I spent the weekend at a conference, listening to a variety of speakers, leaving me incredibly frustrated. I consistently heard the message that the gluten free diet is the diet that will change your life and turn you into the skinny person you’ve always dreamed to be. Do you have joint pain? Then, it must be the gluten! Do you have heartburn? It must be the gluten! Are you struggling to lose weight? It must be the gluten!
Celiac disease is a serious auto-immune disorder in which gluten damages the lining of the intestines causing serious problems. Currently it is estimated that approximately 1% of the population is affected by this disease and if you suspect you may be one of them, talk to your doctor to get tested. What was suggested at the conference was that a huge percentage of the population has a “sensitivity” to gluten and therefore, if you have any sort of symptoms like joint pain, heartburn, indigestion, and sleepless nights, you should eliminate the gluten in your diet. I can think of a whole host of other problems that might be causing these exact same symptoms! For example, joint pain? I had a lot of that when I was overweight! Heartburn and indigestion? I noticed whenever I ate fried foods in large quantities I would also have heartburn and indigestion.
I have no doubt there are people who have a gluten sensitivity that is not celiac disease. But before you eliminate many nutritious foods that contain gluten, why not begin first by changing your diet to one made of whole and “real” foods. What do I mean by whole or real foods? The easiest way to say it is simply food your great-grandmother would have eaten. This includes foods without added preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, organic dairy without added hormones, grass-fed beef, lots of fruits and veggies, and foods made from whole grains. Check out Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules” for a quick and easy guide on what to eat. If you buy processed foods, you have to read the ingredient labels carefully and you will be shocked as to what you find in some of the products. But, if you are overweight, have any aches, pains or digestion issues, eating a cleaner diet, rich in nutrients, may be a great step toward your health. Remember, you won’t lose weight on any diet unless you eat less and move more.
I agree that people are looking for a miracle remove-or-add-this-food-to-solve-all-your-health-problems solution. I was skeptical about the gluten-free trend, too. I’ve been eating “whole/clean” for the last few years. But then last summer I worked with a nutrition specialist to test for food sensitivities, which included eliminating a bunch of foods for about 2 weeks. Then I slowly reintroduced foods one at a time and wrote detailed notes about how I felt when I ate each. From that, I discovered that I have a sensitivity to gluten, corn, and dairy (although goat’s milk dairy is ok for me).
While I agree that not everyone needs to eliminate gluten (or other types of foods), the elimination/food testing definitely taught me a lot about how to nourish my body and what foods help me feel best (and which ones don’t).