time New York Times best selling author JJ Virgin. JJ is a warrior mom whose knowledge and expertise have helped change hundreds of thousands of lives with over 3.5 million podcast downloads and appearances on Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, the Today Show, Rachael Ray, Larry King, Love Whoa, whoa, whoa.

This show is about you, not about me. I want to help you find practical, real world ways to dial in your health and mindset so you can finally lose that weight and feel strong and energized. Stop settling for less than your personal best. It's time to find out how to look and feel better than ever. And I'll be right here with you the whole way. All right, you know what I put down for the title for this show today? I literally put this in. I just typed this into the show notes as Gluten Rant by JJ and here's the deal. I actually did a Facebook and Instagram live on this a gosh, I don't know, a month plus ago and I was like, oh I guys, I must do a podcast on this and and now here I am. It's better late than never. This article came out from cnn. Gosh, I think maybe two months ago made me crazy because it's just misinformation that's hurtful to all of us. So today I'm gonna be doing a gluten rant and I'm gonna be debunking the CNN article gluten free diet not healthy unless you have celiac disease or non celiac gluten sensitivity. Crazy, crazy, crazy. So we're going to be yakking about that. I'm going to be breaking it down. She'll understand why this information is absolutely nothing that you want to follow. And before that, I've got to do a shout out and I'm going to do a shout out today to MZ Pops from the uk. I'm going to the UK too, by the way. I'm going to the UK this year to speak for I'm kind of fan crushing on Chris Stucker and I'm going to Go speak at his youpreneur summit. Excited. Plus I get to go to to London. How fun. So health and wellness advice that's research based. Five stars. I've lost three stones. How much is three stones? I've really got to look that up, but I've lost three stones so far. Following JJ Virgin's advice, I wasn't able to lose weight until I tried her elimination methods and discovered that dairy does me no good. The podcast compliments her advice in the books and keeps me on track. Nice to have someone look at the research and discuss health and wellness with specialists. Really appreciate the work that goes into this podcast. Amazing. Thank you. You. Yeah, I will tell you like it does take a lot of it takes an army, takes a village to put this thing together because we've got to track down the most amazing guests. One of the cool things I have are really cool friends in the biz. So we have to track them down, put these all together, sit down, record them all and then produce them, edit them, get the cool sheets together. And we always try to make super great sheets off of the podcast so you can get all the notes from the podcast. Plus I always throw in extra stuff so that you can get cool resources. So there's, you know what goes into this. So I'm super appreciate you leaving the review and if you haven't left one yet, I would love to support you and shout you out to everyone for supporting us back. So love if you would do that. And while you're there be sure to subscribe and I'm back and ready to rant. All right, here we go. So this article on CNN talked about the risks of going gluten free. So number one, a gluten free diet is not healthy unless you have celiac disease or non celiac gluten sensitivity. Now what I will share with you is that studies prove that gliadin, which is a protein found in gluten causes intestinal perme. Ready for this in all individuals regardless of whether or not they have celiac disease. By the way, we will put the blog post for this in the show notes@jjvirgin.com forward/glutenramp rant. Not ramp rant. Because there is a study that shows this. What does that really mean? If you eat gluten you get leaky gut. If you get leaky gut, you know what you get? Food intolerances. If you get food intolerances then you start to have joint pain, weight gain, food craving, cravings, fatigue, inflammation. None of the stuff that we're doing to find ultimate health so it can hurt you. And, you know, I do. I've looked at a lot of testing, and what I found in my testing is that 40% of people were showing some kind of gluten intolerance. Then I started helping hundreds of thousands of people pull gluten out of their diet. And yes, I got my butt kicked a little bit. I will tell you from the more traditional health community, they were like, you're gonna get deficient. I'm like, what are you getting deficient in? Which, by the way, we'll talk out coming up. But it's like, you'll get deficient. I'm like, deficient in exactly what. What you lose out on from pulling gluten out, you know, and when you look at a lot of the wheat now has glyphosates in it. So, I don't know. You get deficient in toxins, you're getting deficient in releasing zonulin. That gives you leaky gut. It's just craziness. So you will see this is all research, too. We'll put the research links in. Let's talk about the next one. Ready? If you eliminate gluten from your diet and then get tested for celiac disease, you run the risk of a false negative result because an accurate diagnosis requires that you consume gluten. If this occurs, you may not be aware that you actually have celiac disease. It is estimated that 70 to 85% of the population with celiac disease is undiagnosed. Now, I will tell you that I kind of started talking about, then I went sideways. Shocking, I know. But I will tell you that I've pulled gluten out of hundreds of thousands of people's diets. And it is rare that anyone ever tells me after they pull gluten out and really pull it out, get it out 100% for at least three weeks. That's the minimum. But once they do that, I just don't hear people say, oh, you know what? I start eating gluten again and I feel fabulous. I just never hear it. All of a sudden people say, oh, you know what I mean? Eating gluten, I'm tired, my joints ache, you know, I feel bloated. I never hear someone say, I'm eating gluten. It makes me feel good. I just don't. So here are some of the information from that you can actually find evidence of celiac based damage to your gut and antibodies in your bloodstream after going gluten free. Because the damage that's been done in most patients with celiac disease has been done over a period of years. And let's be real. The notion that you should keep hurting yourself so you can figure out there's something wrong is like saying, I know you have a broken arm, but I'm not going to cast it because I want to be sure you keep hurting your arm so you know it's broken. I mean, it just makes no sense at all. But I know this to be true because I had a client way back one when I used to see people one on one, and she came in, and she was a dancer, and she was stuffing her face with. I mean, she was eating so much food, and she was emaciated, and everyone thought she was lying, and she was anorexic. And so I looked at all of this, and she had celiac disease. That's kind of one of the hallmarks of it. So we pulled the gluten out of her diet, and she got totally stable in her weight, looked great. And then she went to her traditional doctor who wanted her start eating gluten so that she could confirm it. I'm like, are you ever going to eat gluten again? She goes, no. I go, what's. What's the reason? Then we don't need to confirm anything. It's out of your diet. You already know that when you eat it, it hurts you. All right, here we go. Next one. If you don't know that you have celiac disease, you won't follow the diet as strictly as you may need to in order for the intestinal lining to be to completely heal and prevent complications such as anemia, osteoporosis, and lymphoma. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't like to underestimate people's ability to think for themselves. If you know the dangers of gluten or if gluten makes you feel terrible, I think that you're pretty much pretty smart. You'll probably stay away from it. That's a key thing here if you know you've pulled gluten out of the diet. So in the virgin diet, I had people take gluten out along with the other high fi foods and then give their body time to re. You know, to rebalance, to detox from those foods, to reduce inflammation, to start to feel what really feeling normal feels like to heal the gut. Then you go back and you try a little, and then you go, wow, I feel crappy when I eat this. You will not go back. Like, if you know, something makes you feel rotten when you eat it, why would you eat it?

