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.
Rick says
I think the natural first reaction when adapting a GF diet is to crave carbs, which leaves the door open for high sugar GF foods such as cookies and cakes. I went through it, and in moderation, that’s OK, but it can’t become habit. GF isn’t always healthful food.
TeeDee says
I have no idea if I’m gluten intolerant or not, but I do know that when I decided to give it up (after reading Wheat Belly)I started losing weight, had few if any cravings for excess food, had blood pressure and fasting blood glucose drops to extremely healthy levels, eliminated the joint pains I was having, and have not been troubled by the psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis which had begun to plague me around age 50. I was, however, appalled by some of the books out there touting all these unhealthy sounding recipes for gluten-free baked goods using starches and sugar galore. However, like Nat, I keep a loaf of gluten-free bread in the freezer and have one piece of toast with my Sunday breakfast. I found this to be the best way (for me)to keep any cravings for baked goods at bay. We rarely buy processed foods anymore and basically eat plenty of protein, healthy fats like olive oil and plenty of greens and other veggies. Hubby does like a flaxseed wrap a few times a week which I can whip up in a few minutes with 3T flaxseed, 1/8 tsp. baking powder, a pinch of sea salt, a sprinkling of sesame seeds and one egg with a tablespoon or so of water…spread it out on a lunch sized plate and microwave for 3 minutes and it’s done (and he’s happy doing without the baguettes he used to adore).
Thanks for the post, Elana :)
Dana sanchez says
I am really glad to see the point of gluten free and healthy being addressed
My moto is eat close to the source as well.
Thank so much for the post.
Sara B. says
FYI – your claims about sorghum & millet are inaccurate & misleading to your readers. If you had done research as simple as checking nutrition fact panels from Bob’s Red Mill products you would have discovered this and not made the claims that sorghum & millet are not as nutritious and as wheat (or that they contain significantly less protein & more carbohydrates). This blog post had a great intent however it is obvious you are not familiar with the science behind the subject and did not take the time to fact check your claims.
Heartsong says
I am a vegan, partly by choice, partly not. My body has a problem with dairy. I became a vegetarian long before I realized that dairy was one of the things specifically hurting my body. I now am gluten free as well. Seems I have a sensitive gut/system. In fact, I have all sorts of food sensitivities and even allergies.
Anyhow, what you are saying here I think, is that simply eliminating one thing (gluten) or a few things from your diet does not make a healthy diet. This reminds me of my early vegetarian days when I was young and seeking.
For being such a youngster when I dropped the meat products, I did pretty well. I quickly realized that there was a big hype about all these fake meat products. Yuck. They had any number of terrible ingredients.
It was particularly galling to watch as other vegetarians claiming to be on such a healthy diet were simply not eating meat, but continuing in the white bread a french fry genre of diet. Yes, dropping gluten may be a healthy thing, if it means one has an eye toward looking at a healthy diet and crafting one that works for your body, but dropping one or several things from ones diet and continuing to eat a plethora of junk needs a finger pointed at it.
Thanks for being that finger.
Tatjana says
I keep telling the newly diagnosed that convenience foods are just that, whether gluten free, organic, weight watchers, etc. There is no substitute for fruit and veggies, even if they are frozen. We are not a chemistry experiment and shouldn’t treat our bodies that way! Thanks for being a rebel!
Denise says
Elana, thank you for posting this. I live in the San Francisco Bay area and all sorts of gluten-free options are available here but it doesn’t mean it’s all good for us. Sugar is sugar, even if it comes in the form of a gluten-free cupcake. I won’t turn down baked goods if friends show up to my house with them and they made them especially for me. But now I see gluten-free goodies as an occasional treat and my body thanks me for it.
P.S. I think you need to make “Eat the Rainbow” t-shirts.
Briita says
So true!
Kim says
The other thing that wasn’t mentioned is that there isn’t any non gmo wheat in the US anymore. It is dwarf wheat and gmo. That isn’t good for anyone celiac or not. GMO foods make the body sick and diseased.
Everyone needs to be gluten free.
Kim K. says
Absolutely agreed. Thank you for pointing this out as well. I often wonder if the use of GMO wheat, which is bred to have a higher gluten content, contributes to the high incidence of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.
k. wilson says
i have found much to my dismay that gluten free foods,too many whole grain foods, and age, gender, have added pounds that i have never had. i beleive hat gluten free off the shelves especially is not necessarily a good thing. and like other posters, moderation, and diversity in healthy eating choices are a much betterr choice.
at least when you are baking yourself, you van control what goes in it.
thanks for an interesting article.