Gluten Free is not healthy? Blasphemy –you must think someone has hijacked my blog, but it’s true. Just because a food is gluten free does not mean it is healthy.
Sadly, the recent popularity of “gluten free” has many thinking that if they eliminate gluten, they are on a healthy diet. As Michael Pollan wrote last year in the New York Times Magazine, “Gluten has become the bad nutrient of the moment.”
I think it’s time for those of us in the gluten free blogoshpere to admit that villainizing one ingredient is not enough when it comes to eating well.
With all of the hype surrounding gluten free, no one mentions the dirty little secret of the Standard Gluten Free Diet. Few realize that when it comes to gluten free baked goods such as bread, snacks, and desserts, gluten free food is not as nutritious as “regular” food. That’s because gluten free goods are generally made with ingredients such as rice, corn, potatoes, sorghum, tapioca and millet, which are higher in carbohydrates and lower in protein and other nutrients than wheat flour. Sad, but true. The typical gluten free ingredients that are used in place of wheat are less nutritious than wheat itself.
The Gluten Free diet is a very specific requirement for very specific people –those with celiac, gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity. People with these conditions have to eliminate gluten from their diets to make sure their body doesn’t deteriorate. Let’s remember though, that doing so doesn’t actually speak to eating the diet and consuming the foods that allow your body to thrive. Those are two separate things. Therefore, the millions of Americans jumping on the gluten free bandwagon, who believe that eliminating one ingredient is a quick fix are short changing themselves.
If you have any of the above conditions (and it’s a good idea to go to a doctor and get tested if you think you might) remove gluten from your diet. For that matter, if something makes you feel sick, get it out of your diet! However, if you think eliminating one food gives you a free pass to eat processed gluten free goods made from rice, corn, etc., and that this will make you healthy, guess again.
The best path to wellness is a well rounded diet which includes many foods –it is far more work than simply bastardizing one ingredient, such as gluten.
What does eating healthy entail? Consuming a diverse array of nutrient dense foods every day; day after day. When I was a little girl, my Dad told me to eat the rainbow. So I’m staying away from fad diets and sticking with Dad’s advice. I have to agree with him, eating close to the earth is, and always has been, the way to go.
Kfayfay says
As someone who is gluten intolerant, I was rather pleased gluten had become a villain for at least a moment. People have been trying to cope with gluten intolerance/sensitivity and celiac disease with little help from food manufacturers. Now, due to the gluten free diet craze, many manufacturers and grocery chains have begun to label and certigy gluten free foods.
Chris says
After going paleo I felt better too. I also found out my cravings for breads has diminished and about the only thing I really crave is homemade pizza.
Almond flour is okay but I only bake a great once every 2 weeks. No need with all the great filling meats and fat
Linda Collier says
Well said elana!!
Lauren @ Empowered Sustenance says
I couldn’t agree more with this post. It seems like manufacturers take advantage of the term “gluten free” to market things as health foods when they are not. “Gluten-free” foods still contain very high amounts of carbs and often sugar. Like you, Elana, I have decided to go grain-free.
Christina says
Gluten-free fad harkens back to the fat- free days when we sat around eating fat-free gummy bears, ice cream and white bread by the pounds- doing, at the time, untold damage to our bodies. Moderation, moderation, moderation, please- no need to vilify any food- yes even almond flour and grains.
Jaclyn says
When people see what I eat, they ask if I’m gluten-free. I try to explain that I try to eat a processed-food-free diet. I think it’s important to eat very few things that come in a can or a box. (But I’m not giving up my coconut milk any time soon!) :)
Brenna johnson says
I agree except for those unlucky ones who test negative to gluten test! Me and both of my boys have never been tested …yet once we took out gluten all stomach issues went away, and my younger son had severe ezcema which disappeared! I went to Dr after doctor and never once did any doctor suggest gluten issues. They just told me i had IBS and here is a prescription! I also have friends who’s blood tests showed negative but an online stool test showed positive to gluten sensititvity. So unfortunately, some people have to self diagnos because so many of the test are false negatives. My mother has a very debilitating auto immune disease ( IBM Incusion body myositis)and I only wish I knew then what I know now! Thank you for your article tho, because I do agree just because it says gluten does not mean it is healthy. My family and I are gluten free but also processed food free as well… As close to Paleo as you can get. You’re right from the earth is BEST! Thx
Rachel @ Rediscovering the Kitchen says
I can attest to this – I suffered some health problems, namely my teeth getting very very bad very very fast when I switched to a gluten free diet, because I did not know about all the negative consequences of whole grains improperly prepared! The fact that I am almost exclusively breastfeeding a now 8 month old compounded the effects it had on me. Going gluten free is definitely something I think people should do informed!
