Before You Go Gluten Free

The rise of the gluten-free market has been excellent news for celiac sufferers and those with gluten intolerances, who now have access to many foods they previously had little choice but to eschew completely. The steady increase in availability of processed gluten-free products has, however, had one unfortunate side effect: gluten has now gained a bad reputation.

That's a shame, because if you're not celiac or otherwise sensitive to gluten — something which, remember, can only be verified by medical professionals — gluten is actually pretty good for you. Gluten itself is a protein, and we all need proteins. It's also high in carbs and iron, again both things that we need, and a cheap source of nutrients.

There are plenty of grains that don't contain gluten, including quinoa, buckwheat, and amaranth, and going gluten-free may also cause you to replace a lot of the processed foods you are probably eating at the moment with healthier things like, you know, fruits and vegetables. If we're honest, we could probably all do with more of those. Going gluten-free may also cause you to reduce your calorie intake quite naturally.

There's a downside though. If that multi-billion dollar industry of processed gluten-free products becomes your go-to source of food, replacing the gluten-containing processed grains you previously relied on, you could end up with serious health issues. Such products are frequently lacking in iron, folate, calcium, vitamin B12, phospherous, niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, and fiber. Steer clear of nutrients you genuinely need for long enough, and the end result is blatantly obvious: you'll end up malnourished.

Whole grains, in their unprocessed form, can form the foundation of a healthy diet. Gluten-free products may have gained the reputation of being healthy, but remember that something certified gluten-free isn't certified "really good for your body, meeting all your nutritional needs" by any stretch of the imagination!

There is no evidence that people who do not have celiac or a gluten sensitivity benefit from going gluten free at all, no evidence that it causes weight loss, certainly absolutely no evidence whatsoever that it can treat autism, and plenty of evidence that doing so can cause nutritional deficiencies when done wrong.

READ Celiac Disease Vs. Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity

People who are suffering with the symptoms that frequently lead people to try to cut down on gluten or eliminate it from their diets altogether — bloating, overweight, fatigue, and headaches — might to well to, instead, see if introducing more nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables into their diet and eating fewer processed foods helps them at all. They could take a good, honest look at their calorie intake and cut down on the amount of food they eat if they need to, and start an exercise program.