The Gluten-Free Trap with Peter Osborne

Hey JJ here. Every year around this time, I get the urge to make my home feel a little extra special. A space that feels just like the holidays. And Wayfair is my go to for that. Think cozy textures, twinkly decor, warm lighting, and all those little touches that make you want to curl up with a good book and a blanket. You'll usually find my books stacked on a great little end table I got from Wayfair, proof that function and style can coexist. Now, whether you're adding last minute hosting essentials, picking out gifts from loved ones, or refreshing your decor for the season, Wayfair makes it easy with beautiful finds, great prices and fast delivery. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Plus, with free shipping for any order over $35, that's fast delivery and a total peace of mind. It's the perfect mix of joy and order, bringing the holiday spirit in, then storing it all with ease. If you're ready to make your home feel as good as it looks, get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style, every home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com hey, it's JJ here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything. They just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family's sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on.

Your first order with Venmo Stache. A taco in one hand and ordering a ride in the other means you're stacking cash back.

Nice.

Get up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash on your favorite brands when you pay with your Venmo debit card. From takeout to ride shares, entertainment and more, pick a bundle with your go tos and start earning cash back at those brands. Earn more cash when you do more with Stash. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply. Max $100 cash back per month. See terms at Venmo Me Stashterms.

Hey, it's JJ Virgin and welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show where we'll connect with some of the coolest people in the world. Plus, I give you tips that you can put into fast action to uplevel your health and your life. Now today's show is all about going beyond gluten. It's pain in the grain. And I'm going to introduce one of my longtime friends here who's going to share some new terms you may not have heard about. Grain inflammation and grain BC and gluten muscle wasting cycles. Oh my gosh. So we're going to talk about what the challenge is with corn, why corn is not a good alternative to gluten, and more importantly, what these things are doing for you. Plus we've got a special cool gift that can help you turn this around quickly. So let me tell you a little bit about our guest today. He's been a guest in the past. He's amazing. His name is Dr. Peter Osborne. He is out of Sugarland, Texas. He's a doctor of chiropractic boardside, certified clinical nutritionist and the advisor for Functional Medicine University. He is just brilliant. He has an amazing clinic out in Sugarland, Texas. I got to go to the opening of it. They had amazing, amazing food there. So you can absolutely eat this way as you know being in my community and not sacrifice one bit. In fact, you'll even eat healthier than you thought you could and love it. And let me tell you a little bit more. He is the author of no Grain, no Pain and this is out now in paperback. You will want to definitely grab this book. He is loaded with amazing information and of course the easy things that you can do to put this into place, which is super important. And he is also one of the top experts out there and not just gluten but also Grain sensitivity. So that is the bigger thing here, is that we're going to go beyond just gluten in this conversation and we're going to start talking about all grains and how they can be an issue and kind of really bombard corn. All right, so Today's guest is Dr. Peter Osborne. All right, let's do it. Dr. Peter Osborne, welcome to the show. I am so glad you're here with me today.

Super excited, jj, thanks so much for having me on.

Oh, yeah, Well, I love, I love how you've gone beyond gluten and that's why this is such a great topic. Because, you know, gluten free went everywhere and people started, started getting gluten out, but I think they actually got themselves in even bigger trouble with a lot of this gluten free stuff out there. So let's dig in because we're going to talk not just about gluten today, but also about grains. But I want to back it up a little bit and give an overarching concept, and that is about autoimmune disease because. And let's talk about the connection there and what you're seeing with that in your practice.

