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Who should go Gluten-Free
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With the increasing awareness of the presence of gluten in our daily diets – not to mention the increasing prevalence of gluten-free products on the grocery store shelves – the question begs to be asked: What is the deal with the gluten-free diet?
Generally speaking, gluten-free products have been developed to assist an ever-growing number of people who have celiac disease. This condition prevents a person from being able to sufficiently absorb the nutrients from their normal diet and symptoms can include all kinds of problems such as anemia, gastro-intestinal upsets, fatigue, muscle weakness, and abnormal or irrational emotional upsets. It has taken quite a while for the overall model of celiac disease to develop because people tend to respond in very different ways. Some people lose weight while others gain uncontrollably, some people have specific deficiencies in other areas, and still others do not exhibit clear clinical symptoms.
Does going gluten-free have any benefit for the average person? This is a point of some concern, and a recent study suggested that going totally gluten-free could actually cause a reduction in healthy bacteria in the system, although the study itself used only a very small sampling.
Gluten is a protein that is found in a number of grains – wheat, spelt, rye, and barley, among others – and thus it is used by the human body for a variety of positive purposes. Oats are a topic of debate as to whether or not they are off-limits for those with celiac disease, but the current theory is that only oats prepared in the same facilities as wheat would cause celiac-disease sufferers any issue.
If you feel that you may have some health issues that could be explained by celiac disease, it’s imperative that you see a qualified health professional first before deciding on a course of action. Anemia, for instance, is one of the aforementioned symptoms, but it could also be caused by hormonal imbalance or a blood disorder.
While anyone who wanders through a grocery store can tell you how difficult it is to really cut gluten out of your diet, the good news is that whole communities are developing to help celiac-disease suffers live vibrant and food-rich lives. In fact, here on the Examiner, we have a number of excellent Gluten-Free Examiners including our National Gluten-Free Examiner and GF Examiners in Atlanta (there are actually two there), Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
For those who do not have celiac disease but would like to reap some of the benefits of a stricter diet, it’s suggested that you stick to whole grains instead of processed flours and avoid bleached or enriched flours. In the end, it’s not really that you are what you eat – you are what you digest.
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