You’ve done your part. You emptied the cupboards, read all the labels at the supermarket and waved farewell to your beloved bread. You’ve made the decision to become a g-free but weeks or months later you still feel foggy, bloated, or just off.

You’re not the only one with this situation in your mind, and you didn’t fail.

Taking the first step towards a gluten-free diet is a valuable step. For many, though, eliminating gluten isn’t enough for their symptoms to improve. It isn’t for the fact that the approach is incorrect. It’s because the gluten free alternative is just part of a much larger story.

The post below goes through five of the most frequent reasons a gluten-free diet isn’t working – and how a more individualized, root-cause diet plan might be different.

Reason 1: You’re Still Eating Gluten Without Realizing It

This is the most common and most frustrating complaint by those following a gluten-free diet – and it’s not because they haven’t; they are convinced that they have.

Gluten can be lurking where you wouldn’t expect it, including soy sauce, salad dressings, some oat supplies, pre-marinated meats, deli meats, soups, and even some supplements and medicines. Another significant problem is that of cross-contact. Gluten contamination is readily transferred to cooked gluten free food if the preparation surfaces are the same – same cutting board, same toaster, same cooking water.

What to do instead: Conduct an ingredient audit, not only as a way of eliminating wheat products. Check all condiments, spices, package broths, sauces. For those who dine out frequently, even those marked ‘gluten-free menu’ are cooked in communal kitchens. A comprehensive lifestyle review by a Wellness Coach can help uncover those hidden sources you may be overlooking.

Reason 2: Gluten-Free Processed Foods Are Still Processed Foods

In the last ten years, the gluten-free food industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Just browse any grocery store and you’ll see gluten-free options for almost everything – crackers, pasta, cookies, pizza, bread, granola bars and more. Convenient? Absolutely. However, many of these come with a host of their own issues due to the use of refined starches, added sugars, and fillers.

People who switch to a gluten-free diet for processed food tend to notice a difference in their bodies at the start, and then get stuck. The bloating returns. The fatigue lingers. Brain fog is not completely resolved. As the label claims gluten-free, they assume that’s not the problem.

It’s not gluten that’s the issue. The issue is the entire food and the quality.

Gluten-free alternatives based on tapioca starch, rice flour, and corn syrup are not the same as naturally gluten-free options, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, and meats, when it comes to maintaining a healthy gut. They can even cause disruptions in digestion, cause imbalances in the gut and maintain a low-grade stress level in the body.

What to try instead: Do focus less on packaged gluten-free food and more on naturally gluten free foods – vegetables, quality proteins, healthy fats, legumes and whole grains such as quinoa, rice, in their natural state. This one change will make a world of difference to most of those who have been bogged down.

Reason 3: Your Gut Is Still Out of Balance

Believe it or not, removing gluten from the diet does not fix the gut environment that was damaged by it. Eating foods that are not easily digested for years can cause long-term issues with your digestive system, as well as with absorbing nutrients and with having normal digestion and bowel movements.

Some people still have bloating after eating, stomach discomfort, fatigue from eating, or other stomach issues after eliminating gluten from their diets. It’s not an indicator of the demise of the gluten-free trend. They are symptoms that even the gut had yet to be helped.

Then, of course, there’s the question of what is or isn’t going on in your gut. Many gluten-free substitute foods are made from refined sugars and starches, which encourage an overgrowth of some of these organisms, especially candida. So you’ve eliminated gluten and you may have inadvertently replaced it with a source of foods that can trigger similar symptoms and discomforts each day.

What to try instead: Consider gut balance as a distinct focus area to gluten removal. This involves monitoring your symptoms day-to-day, recognising digestion and energy patterns and taking action on any food sensitivities other than gluten that may be contributing to your burden. When people have already eliminated gluten from their diet, they may need support with their gut health and food sensitivity.

Reason 4: There Are Other Food Sensitivities in the Mix

Not everyone who has a gluten sensitivity is also sensitive to foods they’ve never eaten – and many gluten-sensitives are also sensitive to other foods. One of the most prevalent is dairy-related. Eggs, corn, soy, and some foods containing high amounts of histamine are others.

But if one gets rid of gluten and still consumes foods that the body is reacting to, they experience partial relief at best. They feel better, but not good. They might think that the gluten-free diet is the problem, that there must be a mistake, or that taking a diet is not the answer.

Actually, it’s a bit more complicated: several food patterns may be at play simultaneously. Gluten was only the biggest one.

It’s particularly important to note if you’ve been allergen free for a few months and find that you continue to get bloated, skin reactions, tired after eating certain foods, or brain fog that comes and goes.

What to try instead: Take a more structured approach to your food choices. Pay attention to how certain foods make you feel in your body after you eat them. Look for the same symptoms occurring again following a particular food, (even healthy options). You can trace these patterns without having to guess by creating a food sensitivity support program of your own.

Reason 5: The Root Cause Goes Beyond Food

Most people don’t think of this, and this is what you should be thinking about – this is what makes many people do everything right dietetically, and still not feel the way they would expect.

Some individuals focus less on their diet and more on environmental factors, lifestyle factors, the quality of their sleep, the quantity of stress, hydration and the interactions between these.

Mold exposure, for instance, is a type of exposure that happens and goes undetected for many years. Renders effects that persist – tiredness, brain fog, digestive distress – that are very similar to gluten sensitivity. Mold exposure in a home or in the workplace can be a trigger, even if a person is strictly gluten-free and has no other triggers.

Likewise, patterns in sleep, activity, fluid intake and the day to day stress all influence the body’s ability to process food, utilize energy and balance. A chronic dehydration/poor sleep problem takes the gluten-free diet to a whole new level of stress.

What to try instead: Take a step back to see the big picture. There are many inputs that determine diet, but diet is one of them. A root cause wellness coaching approach examines your entire lifestyle: the way you eat, sleep, your surroundings, stress levels and your daily routines. Once the real underlying patterns are found and dealt with, food begins to help the body rather than fight with it.