Gluten free, what is it and who needs it...

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat, barley or rye. Gluten helps dough rise and helps it maintain it's shape and texture.  This is why it is used in many bakery and pastry products.
It is also used in beer and soy sauce. It may be used as a source of protein in products that are low in protein.

Gluten Free Diet...

As stated, this type of diet is free of foods that contain gluten.  Some forms of this diet also excludes oats. It is the only known diet that is medically accepted to treat celiac disease. 
THERE IS NO MEDICAL EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST THAT A GLUTEN FREE DIET IS BENEFICIAL TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, however, it is starting to become a very popular diet and many products are being produced touting they are 'gluten free'. 





What's funny is that products that never contained gluten to begin with are now marketed as if they are being produced without gluten!  The food industry does the same thing about products that are cholesterol free, etc.  Anything to fool the public.

The buzz word of the day is to check your 'gluten sensitivity' to   determine if you should be on this form of diet. What's funny is that many people will form all kinds of 'opinions' as to why they need to go gluten free.

Personal Commentary...

Over the decades I have seen gimmick diets come and go.  Most diets are just that, a gimmick to lose weight over a pre-determined amount of time. That is why they don't work. If you want life long weight control, you don't need a diet, you need a lifestyle meal plan or form of eating.
For the vast majority of the population it is a pretty basic equation, calories consumed versus calories burned. This would never sell many books, so you have nutritional experts trying to complicate it in order to sell books.  I could add a few more paragraphs about the type of calories one should consume but that still wouldn't be glamorous enough to sell books.
I remember the Atkins and South Beach diet. Carbs were the devil.  I was considered Satan when I said those diets were nothing but bullshit and carbs are good for you.  Those diets just tricked the body for a short period of time to lose weight but they were not sustainable. How many people do you know that have been on the South Beach or Atkins diet going on years now????
People are starting to now see what a bunch of crap those plans were.  However, now everyone is jumping to the gluten free diet. Everyone seems to be sensitive to gluten! Guess what? Gluten intolerance is found in about 1 out of every 133 people!  It's just that the diet industry needs to re-tool their strategy in order to sell more books.
The gluten free craze has taken over like the low carb hysteria, so I guess I will be Satan again when I say this is bullshit too.  Everyone is falling into a 'placebo effect' and feeling much better when they go gluten free. Unfortunately it's just their minds playing tricks on them.
I will write in a later post the basics of a sustainable meal plan.  It will work for most people. The only people that really need a specialized diets are those with certain severe medical conditions that a regular meal plan may not work but again, this is a small minority of folks.