Southwest Florida's Health and Wellness Magazine Health and Wellness Articles
By Tammy Provence, Founder of Good2Go Healthy Take Out –
For those suffering from Celiac Disease, eating a gluten free diet is a must! What is gluten? Here is the quick science: gluten is a composite formed from several different proteins found most commonly in wheat and related grains. Many grains can be part of a gluten free diet as long as they are not processed or mixed with gluten containing grains, additives or preservatives, according to the Mayo Clinic.
But you need to beware.
As with many food trends, food labeling becomes tricky. Dieters, Celiac sufferers and fellow healthy eaters misinterpret ‘gluten free’ to automatically mean what’s inside is healthy or low calorie or unprocessed. Not so! It’s no different than sugar free or fat free foods, which in most cases indicate there are dangerous artificial sweeteners and industrial processes that make them candidates for the ‘foods to avoid forever’ list.
Many on a gluten free diet gain weight. Why? Very simple: sugar. There are many approved grains for gluten free diets that are simple carbohydrates. And simple carbohydrates are nothing more than sugar. What happens when you eat too many simple carbs and sugar? You get fat! Yep, that fat is your stored sugar whether it got there from gluten free foods or processed, sugar laden American diet favorites such as soda or white bread.
The Mayo Clinic recommends naturally healthy gluten free foods for those with Celiac. But wait, these are the same high protein, complex carbohydrate foods one would choose to lose body fat or achieve optimal health:
- Beans, seeds, nuts in their natural, unprocessed form
- Fresh eggs
- Fresh meats, fish and poultry (not breaded, batter-coated or marinated)
- Fruits and vegetables
- Most dairy products
The message here is to make a simple point. Grain is a simple carb that is the same to your body as eating sugar, even gluten free grains. That includes whole grain. So whether or not you suffer from Celiac Disease, grain is not your nutritional friend. This is a special message for the diabetic or dieter wanting to control their intake of high glycemic foods to control blood sugar and reduce body fat.
As a final thought, you need to know there is much misinformation about types of caloric intake, claiming that a calorie is a calorie, is a calorie. Not so. Unless you have very specific health conditions, high protein, high complex carbohydrate foods such as those noted above on the Mayo Clinic recommended list, reign champion in the battle against Celiac, obesity and diabetes.
And with ‘gluten free’ being the latest marketing buzz words, don’t allow yourself to being led to believe those high carb (sugar), gluten free cookies are ‘healthy’. Sure, they won’t trigger the symptoms of Celiac disease. But carbs are carbs, and a high simple carbohydrate diet, gluten free or not, will result in increased body fat and all the health issues guaranteed to follow. For more information, here is a link to the Mayo Clinic web page on eating gluten free:
To learn more, please call Tammy Provence, Founder of Good2Go Healthy Take Out at 239-561-8646.