Yeah. So in practice, we're seeing a huge connection primarily between grain consumption and all forms of autoimmune disease, none spared, including things like Hashimoto's and Graves disease and autoimmune hepatitis or liver disease. So where people go wrong with this traditional gluten free diet is they is they've heard, you know, going gluten free can be a healthy option or can be a healthier option. But most of the gluten free foods are very, very heavy grain based corn, rice, sorghum substitutes. And what we're finding is, in a study came out in 2012, part of, part of. I included it in my book. But corn gluten is actually equally detrimental as wheat gluten to people with gluten sensitivity issues. So it actually interacts with the same genetic receptor on the surface of our cells to promote an inflammation response to that helps to trigger autoimmune disease. And it does so more aggressively than wheat gluten does. But so many gluten free products contain corn that people are developing this gluten free whiplash syndrome where when they go gluten free, they feel better, but they then they gravitate toward all these products that are supposed to be gluten free and then they start getting sick again because they're just shoveling in a different kind of gluten and it creates the Same kind of an inflammatory response.

And don't you find that like in any type of diet, whether it's paleo, vegan, gluten free, they're always. The junk food component always shows up. You know, it's like I see these paleo treats, I'm like, come on guys.

You know, it's the convenience is king mentality. Right. People want it quick, fast and easy.

Yeah. And I love your description of corn because, you know, I. There's so many reasons corn's problematic, but I have been noticing they've been sneaking it into so many things as this gluten free alternative. So the best gluten free alternatives don't need to say gluten free because they just wouldn't be like, you know, an avocado, for example.

Right.

Some salmon, it's gluten free. So let's talk about grain, because I love these words that you've created. Your grain inflammation and grainbeastity that you talk about in your book no grain, no pain. So what do you, what are you talking about there, Peter?

So, yeah, grain formation starts when, when you eat grain there a lot of people are hyper focused on gluten, but there were five new families of proteins discovered in grain, not just gluten. One of them in particular is a family of proteins called ATIs, amylase, trypsin inhibitors. And what these proteins do is they rip holes in your gut and they are distinctly different than gluten and they're found in grain. And so even if you're not gluten sensitive and you're eating grain as a primary staple food, these proteins still can cause leaky gut, can tear holes in your gut. They also shut off your pancreas, so they shut down your pancreas ability to produce digestive enzymes. So a lot of the food that you eat stays undigested in your gut and it putrefies, it rots. And as it's doing that in your gut, it's feeding the wrong kinds of bacteria, allowing for yeast overgrowth, allowing for bacterial imbalances that then also cause inflammatory problems and immune system problems. So you've got those family of proteins that are not even gluten. Then you've got other aspects of grain and grain based foods. One of them is, and I'm gonna use rice as an example here because a lot of people will also gravitate toward rice as a gluten free alternative. But rice has been shown to be found heavy in cadmium and arsenic. These are heavy metals that cause a severe inflammatory response they can lead to neurotoxicity, they can shut down thyroid hormone production. So not healthy to eat as a staple food in the diet. So you've got, you've got heavy metals, you've got proteins that are non gluten proteins. But. And one of the bigger things you've got is genetic manipulation, and you've got genetic manipulation of the grain itself. In cases like corn is a perfect example. There are a couple of genetically modified varieties of corn that are designed to produce their own pesticides so that when the corn is growing and the pests land on it, the corn actually in the field has a genetic trait that allows it to kill bugs. And when we eat that, we don't confer that same genetic trait to our DNA, but the bacteria that live inside of our guts do. And so the bacteria can incorporate this genetically modified DNA and that can cause our gut to become a mini pesticide factory. So the longer we eat it, the more and more our own gut bugs start to make pesticides, and it can make us sicker and sicker, and then you have the pesticides themselves. So if you look at a number of different grain based crops, they're sprayed with a chemical called Roundup. Roundup is known to disrupt the thyroid. It's known to cause leaky gut, contribute to cancer. There's another chemical pesticide commonly used on grains called atrazine. It's an herbicide, and what it does, it mimics estrogen. So in men, it causes testosterone deficiencies and symptoms of low testosterone. In women, it causes hyper estrogenism and it increases their risk of cancers and other forms of inflammation. But ultimately. So that's grain inflammation, right? All those things are grain based properties that can lead to grain inflammation or inflammation as a result of eating it. But then you have grainbecity, which is when you're inflamed, it creates a hormonal shift. We make more cortisol, we make more insulin, and these hormones put us into fat storage mode. So here we are, we're inflamed, our hormones have shifted into fat storage mode. We start gaining weight, and as you know, jj, what happens to a person who starts gaining weight? Maybe they go try to exercise, but they're so inflamed, they can't even tolerate the exercise. They're prone to injury. So they start an exercise program and their muscles get so sore, they hurt their joints because of the inflammation. And so now they're inflamed, they're becoming heavier. They try to exercise, it injures them, it prevents them from doing further exercise and we get stuck in this vicious, vicious cycle of, of grain inflammation causing grain besity.

