But you will often hear of those who struggle on a gluten-free diet. Their weight and flab actually increase. Their health doesn’t improve. They may even develop problems with yeast overgrowth or insulin resistance.
A gluten-free diet is supposed to be healthy. So how does this happen?
A Growing Trend: Gluten-Free Junk Food
Gluten-free goodies line the shelves of health food stores. Even supermarkets are getting into the game. People love these products because it means that they can go gluten-free without giving up many of their favorite foods.
Unfortunately, these products replace toxic gluten proteins with fattening starches. Rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and cornstarch rapidly increase blood sugar levels for long periods of time, even more so than sugar. This prompts a spike in insulin, which stores sugar into your fat cells as fatty acids.
Processed Gluten-free products contain just as much sugar as their conventional counterparts. As far as your body is concerned, you are basically eating a product that is made entirely of sugar. When you trade your conventional pizza crust, brownie mix, and pancakes for gluten-free varieties of the same foods, you exchange one fattening, unhealthy substance for another.
A Refined Carbohydrate is a Fattening Health Hazard
All carbohydrates turn to sugar (glucose), so it’s important to be mindful of the amount you consume. Not all carbohydrates are the same, however. Refined carbohydrates are quickly converted and released into the bloodstream at a high rate.
It isn’t accurate to say that all calories are the same. The source of your calories influences whether they become food for fat cells or nourishment for muscles and organs.
For Weight Loss and Healing, Glutenous Grains Should Be Replaced With Whole Foods
According to some experts, about 60 percent of the population is gluten intolerant, even if they don’t test positive for celiac disease. Gluten can disrupt healthy gut bacteria, causing damage to the intestinal lining that protects the rest of the body from pathogens and food particles.
A cupcake doesn’t become a good food choice simply because it lacks the gliadin protein. Simply replacing glutenous refined carbohydrates with gluten-free refined carbohydrates won’t help heal your intestinal lining or promote the production of healthy gut bacteria.
In order to be successful, a gluten-free diet should replace damaging, fat-producing items with nutritious whole foods and fermented products like yogurt. This will rebuild a healthy intestinal tract, promote healing, and remove body fat.
Some Foods Satisfy Your Appetite While Others Increase It
Sweet and highly palatable foods only stimulate your appetite, not satisfy it. Human and animal studies show that eating sweet foods regularly only increases your appetite for sweets. Your palate becomes desensitized to sweetness, causing you to increase it more and more.
Highly palatable processed foods also stimulate your appetite. Intense flavors not found in nature stimulate reward pathways in your brain. This process increases cravings and promotes food addiction.
The Switch Isn’t Easy, But It’s Worth the Effort
Like other habits, changing the way you eat is not easy. If you are used to eating a donut or muffin for breakfast every day, getting yourself out of that rut is going to take some time to get used to. But when you eliminate these foods from your diet, you soon see that you don’t even have a desire for them.
When you choose natural foods over processed varieties, you become more sensitive to flavors. Your coffee that used to need three teaspoons of sugar now has a bold flavor without it. Cooked carrots burst with sweetness, and a handful of frozen blueberries is a satisfying dessert.
It is difficult to imagine life without brownies and bagels when you’re addicted to refined carbohydrates, but it can happen. Appetite and cravings are biological; they are not character defects. The foods that you have been told are good for you–complex, refined carbohydrates–are the very source of your weight control issues.
Resources:
Fine, Kenneth. “Early Diagnosis Of Gluten Sensitivity: Before the Villi Are Gone.” Enterolab. Web. 02 June 2012.
Temple, NJ. “Refined Carbohydrates – a Cause of Suboptimal Nutrient Intake.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 10 Apr. 1983. Web. 02 June 2012.
Sclafani, A., and K. Ackroff. “The Relationship between Food Reward and Satiation Revisited.” Physiology & Behavior 82.1 (2004): 89-95. Print.
Berridge, Kent C. “Food Reward: Brain Substrates of Wanting and Liking.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 20.1 (1996): 1-25. Print.
“Gliadin, Zonulin, and Gut Permeability: Effects on Celiac and Non-celiac Intestinal Mucosa and Intestinal Cell Lines, , Informa Healthcare.” Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology. Informa healthcare. Web. 02 June 2012.
Davis, William. Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health. Emmaus, Penn.: Rodale, 2011. Print.