Lori says
Elana,
You are so right on! Grains are highly over rated. Any grain. And if someone doesn’t have issues with eating gluten, by all means, they should continue. But eliminating gluten and replacing it with highly processed grains of a non-gluten variety does not equate to “healthier.” Thank you for your wise advise and we continue to offer your website to our patients, many of which suffer from chronic and autoimmune illnesses such as yours. Thank you.
Jenny says
I think saying “Gluten Free is not *necessarily* healthier, it can be done wrong” or “GF is a good start, but there’s more to it than just removing GLIADIN” is more to the point, and way less catchy. I think we need to be careful though to not say “it isn’t healthy” and relegate it to a misguided fad diet. Obviously a crappy, processed, sugar-laden product without GLIADIN is still healthier than the same exact product with it, if marginally. I can tell you a gluten free donut doesn’t give me dysentry ; ) so that counts for something.
I’m 31 and had to go GF at 23. It’s only been since one year ago that the paleo diet and it’s health benefits have been introduced/explained to me, and it’s what I needed to do to recover from daily illness, malnutrition, etc. It’s when I learned gluten was in ALL grains (WHY AM I ONLY LEARNING THIS NOW????!!!) I’m sort of mad that when I had to go GF that I wasn’t put on a GRAIN free diet at that time, or even thereafter. I feel like my health really declined because the other grains were deteriorating my intestinal lining and the carb overload obvi wasn’t helping either. You’re given a list of “gluten free grains” only to find out years later THEY ARE SO NOT. Grrrrr
Thank you for sharing this information, it’s clearly not understood yet by the majority of folks who have had to go GF and that’s a cryin shame. I hope more naturopaths, nutritionists, etc get hip to the grain free scene too and start putting folks on a grain free diet, not simply GLIADIN free. At least if people have the knowledge, they can make the best decision for themselves.
Thank you for your grain free and paleo recipes, Elana I would not eat so well if it wasn’t for you!
Eva says
Jenny, So glad to hear you say that. I & my daughter with special needs are Gluten intolerance and the problem is very hard for both of us. I new maybe that I might be GI with I found out my daughter was in 2009 had a blood test and was DQ8 just like her than when I had a lower GI I found all kind of thing wrong with me but no systems. The Dr. could not believe that I was not sick at all. And as for my daughter is has stomach pain every single day and we just can’t pin point where the pain is and have done several test to make sure it not somthing else and I really try and cook everything for her and try to see that everything is GF,but with no help can we find out why she is hurting every single day. I try to keep her off of meds just because I know they can cause problems as well, but maybe now I need to go all paleo which hasn’t been easy for us I’m 64 and my daughter is 30 and we have NO surport from my husband or family they think were crazy and going over bord with this GF diet. This past week we visit my parents and I was so busy getting thing ready that @ 1:30 in the morning I was making GF tortillas for my daughter and thinking (Lord who is going to make these tortillas for my daughter when I’m not here she soooooooo loves them.) But any way I really worry about way vitamins we should be talking because we really don’t eat right or enough to get all the nurisment that we need. I do try and read everything I can and some of it soaks in and some of it doesn’t. I do pray a lot and Thank God that when my daughter goes to sleep without telling me her stomach hurts. But she’ll aways wake up telling me her stomach hurts. Thanks for listing and maybe I just need to try a little harder and maybe go all paleo.