Next one.

Are you getting like this? This article really made me mad because it was like, how can you be saying this stuff? Cnn. Okay. If you unnecessarily cut out gluten, you may also be risking nutrient deficiencies. Gluten free substitutes, if based on rice or tapioca, can be lower in fiber than their traditional counterparts and may not be fortified with B vitamins or iron. Heavy sigh. All right, Cutting out gluten doesn't put you at risk for nutrient, nutrient deficiencies if you're eating a healthy diet. If you're not consuming a healthy diet, eating gluten still isn't going to fix that. If you're depending on whole wheat bread so that you get enough vitamins and fiber, then you are, you know, you're making yourself so sick and overweight. That doesn't even bear mentioning. If you're eating healthy greens and other non starchy vegetables, slow, low carbs, healthy fats and clean lean protein, the amount you should be, then nothing with gluten in it is going to be contributing to your dietary needs. So, you know, the idea that we should be eating wheat bread because it's fortified with vitamins and so we can get our fiber is just, it's just craziness. Again. Eat a balanced diet and a virgin diet called eating by the plate. Loads of non starchy vegetables from the rainbow. Slow, low carbs like wild rice and squash and sweet potato and beans. Good clean protein, wild fish, grass fed beef, pasture chicken, healthy fats, avocado, raw nuts and seeds. You get the idea. You're getting what you need. Okay, next one. Gluten free products may be just as caloric as their gluten containing counterparts. Well, that's true. And here's the thing. All right, I'll give you this one. I will concede this point, cnn, but the deal is gluten free products are garbage. Like, I am not a fan of all this gluten free. I call it gluten free junk food. Like, what makes me crazy is you've got people who weren't eating, you know, cookies and cake before, and then all of a sudden they're like, it's gluten free. I'm like, just because it's gluten free doesn't mean it's okay. So that does not make it okay. And so we don't want to get people jumping on that kind of bandwagon. So totally agree that. Absolutely. 100% okay, next one. We're getting there, guys.

So breathe.

I'm breathing. We're all. We're all breathing. But I just don't want you to have looked at that article and went, oh, okay, I should start eating gluten again. Oh, my go. Saving you from that fate. Although I know you're smarter than that. Okay. Cutting out gluten can also prevent you from getting to the root of a problem. For example, people may may feel better, better cutting out wheat, but that's because they're sensitive to other components of wheat known as fructans, not gluten specifically. This is why I created the virgin diet. It walks you through testing foods one at a time to figure out which foods work for you and which foods don't. It doesn't mean it's okay to have gluten because another food may be bothering you. You know, it's like in the analogy above, if you both sprain your arm and break it, the cast will still help you with sprain. If you suspect that other foods might be bothering you, you can still go on to test those foods separately to create your long term customized plan. But remember, gluten makes your gut leaky. Gluten increases intestinal permeability. If you've got that, you will create a situation where more foods will hurt you. You will become more intolerant to a wider variety of foods. Okay, final one. Adhering to a gluten free diet can be socially challenging. Oh, my gosh. Determining the real culprits for your digestive issues may help you enjoy more foods rather than eliminating suspected sources of discomfort that really aren't the true problem. All right, you know what's socially challenging? Lupus autoimmune disease. And you know, when you eat gluten, you put yourself at a high risk for leaky gut, which has been proven to cause autoimmune disease. You know any? I'll put some resources in here for my buddy, Dr. Tom O'. Brien. And also when I did the podcast with Dr. Sarah Ballantine on the AIP protocol, and they talk at length about gluten, how gluten can impact autoimmune disease. Dr. Tom O' Brien wrote the book on it. And so here's the difference. Is it socially awkward to ask for gluten free zoodles? I mean, really? And nowadays, actually, I think you're even cooler when you go gluten free. Right. The other thing I want to just do a little shout out for is I did build a product. Now, this isn't like, I have celiac and I'm gonna go eat wheat bread with this product. That's not the point of it. But what I did put together is a product that helps break down gluten, break down dairy, break down eggs, and break down soy.

