BREAKING NEWS: GLUTEN IS NOT THE DEVIL
“People are very anti-gluten…here in LA, it’s comparable to Satanism.”
Jimmy Kimmel recently joked about the latest dietary trend, gluten-free eating, during one of his monologues. His camera crew then proceeded to ask people on the street if they were gluten free and whether or not they knew what gluten is. Although Americans are excited about the trend, it seems as if they don’t know exactly what it entails, despite the fact that the information is all readily available.
THE GLAMORIZATION OF GLUTEN
It’s so easy to get a myriad of information about gluten – but is all of it true? If you plug the buzzword into a search engine, you’ll be flooded with information. Yahoo produces 19,200,000 results mentioning gluten. Google produces upwards of 13,000,000. In the day and age where all kinds of information (true and false) is accessible, it’s easy to become a simple sheep following the herd.
But where did the rise in gluten popularity come from?
Kate Yerxa, registered dietitian and faculty in the Food Science and Human Nutrition program at the University of Maine, has an answer to this question. “Celebrities, mostly.”
Kate isn’t wrong. Many celebrities have publicly supplied a comment on the subject of maintaining a gluten-free diet. Popular actress Jennifer Lawrence even went as far as to call the gluten-free diet the “new, cool eating disorder”. Jimmy Kimmel organized a comedic video project to find out how many people who are gluten-free actually understand what gluten is. Scott Michael Foster, Dean McDermott, Laura Bell Bundy, Jessica Simpson, Josh Turner, Zooey Deschanel, Drew Brees, Emmy Rossum, Victoria Beckham, Billy Bob Thornton, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Chelsea Clinton are just a few celebrities that maintain a gluten free diet, and the list goes on from there.
“There are some celebrities that do have celiac disease and do take really good care of themselves, so what I think people say is ‘oh look! She’s gluten-free and she’s thin, or she’s healthy!’” Yerxa adds. “We are associating gluten-free with health and slimness.”
WHAT IS GLUTEN?As it turns out, for a topic that gets so much negative attention in today’s media, not many know exactly what gluten is.
According to Kate Yerxa, gluten is a protein found in just three grains (wheat, barley, and rye) that creates elasticity and allows for the expansion of dough, adding shape to baked goods.
Yerxa also says that gluten-free products are not all that they are cracked up to be. “[They] are not very shelf-stable, so you must eat them quickly, and they are high cost.” She adds that they are not as good for the body as one may think. “A lot of times gluten-free products have to have more sugar and more fat to hold them together, so actually gluten-free products are not as low calorie as a lot of our gluten-containing grains.”
“If you had to live gluten-free… there are so many things you can’t eat. Having been someone who had eaten gluten for 38 years… you miss the texture and sometimes the enjoyment.”
With that being said, one might wonder: who would choose to eat gluten-free products and why? We asked Kate the same question. “An individual would go gluten-free for a medical reason, for a couple of reasons. One is celiac disease.”
Gluten triggers an autoimmune reaction in the bodies of those with celiac disease. The villi in the small intestine flatten, causing its victim to mal-absorb. The individual would then show a large array of symptoms – from diarrhea to musculoskeletal problems. “It’s not a food allergy. The body reacts in a way that actually harms itself when it’s exposed to gluten.” adds Yerxa.
For those who do not have a legitimate medical reason to not consume gluten – surprise! There are no actual benefits of a gluten-free diet. There are many who claim to “feel better” after cutting gluten out of their diet, and Kate believes she knows why.
“I do believe there are people who cut out gluten, because when you cut out gluten, you perceive to cut out bread, pasta, and grains. It is a food group that most Americans over-consume, and that is where we consume more of our calories. If it is done to ultimately remove a food group from the diet, which reduces caloric intake, which leads to weight loss, people feel better and blame gluten.”
As an experiment, we created a video similar to Jimmy Kimmel’s, where we walked around campus and asked passersby if they knew what gluten was, and the results were surprising.
LOCAL RESTAURANTS GO GLUTEN-FREE
The gluten-free trend is also seen throughout the Orono community. Local restaurant employees in particular see this trend first-hand when taking orders.
Cal Hamilton, a Harvest Moon Deli employee, is one of many servers in the area who have seen an increase in demand for gluten-free products. “A decent amount of people ask for gluten-free bread,” Cal said. “My estimate is that one in fifteen sandwiches are made gluten-free.”
The deli sells a wide range of options for those who have this type of diet. Any sandwich on the menu can be made with gluten-free bread for $2.00 extra. The bread is also sold by the loaf along with gluten-free cookies and soups.
Yet there is something that Cal noticed while working at the deli.
“Maybe one in 50 people who order gluten-free products stress that they have a severe gluten intolerance,” said Cal. He stresses that this is something food service workers take very seriously. There are necessary precautions that the employee has to follow to insure food safety and sanitation. “So I feel like the majority of people who order gluten-free are doing it for lifestyle reasons,” Cal continued. “Not because they are physically restricted from eating gluten products.
Harvest Moon Deli isn’t alone in selling gluten-free products to customers. Pat’s Pizza in Orono also has gluten-free options on their menu. Gluten-free crust and specials such as brownies are included.
