Is being Gluten Free a Fad or .....?!?!?!?!

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  • Meikmeika
    Meikmeika Posts: 108 Member
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    Those with celiac disease and are gluten intolerant have valid reasoning for eliminating gluten.

    I think the slew of celebrities coming out with the disease has a lot to do with the increase in people going gluten free as well.

    Initially weight loss will occur b/c you're cutting out alot of foods from your diet, but as with any diet, you realize that they make comparable products for everything.....
  • jackieatx
    jackieatx Posts: 578 Member
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    My grandmother has had to be gluten free since the early eighties. She so trendy.

    On the other hand, I think eating only grass fed beef is a good choice, if I ate animals, I'd want to know what they had been eating.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    I dunno about the people that go gluten free without a medical reason- but I bet all the coeliacs appreciate them- they've caused the market for GF foods to explode, making it much easier for coeliacs to shop at a regular grocery store!
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    I dont know if I am gluten sensitive or not but for other reasons, I recently eliminated grains from my diet. I believe grains are the primary source of gluten.

    I feel much better and seem to have more energy, etc.

    Is it a fad? I dont know and dont care because I am liking the way I feel not eating grains
  • InnerFatGirl
    InnerFatGirl Posts: 2,687 Member
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    What's so bad about organic foods or wanting to have beef that is slightly more humanely raised?

    I do not understand your objection to these...

    ^
  • zaithyr
    zaithyr Posts: 482 Member
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    It is and it isn't lol. I have a sensitivity (not horrible) and I still eat it but I've cut waaaaay back. Most people who say that they stopped being bloated when they removed wheat from their diet probably have an undiagnosed sensitivity. Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity do run in my family so I have other family members who have gone gf. I tried to go completely GF for a while and it was hard to stick to and kind of expensive (since I like bread and GF bread isn't cheap).

    On the other hand I am a virtual assistant and one of my clients is a celebrity nutrition/fitness expert who swears up and down that just about everything is bad for you, including gluten. A lot of her claims are quickly followed up with a promotion of some of her products. Unless you have a sensitivity (which everyone does NOT), then there's no reason to go GF.
  • SyntonicGarden
    SyntonicGarden Posts: 944 Member
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    I dunno about the people that go gluten free without a medical reason- but I bet all the coeliacs appreciate them- they've caused the market for GF foods to explode, making it much easier for coeliacs to shop at a regular grocery store!

    Seriously!! For as annoying as I find Elizabeth Hasselbeck , I do owe her a world of thanks for making GF trendy to the point where GF foods actually taste good. :)
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    I dunno about the people that go gluten free without a medical reason- but I bet all the coeliacs appreciate them- they've caused the market for GF foods to explode, making it much easier for coeliacs to shop at a regular grocery store!

    Seriously!! For as annoying as I find Elizabeth Hasselbeck , I do owe her a world of thanks for making GF trendy to the point where GF foods actually taste good. :)

    Same thing happened with vegetarian food...when I first became a vegetarian the old-fashioned grain type Gardenburger was the only choice available, but since it became hip a couple years ago there's a million more choices! :heart:
  • jayliospecky
    jayliospecky Posts: 25,022 Member
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    It is a fad for the people who don't have any clue what it's about or why some people HAVE to eat gluten-free.

    My husband was so sick we thought he was dying. His body's immune system began attacking the actual lining of his digestive tract in it's fight to get rid of the gluten he was ingesting. He lost so much weight he looked skeletal. He was too weak to walk up one flight of stairs, had constant diarrhea, problems with depression and memory loss, and we were terrified he was dying. His body was starving itself to death.

    So it is VERY real for people with celiac disease. Since cutting out gluten, he has gained back all the weight he lost, plus a little bit, and he is probably healthier than he has ever been in his life.

    Some people are eating gluten-free because it is trendy, but some are doing it to save their lives. I would just ask you not to lump the two into one category.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    Hey gaiz I think we've covered the fact that some people have a gluten intolerance. Skip it.
  • SKHaz1
    SKHaz1 Posts: 145 Member
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    People with Celiac disease should not eat gluten. Besides the side effects that gluten causes, continuous consumption of gluten foods damages the digestive system for these individuals. However, if you don't have celiac disease you can still eat healthy and lose weight eating foods with gluten.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    There is a disease that many people have in which they get sick if they eat gluten. They are intolerant of it and therefore must meet special dietary restrictions, hence the labels for gluten free foods and recent popularization.