Why?

Because those are the four of the top high food and tolerance foods that I found. And what I wanted to make sure of is that when you are out eating, that you have something with you to protect you in case, you know, you have any contamination. So that product's called safety net. I put that together for when I travel because I travel a good half the time and I take that with me so I'm never stuck. It's my little safety net to protect me because sometimes mistakes happen. Okay, now, after the break, I'll be answering a listener's question, so stay with me. Me.

Hey, J.J. virgin here. Okay, real talk. So often the holidays sneak up on me. Travel gifts, hosting, you know, all the things. And suddenly it's like, wait, who spent what and where? And I know I'm not the only one who's looked at a bill in January and thought, wow, that escalated quickly. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface. On your laptop or on your phone. Monarch lets you link everything and gives you real time visibility so you're not shocked later. Right now, I've been checking the holiday spending category so I don't accidentally start the new year with that dreaded debt hangover. And honestly, just seeing everything laid out is already helping me stay more aware. This season, Monarch does the heavy lifting. It links your accounts in minutes, gives you smart categorization and super clear visuals. Yes, that end of year reset could be a real goal this time. Don't let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monimal.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with the code Virgin, saving on your education should be a right, not a competition.

At University of Phoenix, you'll get the best scholarship or savings you qualify for. Simple as that. Explore scholarship options at University of Phoenix. Welcome back. This is the time where I answer a listener's question. Now, before I do that, I want to remind you that you can pick up the show notes from today. And I've got Some great links over to my buddies, Dr. Tom O' Brien and Dr. Sarah and Ballantyne and some of the podcasts and info we got from them. You can get that@jjvirgin.com forward slash gluten rant. And to continue the rant this came in. And honestly, I get asked this so frequently in my social media when I'm doing my lives on Facebook @jj virgin official and on Instagram @jj virgin. I get asked about gluten free products all the time. And you know, one of the recent ones from Ashley was how about those gluten free breads, which ones are okay to use? Here's the thing. When I wrote the sugar impact diet, it was very clear when you start to look at the impact of processed grains is they just kick up your blood sugar. And so just because something's gluten free doesn't make it okay. You know, I wasn't eating bread before, don't start eating bread now. So I want you to be careful with that. The best gluten free products are ones that don't need to say gluten free. That would be things like avocado and wild salmon and almonds. Right? So you know, just because you're now gluten free, don't go hunting out there for gluten free cookies and cake and all that stuff. It's junk food, it's processed. But if you are looking things, looking for some things. I've been really loving siete foods, cassava and coconut tortillas. So that's one that I will use. But I want you to be careful with what my buddy Dr. Alan Christensen calls the dry carbs. In fact, he did a really great distinction. We were doing a, a Facebook live I think on this and he was talking about wet carbs versus dry carbs. Wet carbs are things like wild rice or oatmeal. And you want to get, by the way, gluten free, certified gluten free oatmeal because they process it in the same plant as other as gluten containing grains. But it would be oatmeal and beans and things that have water in them versus things like chips and cereal. And what he talks about is how you know chips and cereal. I know for me they are a big trigger. But the, the wet foods you just tend to eat slow and you don't overeat on. So that's one of the things I want you to think of and I also want you look at will these things hijack my blood sugar. So a lot of these gluten con gluten free grains that they ground into flours still are going to create a big hijack on your blood sugar. So I prefer to do like if I'm doing pasta, you can do shirataki noodles, you can do spaghetti squash, you can do zoodles, or I do lentil or black bean pasta. If I'm doing tortillas, I tend to do look for more of the coconut ones. You can do almond ones. If I'm using flours, I use almond and coconut flour. That's what I like to go over to do. And chips are just very hard for me because I tend to lose my mind on them. I will be absolutely honest. So my rule of thumb on any of those is just to use a little bit of a crunch on salad as a crouton and try to stay away from that. All right, Hope that helps. If you haven't jumped in and reviewed the show yet, I'd love to shout you out. Just go jump on over to itunes, leave a review, and while you're there, be sure to subscribe and I will see you next time. Bye.

That's all for this episode of the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show, which marks another step towards a healthier body and mind. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show and we'll talk to you next week.

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