Yeah, that's a great description. Of course, of course the next thing you'd throw in there is then they're going to take NSAIDs, right, just to compound the whole problem and make their gut leakier and get more inflamed. And it just goes on and on and on. So someone listening to this, it's pretty clear that what you want to do here is shift these things out of your diet. Now I know the next question, question people probably come up with, Peter, is okay, so what do I eat? And again, I saw the big pitfalls as I was working with the virgin diet is all of a sudden you, you tell people to pull gluten out, you tell people to pull corn out, and then they somehow managed to find other bad things. So what are your big advices and what are you seeing as big pitfalls as people try to step into this grain free living?

I'd say the biggest pitfall is the fear of the learning curve. A lot of people, if their pain is so great or their disease is so great that it' greater than the pain of making a diet change or a lifestyle change, then it's actually an easy task. But There is this 10 to 12 week learning curve where they're trying to figure out what they like. But there's lots of food options. Because if you look at it in reality, if we're eating a grain loaded diet, a heavy grain based diet, we're pretty much eating the same four or five foods shaped in different forms, right? Like cereal is grain, bagels, bread, pasta, pizza, all that's grain, right? So they're just eating grain in different shapes. There's really no variety in that. But if you go to a grain free diet, you have the option of hundreds of different fruits, vegetables, nuts, different varieties of meat. So there's all these options. It's just a matter of exploring them and opening up your palate and kind of discerning what it is that you like versus what it is you don't like and making it a part of your daily basis.

I'm glad you brought that up though, because what I hear from so many people is they go, oh my gosh, there's nothing to eat. And I feel like I'm so restricted and I'm like going, but every day you eat the same, the same four things every single day, you know, and now we're giving you this broad, broad, you know, variety of foods to choose from. So I think that's. We just are creatures of habit. And once you shift your habits, what I hear from people is they like the new foods better. So it's just about learning what things you can swap. Now you've got another cool term I love and it's gluten muscle wasting cycle. What the heck is that? Sounds awful.

Yeah, so part of, part of that inflammatory shift from gluten and gluten directly can cause this, but other things in grain can too. It causes a shift in cortisol. Cortisol is a. It's a hormone made by our adrenal glands. But one of the things that happens with cortisol, with a hyper excretion of cortisol is water retention. And if you ever seen anybody get injected with a steroid or take an oral steroid, their face gets really puffy, they put on weight, they gain a lot of water with that process. So it's that chronic cortisol activation that turns on water retention and starts to turn on weight gain. And one of the other ways cortisol works is it's a catabolic hormone. So it actually too much cortisol over time causes deterioration of muscle tissue. So now you're gaining weight, your muscles are deteriorating and that means your frame has to hold more with less. In other words, you have to hold that frame up with less muscle. Right. So your body fat composition goes up and the muscle you do have becomes more and more marbleized, weaker and weaker, shorter and shorter. Shorter muscles cause joint compression and muscular tightness. Couple that with the average person's sedentary lifestyle. Right. And you've got tight muscles that are weaker, that are shorter, that are inflamed. And you've got water retention on top of that, coupled with a sedentary diet and you've got gluten muscle wasting. And that, that in and of itself is self feeding. Because like you said, you mentioned earlier, what most people want to do is they want to exercise that away. You can't exercise that hormone change away. Diet change is the only thing that fixes that. But when you try to exercise it away, you're in so much pain that you end up popping non steroidal anti inflammatories or if that fails, you go to the steroids.

