There is no such thing as a gluten free oat.

Every time a client comes to me and asks me about gluten-free oats a part of me dies inside.

Straight up, I don't recommend oats when you are trying to heal or support your gut. Sorry. 

The evidence is clear, in both published research and what I have seen in my clients over the last decade. (And FYI, I grew up on oats too, I loved muesli & porridge daily until about 15 years ago!)

But the reality is: There is no such thing as a “gluten-free oat”

All of the 'gluten free oats' on the market are total BS. 

Let me explain… 

Usually the gluten free label you see on packaging means the oats have been processed to minimise wheat, rye and barley contamination. 

It doesn’t mean they are avenin-free, the gluten like protein present in EVERY oat, which behaves similarly in the body to gluten.

Most conventional advice still (mind-blowingly) considers ‘gluten free’ oats to be suitable for people with coeliac disease. 

This is where clinical experience with nutrition often runs ahead of standard advice.  

After a decade working with gut clients, I have learned that a ‘gluten free’ label usually comes on a processed food which may very well be just as harmful to a sensitive gut as a typically glutinous food.

Most of the studies on oats are carried out in coeliac patients, but in my experience, non-coeliac patients with sensitivity or gut-healing goals are better off avoiding all oats too. 

Coeliac disease is driven by accumulation of damage and inflammation, so isn’t it better to prevent it rather than stop eating oats once you’re diagnosed?

The thing is, it can take decades for doctors to get to a point where research findings are considered general knowledge. 

No-one has that much time to wait when their health is affected. Right now they’re telling us ‘gluten free’ oats are fine, but will this still be the advice in 10 years?

Gluten AND the many other similar proteins found in wheat barley, rye, oats, corn, rice (yes rice) can cause problems in your intestinal tract whether you feel immediate symptoms or if the symptoms come on days later. 

This is why many don’t begin to understand their gut-related health problems until later in life.

Accumulation of damaged cells and chronic inflammation can take years to drive an individual to pursue committed investigations. 

Signs along the way can be: sluggishness, less resistance to illness, motility issues, and/or inflammatory skin issues.

If a single food type gets half an isle in the big corporate supermarkets, is this a sign of a food that might be healthy for you? I will let you think on that…

Last time I checked the cereal aisle is a whole aisle, and one of the biggest single food sections in the whole supermarket. 

Oat-based products occupy half the cereal aisle. 

To me, it’s giving 'oats are just gruel rebranded’ vibes and we are the modern day peasants. Gruel is/was just enough to keep the peasants alive and able to work, without providing nutrients or supporting optimal health.

And we aren’t safe from ‘organic’ here either.

Oats are one of the foods most commonly associated with glyphosate residue, and 'organic' doesn't necessarily mean residue-free. 

Researchers from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology tested 13 commercially available oat products, including conventional and organic oat flour, oatmeal and breakfast cereals. 

They found: Glyphosate in every oat product tested, 13 out of 13.

Glyphosate is not the only chemical concern with oats. 

Testing has also detected other agricultural chemicals, including plant-growth regulator chlormequat. All in all this makes for a pretty weak food - low in nutrition and high in toxic risk.

That said, if you have a damaged gut, the time to act is now.

You absolutely CAN go from depleted and lethargic to energetic, vital and happy. 

Using the right sequencing for nutritional change, you can experience awesome health improvements without feeling restricted.

And you can do it in a relatively short amount of time as well.

This is why I have been running the 30-Day Gut & Metabolic Reset for so long. 

When your body experiences a significant reduction in inflammation and your gut begins to heal, you will feel more energised, stronger, and pretty damn stoked with yourself for committing. 

You may even decide later on that you want to reintroduce high quality organic soaked oats after you have healed your gut. 

Which btw, if you love oats, you might also love some of my oat replacements :-)

If you’re interested in working together, you don’t have to click a button to go to an Ai page and a series of automated bot replies.

You can just hit the either of the below buttons, and we can chat together from there.

(And yes, I will actually respond the human way, I’m old school :))

Sarah Newland