Is Gluten-Free Really All It's Cracked Up To Be? Should You Be Following Suit?
So I'm sure you've been hearing a lot about the gluten-free diets and lifestyles happening recently, and if you're any sort of health food eater, you see the GF labels everywhere. You're already trying to look for the USDA stamp of approval, but now it seems you have one more stamp to look for so your food is the most healthy! If your just living your life normally not making it a priority to research every little health fad, then your probably legitimately thinking, "Wow, gluten must be really bad for me, and I guess going gluten-free is what's going to help me lose weight, feel better, and live longer." This is dangerous because then you start thinking, "Oh, I can get THESE cookies because they're GLUTEN FREE!" And so people start thinking that regular ol' junk food is all the sudden healthy. Let's look a little closer.
The truth is, gluten is a naturally occurring protein composite found in most grain/wheat products, and when processed act like a binding agent and gives breads their elasticity and chewy texture. (Makes sense why 'gluten' is latin for 'glue'.) Gluten is not inherently "bad" for your body, contrary to what many may tell you. A small percentage of people have a sort of gluten sensitivity, causing them symptoms similar to those who have Coeliac (Celiac) Disease. Coeliac Disease is the main reason to maintain a gluten-free diet because even the smallest traces can cause bloating, depression, abdominal pain, fatigue, etc. It's a digestive disease in about 1% of people causing the small intestine an inability to absorb nutrients, not pretty. Also, a lot of times gluten is added to dough and other foods (like ice cream and ketchup) for flavor, stabilization, and as a thickening agent (dextrin). This also poses a problem because obviously gluten isn't a naturally occurring ingredient in these products, therefore will not be nutritious or beneficial.
So, what's with all the fad diets? Once people started waking up and realizing, 'oh, we're overweight because of all the processed carbs we're constantly eating', they started linking grains and wheat to their unhealthiness, and rightfully so. An overflow of carbohydrates causes your body to release too much insulin, decreasing your body's natural sensitivity, making you more or less insulin resistant over time. The effects of insulin on the body will be in a whole other post, but insulin is extremely needed to tell the body what to do with the food it's given, and when the body is resistant to insulin, it doesn't know what to do with all the energy...so it stores it as fat. Your blood sugar also spikes after a highly concentrated carbohydrate meal, and your glucose stores overflow and are stored as fat. The same can happen with too much fruit. So, because of the psychological linkage of grains to obesity, most people turned against gluten, because it's the common denominator between most grain products.
The truth is, gluten doesn't make you fat. Too many highly processed grains and their adverse affect on your body does. BUT: That doesn't mean I'm against being gluten-aware. The gluten-free or less-gluten diets do yield weight loss, because their causing people to stay away from the bad carbs, and forcing them to eat more wholesome foods. (Given they don't turn to all the "healthy, gluten-free" processed snack foods and pastas.) It's caused people that love grains to uncover healthier alternatives that the public is more aware of and that I'll list below, and it's raised and answered important health questions in the process! Just don't be fooled by claims from the food industry trying to convince you that their product is gluten-free, so you should fork out three more bucks because it's healthier. In other words, gluten-free pretzels aren't going to be much healthier for the normal person than regular ones. (This isn't the case with organic. Organic is always healthier.)
So have we come to a conclusion that all grains are bad for us and will cause us to gain weight? Absolutely not. We just now know not to isolate gluten as the villain, but to choose healthier options overall and lower our carbohydrate intake if we're trying to lose weight. (Unless your very active, of course.) Checking the glycemic index and glycemic load of foods will also help in making healthy food choices, gluten present or not. There are some grains that contain gluten that would be a better option for your body than a gluten-free alternative. For example, I'd rather see you eating spelt, barley, bulgur, and rye, as opposed to corn and potatoes. But as you can see below, there are much healthier options for gluten-free grains than gluten-containing ones. They just tend to have more protein, fiber, and nutrients.
Here's a list of healthy, gluten-free grains and starches.
- Quinoa - Probably the best choice you can make overall as far as grains are concerned.
- Amaranth - Found in some healthy cereals
- Arrowroot
- Millet
- Sorghum Wheat (Comes often as flour)
- Whole grain brown rice
- Chia Seeds - Awesome source of fiber, low-cal, superfood (1 Tbsp. 55 cals, 6g fiber)
- Sweet Potatoes - Great source of Vitamin A and Beta Carotene
- Buckwheat (Pure)
- Soybeans (Only in raw or edamame form)
- Gram Flour from Chickpeas