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Walk down the aisles of your local supermarket, and you are sure to see plenty of products slapped with a label that states it’s gluten free. Gluten, a protein in wheat that causes sensitivity in a lot of people, has suddenly become an enemy to many households. Because it’s in flour and most types of grains, it’s difficult to give up, yet many people are doing it anyway. While it may seem like a great way to improve your health, for a lot of people it doesn’t make any difference. Before you hop on the gluten free bandwagon, there are some things you should know that may change your mind.
1. It May Not Be Necessary
If you’ve been diagnosed with Celiac’s disease (essentially a gluten allergy) by a doctor, then you definitely need to give up gluten to relieve symptoms that can range from upset stomach to headaches to reflux. If you haven’t been officially diagnosed, giving up gluten may not solve your problem. Medical professionals estimate that less than one percent of the population has Celiac’s, and while there may be people that have a gluten intolerance, the number of people that have given up gluten have far outnumbered that percentage.
There are ways to find out if giving up gluten will solve your problem, and one of those is, quite simply, cutting it out of your diet for a small period of time and making note of changes. If you feel better, and you don’t feel deprived, then giving it up is the right thing to do. If you think you may have a gluten intolerance or Celiac’s disease, you can talk to your doctor.
2. You Might Not Lose Weight
A lot of people give up gluten in the hopes of losing weight, and while that is always a possibility, much of that depends on what you are eating instead of what you’re not. Many people associate gluten with carbohydrates and believe that if they’re giving up gluten, they’re giving up carbs, but this isn’t the case. If you’re eating a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables and other plant based foods, you’ll likely lose weight. If you replace gluten containing processed foods with gluten free versions, it’s unlikely to see a difference.
That being said, going gluten free can definitely help you lose weight if you eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds with whole grains such as brown rice or quinoa. It’s also much easier to eat a gluten free diet this way because you’re not always worried about cross contamination or reading labels to find out if it has a trace of gluten in it.
3. Making Substitutions Isn’t Always Easy
If you think going gluten free will be easy because you can just make bread, pancakes, or baked goods with one of many gluten free flours on the market, you may be in for some disappointment.
Gluten free baking is very different from traditional baking, and even if you call yourself an accomplished baker, you’ll need to learn a whole new set of rules in order to bake gluten free treats that are on the same level as your current favorites. There are many gluten free baked goods on the market, with many more popping up every day, so there are options out there, but if you like to bake from scratch, you’ll need to get some good gluten free cookbooks, spend some money on various flours and do some experimenting in the kitchen.
4. “Gluten Free” Does Not Mean “Healthy”
Gluten free means giving up gluten, and that’s it. It doesn’t mean “natural”, “healthy”, or “nutritious”. There are plenty of foods out there that don’t contain gluten that are far from healthy, namely soda, processed meats, and various junk foods.
In addition there are gluten free versions of popular foods like breads, cookies, cakes, and other types of processed foods. If you don’t know a lot about reading nutrition labels, it can be difficult to know what’s good and what’s not. The truth is that if something is unhealthy, it’s unhealthy, whether it contains gluten or not. Sugars, unhealthy fats, and many preservatives don’t contain a trace of gluten, but this definitely doesn’t mean they are healthy.
If you want to be both gluten free and healthy, you need to stick to whole foods with few ingredients and stay away from packaged foods like breads, cookies, and crackers. The same rules apply whether you eat gluten or not. Just like “fat free” or “lite” products replace one bad thing for another, many companies make up for texture or flavor differences by adding sugar or fat.
5. Going Gluten Free Can Be Expensive and Difficult
A loaf of gluten free bread can be twice the cost of a regular loaf of bread, and some products that were always gluten free (such as products made from rice like cereal) may be more expensive now that they can put these two trendy words on their labels. You can buy a gluten free version of almost any product, but you will almost always pay a premium for it.
In addition, if you want to make a pizza crust, bread, or other baked good, you’ll need to invest in flours which can cost several dollars or more per pound. If you don’t know what you’re doing and mess up, that money may be wasted. Baking mixes are more expensive as well.
Going gluten free doesn’t have to be expensive if you focus on items that don’t have to be reformulated. Fruits, vegetables, meats, and other whole food products have always been gluten free and don’t have labels are your best bet for enjoying a healthy gluten free diet without breaking the bank.
Dining out may pose a challenge as well. Many restaurant owners aren’t clear about what it means to give up gluten and many who do aren’t concerned with variety in their gluten free menus. You may end up eating a lot of salads or plain grilled chicken, and you’ll also likely find yourself playing 20 questions with the waiter about the ingredients on the menu.
Conclusion
Going gluten free is a necessity for many people, but health experts will likely tell you that unless you have been diagnosed with Celiac’s or otherwise directed from a doctor, eliminating gluten from your diet will have little effect on your overall health. It can also be more expensive to buy replacement products that may be even unhealthier and probably won’t taste as good.
With that being said, many people do believe that giving up gluten is good for them, regardless of diagnosis, you can easily find out if it’s for you by going gluten free for a few weeks to see if it helps. The best way, of course, is to focus on whole foods like produce, high quality meat and dairy products and other plant based foods. You may find that giving it up is the right choice for you, but you may also find that it doesn’t do much and you are depriving yourself for no reason other than to follow the latest food trends.