Making a decision to go gluten-free or not is a tricky decision to make and it’s difficult for a reason. In this article, we’ll take a look at a few factors in play, giving you more information so you can decide if going gluten-free is you want to do or should you pass.
- Those people who must go gluten-free?
If you are someone suffering from celiac disease or you have non-celiac gluten sensitivity causing you problems, then you likely know you have no choice but to adopt a gluten-free diet.
Your body is having a bad to gluten(or wheat) and is likely causing you all kinds of health problems from abdominal pain to skin rashes and even breathing problems.
This was my personal experience with going gluten-free. Each time I’d eat something with wheat in it, I’d have bad skin rashes, congestion, and extreme fatigue requiring a lot of naps. - Those who want to be part of the latest trend
If you are fortunate enough to not be gluten sensitive, making the change to a gluten-free diet is not needed and most doctors don’t recommend it. It’s important to not take on a new diet just because it seems to be the latest, coolest trend.
In recent years, gluten has gotten a bad rap because so many people have decided to just jump on the bandwagon and avoid gluten just to be “cool” and try the latest new thing, or because everyone else is doing it.
It’s important to understand why gluten is bad for people who can not tolerate it because it actually produces specific health issues. From my own personal experience, it seems that people who can not eat Gluten wish they could. - The path to wellness in a Gluten-Free diet
If a person suffers from Celiac disease, or physically reacts to wheat or gluten, going on a gluten-free diet gives the body a chance to heal. By avoiding a variety of the offending substance, the small intestine has time to heal and recover.
The body of a gluten-sensitive person physically reacts negatively to gluten which causes health a variety of health issues mentioned above. These are the people who need to cut it out totally so that their bodies are no longer triggered by the gluten. Even the smallest amount can cause problems. It’s not a fun way to live.
But what if you’re not affected by gluten?
Then your body doesn’t really need any healing in this area and you are left with only one reason – the benefits of a gluten-free diet.
The biggest benefit of avoiding gluten would be that you cut out a huge chunk of processed foods because many of these foods contain gluten, etc. It just so happens, the moment you do this, you’ll be cutting out a lot of calories and sugar too. This could potentially result in weight loss and you feeling better.
People often confuse the benefit of weight loss with the benefits of the gluten-free diet. In reality, you can lose weight with the paleo diet too. In fact, most healthy eating plans will recommend you reduce or eliminate the consumption processed foods.
A gluten-free is not the only way to get rid of extra weight. That being said, some people who switch from normal cookies to eating gluten-free cookies discover they are still eating processed foods, but they’ve just given up the gluten and fiber and end up getting more sodium, sugar, etc. instead.
What was suppose to be a healthy diet now becomes detrimental to good health. Let’s face it, there are definitely two sides to coin and one must keep that in mind.
Following a gluten-free diet can cause constipation due to the decrease in dietary fiber through foods being eaten. . To prevent this, make it a point to increase your intake of vegetables and other foods like brown rice, peas, etc.
Make sure to keep nutrient deficiencies in mind. For example, normal bread contains a lot of enriched vitamins and minerals. While eating lots of bread can lead to weight gain, it is still rich in the nutrients a body needs.
When cutting bread and other gluten containing foods from the diet, it not only means the exclusion of gluten, but also the exclusion of necessary vitamins and minerals that come from these foods. This could potentially cause a whole new set of problems related to nutritional deficiencies
If your body ends up low in vital nutrients, you’ll need consider supplementing with a multivitamin or other supplements to make up for the deficit.
Besides the extra cost now for supplements, it might not be worth all the effort if you aren’t actually gluten intolerant and just following this way of life to lose extra pounds.
To recap, If you are in actuality gluten sensitive, then following a gluten-free diet will be beneficial and worth the added effort. If you’re not having physical reactions to gluten, then you are better off finding other healthy eating plans like the keto diet or Mediterranean diet.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Be sure and come back and watch for future articles that help you learn how to navigate a new way of eating when you find it necessary to avoid wheat and gluten.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or leave a comment below if you’ve enjoyed this article.