Related Articles By Cathe:
Things to Consider Before Going Gluten-Free
Do Gluten-Free Diets Help with Weight Loss?
4 Gluten-Free Whole Grains to Enjoy
Do You Really Need That Gluten-Free Diet?
New Evidence That a Wheat-Free and Gluten-Free Diet Is Beneficial
How incredibly disapointing to see an article about using a Gluten Free diet being a “trend” and used to “control weight issues”. Although it does touch on celiac disease, the article is promoting a “trend” in dieting that is a complete smack in the face to people are actually suffering from celiac disease. Believe me, celiac disease is not a joke or a trend and those who suffer from it are dying a slow death and must rely on people taking this disease seriously. People who use a gluten free diet as their next trend “to lose weight” are actually causing danger to others with celiac disease because of their lack of education on the subject. Unbelievably disappointing.
Also, a Gluten Free diet cannot “fail” a person with Celiac Disease. If a person suffering from Celiac is not completely vigilant about gluten contaminating their food, this leads to a slow death. It is not an option as the title of your article eludes to. The tone and direction of this article is about using trendy diets such as Gluten Free foods to control weight. How completely irresponsible and offensive to all those suffering Celiac Disease.
I thought this was a very good article, especially due to the fact that GF is becoming a trendy diet. This article addresses the pitfalls of the GF diet that a lot of people may not know about. I think a gluten-free diet can be great for people with an intolerance, and I think that is what this article addressed.
And I’m speaking as a mom of a daughter with Celiac’s …. I have to watch out for the trap of giving her a GF processed food just so she’s like other kids (i.e. GF Oreo’s) vs. steering her toward healthier whole GF, non-processed foods. It can be difficult to find GF options that seem equivalent to non. People with Celiac’s are on a GF diet for a different reason than someone who wants to eat healthier and maybe lose weight. This article seems to be geared toward the latter.
Just because a food is labeled as Gluten Free does not mean it is good for you. It may be safe to use as far as Celiac Disease is concerned, but that does not mean that a person with Celiac Disease should eat it. In the same way that Fat Free foods became the marketing rage in the 80″s, Gluten Free is being used today as a marketing buzz word to make people think that the food is healthier. The same is also done with organic foods today. An organic apple is probably a good idea as it does not have harmful pesticides, but an organic cookie is usually no more healthy than a regular cookie. I’m not sure how you find it irresponsible and offensive to inform consumers that they should not assume a food is healthy just because it is labeled as Gluten Free. People with Celiac disease must eat foods that are Gluten Free, but just like everyone else they should choose whole foods whenever and as much as possible and avoid processed foods. Processed foods are the greatest cause of obesity in the world and it does matter whether they’re Gluten Free or not in most cases. Buying Gluten Free Junk food is no different than buying Fat Free Junk Food as far as your health and weight loss is concerned. Obviously, if you have Celiac disease you must eat a Gluten Free diet, but that does not mean you need to fall into the trap of thinking Gluten Free junk food is healthy and good for you. Just like everyone else you need to eat a diet of as many wholefoods as possible and avoid the junk foods. That’s all this article states.
To me it looks like people have not been taught how to feed themselves. I read “conventional pizza crust, brownie mix, and pancakes”, “brownies and bagels” and “donut or muffin for breakfast ” – that is NOT feeding yourself. These items are something you maybe eat once or twice a week – doesn´t anyone actually cook real food, like rice, potatoes, pasta? most people, except those having an actual disease, not just a wish for being slimmer, wouldn´t have any issues then. AND, this IS a trend – except for those people who really have celiac disease. there always have been trends like that. they come and go.
Cathe is correct in her article and in her above reply to those who obviously misinterpreted the intent of the article.
Finally someone is saying what i’ve been saying for a long time. All that gluten free stuff is garbage!!! All it does is make you fat, sure your symptoms will be much better, but you’ll be stuck in the whole carb trap. I don’t understand why people think they can’t live without cookies, cakes and crackers.The only item I purchase is that isle are Think Thin protein bars and they are what i call emergency food, I keep them in my purse when i’m starving and I won’t be home for a while. My solution is the Paleo diet it is completly gluten free, full of healty veggies, beautiful friuts and muscle building protein. You will lose all your extra fat and feel great!!!