America’s latest diet crazes may not be the healthiest way to lose weight.
The gluten-free craze started in response to a genuine food allergy: a condition called celiac disease that can cause digestive problems and malnutrition when the small intestine attempts to digest the protein known as gluten. As awareness for the condition spread, many restaurants began to offer gluten-free menus, while more and more gluten-free products made their way to the shelves of grocery stores.
But recently, the gluten-free diet has been catching on with more than just the wheat-intolerant. Complete with celebrity endorsements, media coverage and an army of new products, it has emerged as one of the latest and most-discussed food fads. But is the gluten-free diet really a healthy and effective way to lose weight? If you’re a patient of a bariatric surgery like LAP-BAND or duodenal switch in Salt Lake City, chances are you already have a healthy food regimen—so, is going gluten-free really worth it?
Cutting Carbs by Cutting Gluten
In some ways, the idea of gluten-free as weight loss-friendly makes sense. Found in wheat and barley, gluten is present in an assortment of unhealthy foods—pizza, beer, cheeseburgers, anything baked or dough-based—so cutting out gluten seems to be a logical step in cutting down on calories and carbohydrates. In this sense, eating gluten-free may be a way to make your diet healthier.
However, not all gluten-free dieters are shunning those kinds of food items. Instead, these unhealthy foods get replaced with the equally unhealthy gluten-free versions that are becoming increasingly prevalent. Gluten-free pasta, gluten-free cookies, gluten-free bread—there’s really nothing healthier about these options than the regular versions, unless you actually suffer from celiac disease. In fact, the manufacturers often add more sugar and cholesterol to make those gluten-free products taste better. Obviously, this is not conducive to a healthy diet. A gluten-free cookie is no healthier than a gluten-full cookie, unless it also happens to be sugar-free, fat-free, etc.
Gluten-Free ≠ Healthier
The idea that “gluten-free” equates to “healthy-for-me” in the minds of many is what is most problematic about the rise of the gluten-free diet. One thing that many gluten-free bandwagon jumpers may not realize is how difficult it is to get a fully-nutritional diet when food options are so restricted. People with celiac disease often suffer from low levels of fiber and nutrients like calcium, iron and B vitamins. They work hard to figure out how to create a well-rounded meal based around their many dietary constraints.
In other words, going gluten-free without fully understanding the implications could actually have negative consequences for your body. Next-big-thing fad diets tend to have tons of followers because people are always looking for that quick fix, but the logic behind losing weight with a gluten-free diet is in no way new or groundbreaking. It all rests on cutting down on carbs and calories, on removing unhealthy foods and maintaining balanced nutrition in their absence. You don’t need to avoid gluten like the plague or buy every gluten-free product at the supermarket to accomplish that.