You Can Still Eat Pizza with a Thyroid Disorder, Under One Condition
Many thyroid patients struggle staying healthy because they find eating “clean” to be difficult. The two most common foods patients miss, and cheat on, are dairy and wheat.
I understand completely, as I grew up in South Carolina drinking a huge glass of milk with every meal (2-3x a day) and I love PIZZA!
After realizing I was lactose intolerant and that wheat caused me joint pain, I gave up a lot of foods I loved. But, I miss PIZZA!
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
In my studies, I learned and saw research that the wheat in Italy is ok to eat if you have a gluten allergy/reaction. Why? Because the wheat is not modified in Italy the way it is modified in the states.
In order to understand GMO (genetically modified organisms), let me tell you about Monsanto and Roundup.
Supply and demand for crops has brought in companies, like Monsanto and Dow Chemical, to spread poisons, like Roundup and Enlist. Now, the good before the bad.
It is quite true that because of these companies, billions have been provided food that might otherwise have starved. Keep in mind, supply and demand.
So why are these poisons so bad? Herbicides kill weeds, allowing a crop plant to grow without having to compete for water and nutrients with other plant (weed) species. Insecticides prevent invasive insects (pests) from destroying the crops, yielding a greater return.
Enter the genetically modified organisms! GMOs were created by inserting foreign genes into plants, with the goal of making the plant produce more of its own, natural, insecticides or produce resistance to Roundup. The theory was that Roundup would be used to kill weeds that surrounded the GMO plant, thus allowing the GMO plant to grow and survive. This seemed logical at the time.
However, there were no long-term studies that showed the effect of these poisons on the human body, only short term studies that “showed” the poisons were safe. The FDA allowed Monsanto to sell Roundup.
Why is there an issue with GMOs?
GMO plants produce proteins and/or lectins that our immune system recognizes as foreign, causing inflammation when we eat them. Inflammation is the true destroyer. Essentially, we are eating foods that come from plants that our body doesn’t recognize as food anymore = inflammation.
These different biocides have introduced powerful poisons into our systems from the food we eat, even the produce we touch, and sadly, the animals that produce or meats. The Roundup, glycophosphate, remains on the foods we eat, and the grains/beans that are fed to livestock in feed lots, pushing the poisons into the animals’ fat, meat and milk. Almost all grains/beans fed to livestock are GMOs.
The altered genes have not only been found in the animals’ meat, but also in the nursing mothers and the umbilical cord blood of their infants.
On top of that, the Roundup is also used to harvest almost all non-GMO grains and beans as well. Meaning, you consume the Roundup directly from eating your “healthy foods”.
This is why in the United States a majority of wheat and plants are considered GMO.
Not in Italy
In Italy, Monsanto was not allowed to infest their grain pool. Thus, the wheat in Italy has not been modified, and if you eat it, your body recognizes it as real food still, and inflammation does not occur!!!
So, you can go to Italy and eat all the pasta you want without having any gluten reactions! How freaking cool is that.
It gets even better!!!
The breed of cows in Europe is different from what we have here in the United States.
According to Dr. Steven Gundry, MD, about 2,000 years ago a spontaneous mutation occurred in Northern European cows, causing them to make the protein casein A-1 in their milk instead of the normal casein A-2.
During digestion, the casein A-1 turns into a lectin-like protein (keep in mind, gluten is a lectin), called beta-casomorphin, and attaches to the pancreas’s insulin-producing cells prompting an immune attack on the pancreas. For those consuming milk or cheeses from these cows, this is considered one of the causes of Type 1 Diabetes.
Southern European cows continue to produce A-2, but since A-1 cows are hardier and produce more milk, farmers prefer them over the A-2 cows. The most common breed of cow worldwide is the Holstein, whose milk contains this A-1 casein.
In Italy, the A-2 producing cows, known as Guernsey, along with Brown Swiss and Belgian Blues, are predominantly used for milk and cheese.
This is why those that can’t break down the A-1 casein protein can still eat cheese or drink milk from Italy (or Switzerland and Belgian).
Neapolitan Certified Pizza
Neapolitan pizza, or pizza Napoletana, is a type of pizza that originated in Naples, Italy. Neapolitan pizza is prepared with simple and fresh ingredients: basic dough, raw tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and olive oil.
The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN) was founded in 1984 in Naples, Italy to certify pizzerias that use the proper ancient artisan traditions of authentic Neapolitan pizza. They have several requirements that must be met to gain certification, which must be applied for by a restaurant.
Part of those requirements involve the type of ingredients we have been discussing (Italian flour and A-2 dairy). This is why if you visit a Neapolitan Certified Pizzeria, and you have a dairy/gluten allergy, you may still be able to enjoy the pizza.
Neapolitan style pizzerias are now popping up in more and more places. However, make sure, make sure, make sure, they are Neapolitan certified. Look for the sign below to be rest-assured that your pizzeria is certified…
Now, go and enjoy some pizza!!!
