Do you think that gluten, lactose, or {insert supposed food intolerance here} is really just a fad?

evergreenlake wrote: »

I think a huge driver of the trend is that people think being gluten free makes you healthier, but then they go and eat tons of gluten free versions of regular wheat products like muffins, cupcakes, cookies, and think that because it's gluten free it's healthier. But all these gf foods have more sugar and more fat to makeup for the texture and taste that wheat and gluten provide.
My biggest complaint (as someone who is gluten intolerant) is that being gluten free generally doesn't make you healthier/lose weight, relying less on processed carbs and having a higher veggie and protein diet DOES.
I must add as well, I don't eat gluten because it severely effects my GI health and I can be sick for days if I eat it. The difference between intolerance and celiac is that to an extent, I can make myself more used to certain kinds of gluten over time and deal with the bloating, but eventually I will get sick.

bmeadows380 wrote: »

Noel_57 wrote: »

OP, I wouldn't have been as harsh, but I do think gluten, dairy, and other "sensitivities" are pretty much fad diseases perpetuated by the food industry to sell products. Although the fad seems to be waning. The latest trendy thing in the diet world is "sugar addiction".

I don't think the OP was being harsh; they did quite clearly state that they weren't using this to attack folks who have a true medical issue with gluten or lactose, nor did they imply that gluten sensitivities weren't legitimate medical problems for many people. They were simply commenting on how "gluten free" seems to have become quite the popular buzzword amongst the general population.

SCoil123 wrote: »

There are some very real sensitivities and allergies but I think a lot of people are just jumping on a bandwagon. And I say that as someone who is gluten free due to a wheat germ allergy (yes I can have barley and rye I just don't because usually they are mixed with wheat flour). Also, my husband is extremely lactose intolerant. I had never seen a person get so sick from a scoop of ice cream before he and I lived together.

It annoys the crap out of me when people tell me they are gluten intolerant and then eat it occasionally. One of my oldest friends and my own dad both do this. When I changed my diet after a medical diagnosis they both claimed they were feeling sick and had to eat like I do now. Neither have ever been to a doctor for it and both still eat gluten and wheat when it suits them.

This is what I think the OP was asking, and to this I agree. On the one hand, celiac, gluten intolerance, wheat allergies, lactose intolerance, etc is becoming increasingly visibly in society because of better medical testing that makes diagnosis more accurate, which is true for a lot of medical conditions. Also, there really does seem to be a genuine trend in a worsening of allergies and food sensitives in children today compared to their parents and grandparents. For example: peanut allergies are highly visible in society today, and its certainly not just a fad - there really is an uptick in the number of children being diagnosed with peanut allergies, partly because of better medical testing and, it seems, partly because there are genuinely more children coming to be afflicted with this allergy. The causes are myriad and unclear at this time.

Also, allergists tell you that you can develop allergies at any time in your life, so just because you weren't allergic to something before, doesn't mean you won't develop an allergy to it later in life. I have a good friend whose husband loved shrimp and shellfish and ate them for years. Then one day, he had shrimp for dinner and suddenly swelled up like a balloon. Ever since that point, he can't touch shrimp without having an allergic reaction. It happens for folks with bee stings as well - my brother has been bee stung several times as a child and teen and never had a problem, but a few years ago, he had a bee sting that resulted in a trip to the ER. Another sting not long after also resulted in a severe allergic reaction and a prescription for an epic pen.

BabyBear76 wrote: »

Unless you have Celiac disease; your body needs gluten. It's a mixture of two protiens types. Gluten free is actually unhealthy for the average person.

Treece68 wrote: »

@Relser well I am fat and I have celiac, and was also fat and malnourished because of the celiac and it took me 13 years to find a doctor who thought... hmm the acute abdominal pain and soft stools 6-10 times a day perhaps we should test you for celiac.
As for gluten intolerance I think it is real too I have a friend who has the same symptoms I do and she does not have celiac her doctor diagnosed her with gluten intolerance. Perhap the fact that celiac and gluten free is more out there and people are finding an answer to the doctor visits and symptoms they have lived with their whole lives.
I am sure that there are people out there who have heard about it and all the woo and think their bloat after a beer or a large pasta meal is due to the gluten and that is annoying. People who say they can't have gluten and then drink a beer or eat some cake is annoying as well.
I'm sure if they had the symptoms of celiac or someone with a severe gluten intolerance they would stop the faking ... I hope.

"People that claim that modern breads/wheats are the culprit are full of compete and utter nonsense, as breads from 70-120 years ago were far worse at aggravating gut sensitivities. Up until about 100 years ago, most breads were sourdoughs. Sourdough is a combination of at least one lactobacillus (lactic acid bacterium) and at least one yeast. Lactobacilli outnumber yeast on average about 100:1 to 200:1"

The thing that people react to is gluten not the yeast or the lactobacillus. Gluten IS: Gluten (from Latin gluten, "glue") is a composite of storage proteins termed prolamins and glutelins[1] and stored together with starch in the endosperm (which nourishes the embryonic plant during germination) of various grass-related grains. It is found in wheat, barley, rye, oat, related species and hybrids (such as spelt, khorasan, emmer, einkorn, triticale, kamut, etc.)[2] and products of these (such as malt). Gluten is appreciated for its viscoelastic properties.[3][4] It gives elasticity to dough, helping it rise and keep its shape and often gives the final product a chewy texture.

So if breads 70-120 did not have the proteins then sure it could be the stuff now a days but they did have that and 70-120 years ago there was still Celiac: From wikipedia "Humans first started to cultivate grains in the Neolithic period (beginning about 9500 BCE) in the Fertile Crescent in Western Asia, and it is likely that coeliac disease did not occur before this time. Aretaeus of Cappadocia, living in the second century in the same area, recorded a malabsorptive syndrome with chronic diarrhoea, causing a debilitation of the whole body.[32] His "Cœliac Affection" (coeliac from Greek κοιλιακός koiliakos, "abdominal") gained the attention of Western medicine when Francis Adams presented a translation of Aretaeus's work at the Sydenham Society in 1856. The patient described in Aretaeus' work had stomach pain and was atrophied, pale, feeble and incapable of work. The diarrhoea manifested as loose stools that were white, malodorous and flatulent, and the disease was intractable and liable to periodic return. The problem, Aretaeus believed, was a lack of heat in the stomach necessary to digest the food and a reduced ability to distribute the digestive products throughout the body, this incomplete digestion resulting in the diarrhoea. He regarded this as an affliction of the old and more commonly affecting women, explicitly excluding children. The cause, according to Aretaeus, was sometimes either another chronic disease or even consuming "a copious draught of cold water."[32][33]

I have never met anyone faking lactose intolerance. I am lactose intolerant too and it is no fun. My advice do not have a shake at Fudruckers on the way back from a Cubs game because that bus will not stop for you to use the bathroom.

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

I just met someone who told me they are "allergic" to meat. Is that a thing??
If it is, I think I would just tell people I'm vegetarian to avoid the odd looks like the one I gave this person.