Yeah. And let's talk about why those are problematic. I know there's been a lot of news out about these, but let's. I just want people to really understand that it's not benign to pop a couple Advil.

Yeah. So the Nonsteroidals. So the Advil, the Ibuprofen, even the aspirin or Naproxen or Mobic or Celebrex, these medications have been shown at very low doses, even in single doses. So not even taking it chronically. But in single low doses they have been shown to cause gastric and intestinal ulceration and bleeding. So imagine taking it one day. Maybe you have a little bit of ulceration, not full on ulcer, but a little bit of gastric mucosal bleeding. Now you multiply that two times a week, five times a week. Now you go a year, now you go two years. And it's just stripping away the mucosal lining of the GI tract. And that opens us up to damage. It opens us up that first of all, that internal bleeding like that can contribute to occult blood loss because you don't necessarily see it coming out in your poop. And as you're losing blood internally now you become iron deficient. So now you develop anemia. Anemia causes severe brain fog and fatigue and lethargy, lack of energy. So you don't want to exercise. So now you've, you're taking this medication to block the pain so that you can exercise. And in the process you're creating an iron deficiency anemia that makes you tired and have brain fog all the time. But these medications can also interfere with vitamin C metabolism. Now, vitamin C, think about what vitamin C does. One of its main functions in the body is it's adrenal gland food. So it feeds the adrenal glands. And so where does cortisol come from? Our own natural ability to fight inflammation comes from our own adrenal glands. And so if we're taking a medicine to fight inflammation that destroys our body's ability to create the hormone that fights inflammation naturally, then we become longer and longer dependent upon that medication and we get stuck in that trap. And the second stage of that is the steroid. And thenand ifthe doctor then says, okay, the nonsteroidals aren't working, let's put you on a steroid. More weight gain comes from that, hormonal disruption comes from that vitamin D and calcium deficiency and bone loss and joint integrity loss starts to happen with long term steroid use. So like the corticosteroids, the prednisone or the cortisol that some people are even just taking two and a half or five milligrams of cortisol, those types of drugs taken long term can really, really disrupt hormones and make it impossible to lose Weight.

All right, now, everybody hearing who might be freaking out a little bit, here is the good news about all of this, is that you can change this by changing what's the end of your fork. The challenge is we're going after a problem that's been created by our diet the wrong way. We're not changing our diet. So you change your diet, your body can heal. So that's the good news. And I know we have something from you to help everyone do that. But before we go there, Peter, I just want to throw a curveball at you. So what's the one thing you do every day that makes the biggest difference in your life?

I love crossfitting. So I'm an aggressive exerciser, probably more aggressive than what the average person needs to be. But I find joy, and it's very fulfilling for me as an individual. So that's part of why I do it. I have a community that I like to work out with. I have a lot of my friends and people who have the same kind of mentality about diet and lifestyle that I can go hang out with every day. So there's a. If you think about it, there's kind of a mental or emotional benefit to it for me in that way. Then there's this physical benefit, obviously, with the exercise itself, but it's also an escape, because when you exercise intently, you tend to let all your problems and everything else kind of fall to the wayside. So it's almost like a meditative state that you can get in after. After a nice exercise.

It is a total meditative state. I think it's like, I'm an active meditator. I've just come to that conclusion. That's how I do it. And I love that you pointed out about the community, because when people ask me, well, how do you make sure that once you've gotten in shape, you stay in shape? I say, you know, you hang out with fitter friends. That's it, right?

Yep. You are hang out with. Right.

I'd love to see if there's anyone fitter than you, though. You're, like, ridiculously great shape. So I want to let everyone know that you have something super cool to help them with all the stuff you just brought up. We have the solution because we just, like, introduced a big problem. But fortunately, we have a really cool gift for everyone, and you can get it at jjvirgin.com forward slash Peter. Of course, that will be in the show notes. So tell us about this guide that you're giving everyone.

