America, land of laughable dichotomies, is not a country for the faint of heart. Our proud North American melting pot exists only at extremes and opposite poles; we have no tolerance for wimps preaching “moderation.” We shop in sprees, or abstain entirely; we exercise like fiends, or couch surf for months on end; we drink enough to make fish blush, or practice Puritanical tee-totaling. In the US of A, we truly do go big, or go home.
And where food is concerned, these American psyches, already predisposed to seek out all things radical and contradictory, have a field day leaping between hard-line austerity and delicious, delicious gluttony. Earth’s fattest country is also its most eating-disordered; as obesity rates skyrocket, so too do gym memberships. Some of us want to have our McDonald’s apple pie and eat it too; others of us are strictly no-sugar-no-trans-fats-dressing-on-the-side vegans. And of course, some of us are the former until we panic and whip ourselves into a frenzy trying to become the latter, while others of us are the latter until a late night cheeseburger becomes too tantalizing to resist.
All that messy psychological sadism where food is concerned has proved exorbitantly popular where the diet industry is concerned. Our desperate desire to atone for all manners of food-related sins is a gold mine for anyone with a diet plan more appealing than eat-less-exercise-more. It diets are as trendy as It bags.
The miracle diet’s latest incarnation, like so many before it, is carnivorous and carb-shunning. Unlike the Atkin’s or South Beach diets, though, the gluten-free diet that is suddenly in vogue was never intended as a weight-loss program. Excluding gluten, the protein found in grains like wheat, barley and rye, has immense health benefits for the 1% of the population who suffer from celiac disease, an intestinal inflammation irritated by gluten. But what about for the rest of the suddenly anti-grain population with no such gluten intolerance? Is a life without cereal, cookies, beer and soy sauce worth the health benefits?
According to recent research, it’s not. While going gluten-less has been purported to boost energy, treat ADHD, cure headaches and, of course, trigger weight loss, celiac researchers at the University of Pavia in Italy told Time Magazine (HYPERLINK: http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/21/all-hype-gluten-free-diets-may-not-help-many/) that many of these nonceliac diet band-wagoners might be doing themselves a disservice. According to the doctors, many people who believe themselves to be gluten-intolerant after eating various carbs could be sensitive to any number of other ingredients.
By automatically assuming that gluten must be the culprit in any bad reaction to pasta or bread, researchers say Americans are doing themselves a dietary disservice. The aforementioned Italian doctors worry that going unnecessarily gluten-free, people will miss out on fiber, which does have important health and weight-loss benefits. As one Chicago doctor noted in another Time Magazine story http://www.time.com, gluten-free carbs usually have more calories than their gluten-y counterparts, not less. When celiac patients go on doctor-prescribed gluten-free diets, they more often gain weight than lose it.
Cutting out dinner rolls and late-night candy binges is certainly an excellent way to shed a few pounds. And if you’ve been diagnosed with celiac disease, a gluten-free diet is of course the healthiest choice. But, unfortunately, swapping normal brownie batter for a gluten-free variety just won’t cut it. As with many fad diets, this one is just too good to be true.
SOURCES:
Mayo Clinic. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gluten-free-diet/my01140
Time Magazine. http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/21/all-hype-gluten-free-diets-may-not-help-many/
Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2071129,00.html
Shop Pittsburgh (no wheat photo). http://shoppittsburghnow.net/?p=3326
Wheat Intolerance. (ice cream, cake photo) http://www.google.com/imgres?q=gluten+free+diet&start=136&um=1&hl=en&safe=active&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1259&bih=650&tbm=isch&tbnid=P3tqrmQgToJ-dM:&imgrefurl=http://www.wheatintolerance.org/foods-containing-gluten/is-a-gluten-free-diet-bad-for-you&docid=ZSj17FQH9_0yPM&imgurl=http://www.wheatintolerance.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/foods-containing-gluten.jpg&w=400&h=400&ei=rN5QT6_-Gom2twfT_dmiDQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=447&sig=116106700630979661396&page=7&tbnh=150&tbnw=150&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:136&tx=72&ty=140