Gluten Free: Good Or Bad?

Heyyyy,

Hope y'all are having a good day.

Today I wanted to talk about something that has been playing on my mind recently. There are a lot of different reasons why people go on a gluten free diet. Some out of choice and others it's not. I'm sure most of you would have heard about the Gluten Free weight loss fad thing. Now, I have nothing against people choosing to go gluten free for whatever reason it may be but, what does really get on my nerves is when I get told I'm lucky I have to be gluten free because it will help me with weight loss and such..... There are a few reasons why it grinds on me. Firstly, I don't count myself lucky to have an allergy and have no choice but to give up foods I love or pay way more for gluten free products. The second reason is because since becoming gluten free, I have also become a lot more aware of what ingredients there are in each food and how much fat, sugar, fibre etc there is in the product. Now the question I ask to you is, is cutting out gluten from your diet actually good for you be it to be healthier or for weight loss/control?

A gluten free diet isn't actually necessarily healthier for you and can often even lead to weight gain. From what I have seen and read, many gluten free products are high in processed carbs, fat and sugar. This can cause weight gain because they're the wrong carbs and fat your body actually needs. This means that if you're not having to go gluten free for health reasons, you would probably be better off shopping for a variety of high finer carbs, lean proteins and you're good old fashion fruit and veg along with the healthy fats.

Don't get me wrong, there are some pros of eliminating gluten from your diet. So, I thought I would bullet point some of them out for us to take a closer look at.

Pros: 

• If you have a gluten intolerance, you may have damage or inflammation in the intestinal tract. Going gluten free can help reverse the damage or inflammation relieving any symptoms you have.
• Because you read the labels more to check for gluten free or not, you become more aware of food and what is in the product.
• It will generally lead to a healthier diet in the sense that you will have less processed foods as most of them include gluten.
• It means you introduce higher quality grains such as quinoa into your diet.

                      Cons:

• You reduce your good carbohydrates intake because it is assumed they all have gluten in.
• You can end up lacking finer from the traditional sources which can lead to digestive problems.
• You can possibly gain weight because GF products often contain higher levels of fat and sugar.
• You can gain weight because your intestinal tract will renew itself and recover from any changes. As a result, it will also start taking in nutrients in the way it is supposed to which is good but also can cause you to gain more weight than you would normally.
• You can become deficient in needed nutrients such as iron, fibre, vitamins and folate which will make you lose weight but, not because you're getting healthier more so because you're not getting what you need to sustain your body.

What we need to remember is that Gluten is not harmful to our health and nor does it make us gain weight. Since so many foods are now coming in gluten free versions, it is so easy for us to think that they must be a better alternative which is definitely wrong. Gluten free doesn't automatically mean low calorie or healthy. In fact Gluten is found in a lot of whole-grain foods that have loads of vitamins, minerals and fibre which are all vital to a healthy diet. Not only that, people who eat 3 servings of whole grains a day are apparently 30% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

At the end of the day, it is down to us as individuals to decide what we eat and don't eat within our diets (allergies aside) but before cutting things out of our diets we need to be 100% sure it is actually better for us. 

In conclusion, although there are many benefits to having a gluten free diet, unless you actually need to stick to one, it is actually doing our health and body any better. It is just a myth that it helps you lose weight in a healthier way because that isn't actually the case at all. There aren't any health benefits in reality (obviously if you're allergic there is :) ). You'd be better off having a balanced diet and including gluten as your body will receive everything it needs in moderation.

What are your views on Gluten Free diets? Do you think they are better for you or not?

That's all for now

Until next time

Stay Strong

<3