Yeah, so it's about a 60 page guide. It's, it's quite extensive. It's on leaky gut solutions. And so there are a lot of different reasons we can develop leaky gut. There's actually, I think to date, 13 known validated scientific causes why leaky gut can happen. And so what we do in this ebook is we kind of go through those different things and teach you how to avoid the pitfalls of the causes per se and actually how to identify where some of them might be coming from that you're not even aware of.

Awesome. So again, you can grab that. Jjvirgin.com Peter, you definitely want that. Again, I've been focusing so much over the last couple years on just making some simple swaps and you're going to find as you do this, that's way easier than you realized and that you can actually eat a lot more, more delicious stuff and that a lot of these things that you've been hearing about that are just because you're getting older go away quickly. And I'm sure you've got tons of stories of those. So thank you so much for joining me. Dr. Peter Osborne, always a pleasure. Love your information. And after, after the break, I'm going to be answering a listener's question, so stay with me.

One of the number one reasons people have food intolerances is due to a leaky gut. But when taking out the offending foods and replacing them with healing foods isn't working fast enough for you, what can you do? This is where JJ Virgin's Leaky Gut Support Formula comes in. This blend of therapeutic nutrients promotes proper intestinal function, helps heal heal ulcers, reduces inflammation, and supports regular bowel function. If you're struggling with gas and bloating, food intolerance, or any other digestive unrest, visit jjvirgin.comproducts today and give JJ's leaky gut support a try.

Welcome back. This is the time where I answer a listener's question and I always like to do ones that are relevant to the topic at hand. Of course, I get asked loads of questions on gluten. Most of them are like, what can I eat? Now, this one comes from Carrie in Chicago. She says, jj, I get it. I'm pulling out the gluten, I'm pulling out the corn. But what can I eat to get in my slow, low carbs? Now I'm going to encourage you to go over to both the Sugar Impact diet. The Sugar Impact diet. I've got great slow, low impact carbs and the virgin diet. And I make a Lot of lists here of things that you can eat, but let me give you just a couple examples of some great slow, low carbs. And again, this is all depending on what you're able to eat and what you're intolerant to or not. And whether you follow vegan or paleo or anywhere in between. I happen to like wild rice because it's a grass, not a grain. So I will do wild rice. You might have seen me do a Facebook Live with Dr. Alan Christensen where we are cooking real Minnesota wild rice. I also love squash. I think this is one of the best things that you can do. Or these winter squashes are amazing. Tomatoes are another great one. Legumes, if you are not paleo or sensitive to them. And sweet potatoes and yams. And then of course, all the different fruits. The slow sugar impact foods, especially like berries are all other options out there. And beets are another one. So there's actually a lot of different options out there, a lot of the different root vegetables. And that's the biggest takeaway from all of this, is we tend to look at what we're giving up instead of what we're getting. And when you start to look at all of the different options out there, you realize that we eat the same things every single day. And it's really about just learning easier, better options that you can have in place of those things. And once you get those dialed in, you'll realize that not only is this easy and you're probably saving money, but you'll be blown away about how differently you feel, how your bloating goes away, how your pain goes away, and how your focus improves. So it's well worth it. And again, if you grab either the Virgin Diet or the Sugar Impact Diet, you're going to find that I have great lists in there of all of these different options. And it's really about making those swaps, just making those simple shifts that have a big impact in your life. Remember those little hinges swing the big door, so you just make those little shifts. You'll turn around and go, wow, I'm losing weight. I'm feeling great.

And.

And I actually like what I'm eating now. Even better. What a win. Now, if you'd like to submit a question, just head over to my Facebook page at JJ Virgin Official. And also I have a favorite ask here. I would so appreciate if you could jump on Stitcher or itunes and leave a review for me. It helps a bunch. And while you're there, share it, subscribe it, subscribe to it, and share with your pals. Thank you so much in advance for all that. It does make a huge difference. This is JJ Virgin signing off and reminding you to live courageously. Show up, step up. You are stronger than you think.

Hello listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week I tag all things books and Reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a fraud page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.