Being gluten free is trendy. The gluten free food products industry is a $4.2 billion industry. This is exciting for those of us who are gluten free, the options available to us these days are endless. Just when you think you have come across yet another thing you have to cut out of your diet because you found there is gluten hidden deep in the ingredient list, you can turn down the next aisle and find the gluten free alternative. Yay food science, yay food industry, yay being trendy!
I remember when my Mom went gluten free, before it was even called gluten free, over 12 years ago. She had health issues and discomfort for years: difficulty breathing, unidentified and sudden weight gain, even as a lean health-nut vegetarian, she was all around puffy. We know now, thanks to all the time and research done on the body's physical reactions to gluten, that it was inflammation. Mom was shooting in the dark for years. She sought health and medical advice in Western and Eastern medicine, and one of the last few practitioners was a small, Eastern medicine man who said she had bad hormones and bad gut. Eventually removing gluten entirely from her diet, she began to feel some sort of semblance of her old self. To this day she is still gluten free and leads a pain free, puffy free life.
As to whether her body changed or how the production of wheat is handled in our glutenous products is unclear and I will discuss in a future post (as I continue to gather more info).
But this brings me to a point, for those of us who are truly gluten intolerant, or celiac or even just gluten sensitive, there is a huge difference to us and those who choose to be gluten free, for whatever reasons: being more healthy, to lose weight, etc.
I would love to have a choice. Choice is a luxury that those of us allergic do not get. It is all or nothing and those that choose can toy with that depending on your moods. More power to you for choosing to be "healthy," but you truly will never know the discomfort of an allergy. The burrito-stuck-in-your-throat, the explosive diarrhea, or days long constipation, the dark under eye circles, the irritability, the all over body and joint aches, the scare of waking up in the middle of the night gasping for air feelings, that really only a celiac or gluten intolerant person can truly be empathic to.
I think that is phenomenal when people conciously choose better health. I believe we all should be in tune with our bodies and aim for better health, be that eating more greens, taking your vitamins, buying local, growing your own food, trying a new workout or even going gluten free. But let me tell you a little secret, going gluten free is not necessarily more healthy. Case in point, a slice of gluten free bread, typically the size of the palm of your hand is about the same calories as in a regular glutenous piece of bread, the size of your whole hand, give or take 5-10 calories. You are getting about the same calories in a much smaller piece of bread. And on top of the smaller size you get a much longer list of ingredients. Sugar is often added to gluten free products for taste and also as a leavening agent. You have to be very particular about the products you choose when purchasing gluten free, just because it is gluten free does not mean it is healthier or lower in fat/calories, often times there is so much added to make it taste somewhat like glutenous bread, that you really are just eating a lot of sugars and chemicals, with very little fiber. So be wary.
How gluten free people are "more healthy" is not because they have lost weight per say, they have lost retained lymph and inflammation fluid, due to prolonged aggravated and defense-mode of their internal organs. Just because you switch to gluten free does not mean you will lose weight, you can just as likely gain weight eating gluten free products, especially if the products you switch to come in plastic or in a box.
Those who go gluten free and lose weight, due to inflammation loss, and don't gain back, are those who make lifestyle changes, and those lifestyle changes are by nature more healthy. There comes a point where you are tired of feeling like shit so you take the steps towards feeling better, and slowly your lifestyle choices make you feel better and all you want to do is feel even better, so it is perpetuates good choices. Truly being gluten free, does not just mean replacing the gluten product with a gluten free product, although the occasional treat is nice to have, the requirement of needing to go gluten free should be the catalyst to clean eating. Eating real, whole foods, placing value on a home cooked meal with a balance of carbohydrates, fats and protein and implementation of knowing what your body needs and where your food is coming from.
So the misconception that going gluten free innately leads to being healthier is just wrong, the two do not go hand in hand. You can be equally as healthy eating gluten (assuming you are not allergic) if consumption is done in moderation and with thought. So many of us consume willy-nilly, with no thought, it is only when vanity kicks do we think drastically,"oh, I will go gluten free, it is more healthy." Research first if you really have a gluten allergy or if you are just making poor lifestyle and eating choices, sometimes when consideration is applied you can identity the culprit without choosing the trendy diet.