    Yes, but it is a VERY small portion of the population. For people who have Celiac or are actually sensitive to gluten, it's necessary. For the vast majority of people, it isn't. But it has become the in thing to do.
  • graelwyn
    graelwyn Posts: 1,340 Member
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    I avoid it as far as possible, as I have noticed that as I get older, I get terribly bloated, gassy and feel very uncomfortable if I eat wheat and many grains, actually, oats affecting me the worst. I would not do it if I had a choice, as I used to love my sandwiches and having eggs on toast and such things, and I love oats and oat bars, but I was getting such bad stomach pains from the latter, I just had to give it up as best I could.
  • MonicaT1972
    MonicaT1972 Posts: 512
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    Wheat is the most genetically modified plant on the planet today. Nothing in it is good for you in it's current state unfortunately. It is modified to yield more, be resistant to insects and fungus, make a whiter pastier flour, there are more I don't remember them all right now.

    Would you have a dog that was genetically modified not to bark, shed or poop on your lawn and destroy it? The only drawback is he would smell bad all the time and had 3 heads and no tail to wag?

    It's the same thing with wheat, it's so genetically modified that it really isn't wheat anymore.
  • momtokgo
    momtokgo Posts: 446 Member
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    For some people it's a fad, for others it's survival.

    Celiac disease is where gluten causes a reaction in the stomach where the stomach lining becomes scared. When scar tissue builds up, nutrients can't be absorbed and a person can become malnourished. People with celiac disease can not eat any gluten.

    People who are gluten sensitive (this includes me) have the same reaction but it is less severe. We need to avoid gluten but can eat small amount occasionally without any noticeable reaction. For instance, I started eating oats more often because I took bad advice that oats were gluten-free. After about 6 weeks my stomach was bloated, food sat like a lump in my stomach, and there was this odd feeling of being full & hungry at the same time... also bowel movements didn't look right. My doctor said to stop the oats.

    The good news is that celiac disease and gluten sensitivity can be managed very easily with a gluten free diet. For people who do have a problem with gluten, if we eat gluten free for a period of time, the stomach lining will generate healthy tissue and nutrient absorption will return to normal.

    If you do not have a gluten problem, then there is no reason to eat gluten-free.

    Look for gluten free oats (Bob's Red Mill brand or similar). A lot of oats are processed in facilities that also process wheat products and there can be significant contamination. Oats by themselves technically are gluten free. However I would not want to cross your doctor's advice of simple avoidance if it is working for you.

    Bobs Red Mill (at least here in Canada) is not guarenteed to be gluten free. Though they are grown in seperate fields to avoid any issues, they do at some point come into close contant with each other. Red Bob Mills puts "Gluten Free" on all their products that are 100% gluten free, with no chance of cross contamination. I only know this because my mom called to ask lol.

    And as to the OP, I think its both. There is definalty people who have celiac and cannot have gluten. My mom cannot have even a trace of it or she will be sick. Then there are people who do not have celiac but who do have an intolerance.

    Then there are the people who decide "if I give up bread, I'll lose weight". I don't know if all those people really go 100% gluten free, because it is in everything. Its not just a matter of giving up bread/muffins/donuts/cookies/cakes (which by the way is probably a big part of why people lose weight. All the good stuff has gluten) For those people, I think its totally a fad.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    Wheat is the most genetically modified plant on the planet today. Nothing in it is good for you in it's current state unfortunately.

    Doesn't wheat contain B vitamins and various minerals?
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    Wheat is the most genetically modified plant on the planet today. Nothing in it is good for you in it's current state unfortunately.

    Doesn't wheat contain B vitamins and various minerals?

    it sure does. but they are all available elsewhere, as I am sure you know. When I decided to cut grains for awhile, I was concerned I might miss out on some nutrient....(there are those who say we actually NEED grains in our diet, )

    grains do have nutrients but no unique nutrients.
  • JadeRabbit08
    JadeRabbit08 Posts: 551 Member
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    Okay, someone tell me what is the big deal with being glueten free, as if everything organic isn't enough. Is it a fad or are there really benefits to being gluten free?

    Now alot of my friends are gluten free, and most of them will only eat beef that has been grass fed only (really), I'm just saying....Love you guys/gals.

    Some info would be greatly appreciated. I want to see if it is benfecial for me to hop on that bandwagon myself....well not really.

    ~Chika

    Yes I jumped on the gluten free fad after tiring of the pooping through the eye of a needle and chronic fatique fad got old..what can I say Im a hipster. :)
  • snookumss
    snookumss Posts: 1,451 Member
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    Unless you need to go gluten free, you don't need to go gluten free.

    Apparently lots of people had this problem, but nobody really knew what it was until they discovered the culprit was gluten. Now, lots of people are finding out gluten is the cause and its why so many people are gluten free.


    Of course, there are those who just feel like jumping on the band wagon!

    My homeopathic chiropractor had so many clients who had problems with gluten, and his wife needed to be gluten free too, so he and his daughter also eat that way. This way he won't have to worry about it :D
  • pookaness
    pookaness Posts: 15
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    While there are people who need to be gluten free...I have friends who went gluten free because they THOUGHT it would help with weight loss. All it is doing is making them have to travel 50-100 miles to find stores that sell gluten free foods ( corn pastas, gluten free bread, ect)

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