“We started selling gluten-free pizza about two or three years ago,” said Pat’s Pizza Manager Missy Harper. Before this option was available, Pat’s Pizza cooks would use french fries as the base of the pizza instead of using dough. The change to gluten-free crust came from a rise in demand for the product.
Pat’s Pizza waitress Caleigh Paul sees this demand every shift.
“I will have someone order a gluten-free pizza once or twice a shift,” said Caleigh. She thinks that people order it for either reason–due to allergies or because it’s the new “trend”.
The gluten-free crust is only available for small 9” pizzas and is $2.00 extra.
Pat’s is planning on ordering bread from the gluten-free bakery Raegamuffin’s in Veazie to expand their list of gluten-free options.
For some, there is no choice. Rachel Eugley, owner of Raegamuffin’s Gluten-Free Bakery in Veazie, was diagnosed with Celiac Disease right out of high school. She wanted to do something about it. With her interest and experience in baking, she decided to open her first store as a gluten-free bakery. Every item on the menu does not contain gluten. Rachel understands how hard it is for people that don’t have a choice to go and find ‘tasty’ gluten-free food.
“Gluten-free bread is usually horrible,” said Rachel. “People are pretty excited they can get this.”
The tasty treats that Rachel makes at the bakery draw in customers who are gluten-free and those who are not. The doughnuts, tarts and cookies definitely make the diet easier to follow.
REAL LIFE GLUTEN-FREE GIRLS
Adriana Capuano, a graduate student at the University of Maine, always knew that something was wrong with her diet. After a lifetime of suffering from stomach aches after eating, Adriana noticed that her symptoms worsened when she began college. Three years ago, she visited a doctor in Bangor to figure out why simply eating normal foods made her feel so ill.
Adriana had an ALCAT test; a type of blood test used to test food intolerances. After three weeks, it was discovered that she had severe intolerances to gluten, dairy and soy. “The doctor understood my symptoms,” Adriana said. “He finally made me feel like I wasn’t crazy and made sense of my whole life.”
Following the results of her test, it was discovered that Adriana had a long list of foods that she couldn’t eat because her stomach was inflamed as a result of attempting to digest things it wasn’t able to. She was put on a liquid diet which consisted of protein shakes and eggs for each meal in a three week period. Adriana was required to take 18 pills a day—including antibiotics and natural and herbal supplements—to get her body back on track. “After that, my goal was to only eat the foods that my body could tolerate, and to try to stay away from gluten, dairy and soy.”
After a year of careful dieting, Adriana did another ALCAT test and found that her gastrointestinal tract had been repaired. Her doctor gave her the green light to try gluten again, but she discovered that it still made her feel ill. “I’m not going to lie and say I don’t cheat,” Adriana said of her diet, adding that she takes herbal supplements when she wants to eat gluten that help her digest more easily.
As for people who feel they may have a gluten intolerance? Adriana suggest that it may be easier for them to accommodate their dietary needs in the Orono area than it was for her a few years ago.
“When I first started this whole process, I did not have many options at all. I would always have to eat before going out to dinner with friends,” she said. “Pinterest also provides so many easy recipes for the gluten free world.”
Adriana also added that she’s impartial to the recent glamorization of gluten-free dieting, warning that changing your diet without a clear understanding can heavily affect your body. “It can be possible to give yourself a gluten intolerance. People go through fads of taking the gluten away for periods of time, then fall back into the routine of having it. It isn’t good for you to go back and forth like that.”
Although Adriana is impartial to the trend, another UMaine student, Hannah Rheaume admits that it frustrates her.
“I would never take away regular bread, potato chips, French friends, salad dressing or homemade chocolate chip cookies from anyone,” Hannah said. “It is beyond me how so many people want to join in on this diet when you could just watch what you eat. Public service announcement: you will not get instantly ‘skinny’ by eating gluten free!”
Hannah had a similar experience to Adriana during her third year of college. After years of stomach problems, she did some serious research on becoming gluten free. Hannah always knew that she was lactose intolerant, but knew that she needed to try something more. After changing her diet, she’s noticed a significant difference in the way she feels overall. “Not just in my stomach,” Hannah explained. “I don’t feel sluggish or tired…unless I indulge in that occasional pumpkin brownie topped with vanilla ice cream…”
Hannah warned that although it can be relatively easy to maintain a gluten free diet, it can be expensive. “Most menus now have a gluten free addition, or a wait staff educated enough to steer you in the right direction,” she said. “But, beware. The gluten free bread at Harvest Moon makes a regular sandwich cost $12.”
Rheaume attributes the changes in her body to a total lifestyle change, not just to cutting out gluten. She also works out regularly and follows the paleo diet. For people who are not intolerant to gluten but want to make a change, Hannah suggested making other changes.
“Eat whole grain or wheat bread. Sweet potatoes, brown rice…limit your pasta intake, or switch to whole grain. Eat lots of fruits and veggies and limit your intake of fast and processed foods,” she explained. “It’s all about portion size and control.
“In closing, gluten is not the devil.”