First, let me define what Gluten is: Gluten is a sticky protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and most oats. Many oats contain gluten solely because of contamination problems such as growing or processing oats in such close contact with gluten products.
Going gluten-free for health reasons has become very popular over the last five years and gluten-free products have started to pop up all over shelves. Now, there are a few reasons why people decide to go gluten-free. Some people do so to eat healthier, and some people have a serious autoimmune condition called Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease sufferers mount an inflammatory attack on all gluten found in the body and it can result in serious gastrointestinal discomfort. People diagnosed with a true Celiac Disease have to stay away from gluten for their livelihood. They cannot indulge even once in awhile in a special gluten treat.
However, the gluten-free fad didn’t take off because of all of the people with Celiac Disease. Instead, it was found that gluten in all people increases the permeability of the intestinal tract as well as having an effect on brain function. Gluten is one of the most highly studied proteins as of late. But, the fact that is highly studied is exactly why there is just more information about it. There may be other proteins contained in other grain products such as rice, millet, tapioca or a host of others that may become popular as “bad” once science starts to catch up. Gluten is certainly better out of the diet than in it, however, that is because of its inclusion in foods that are highly starchy and sugary. Let me be clear, substituting regular cookies for gluten-free cookies is not healthy. Don’t let marketing fool you; gluten-free foods are still highly starchy and contain junk ingredients such as tapioca starch, corn, soy, sugar, and many additives. Many times the “gluten-free” alternative products are just as bad, if not worse, than the original gluten foods.
It is important to remember that bread products are some of the worst offenders when it comes to increasing inflammation. Some of this is because of the gluten, but some of it may be due to proteins that haven’t been as highly studied as gluten. A lot of the increase of inflammation is due to the increased insulin released with high sugar and starchy foods. Insulin is released in response to high sugar foods. Remember, long chain sugars are starch foods that act just like sugars in the body. Any time a high amount of insulin is released into the body inflammation results. Even though it doesn’t taste sweet, the bread products and all starchy foods are causing inflammation throughout your body. Even gluten-free bread is causing inflammation due to the insulin release in response to the “gluten-free” flour they use.
In conclusion, if you are trying to go gluten-free, you are taking a step in the right direction. Many gluten products can have detrimental effects on the gastrointestinal tract as well as the brain. However, if your gluten-free lifestyle includes a lot of “gluten-free” food products, I would encourage you to make even more of a change. Instead of eating gluten-free breads, pastas, cookies, and chips, try to cut them out of your diet completely. You can search for recipes to make bread at home that use almond flour or coconut flour, as those are nut-based and pose no risk for an increase in inflammation. If you are ready to take it a step further, try to decrease all of your starchy foods including white rice, white potato, corn flour, millet, etc. All of these foods are naturally gluten-free, but still cause inflammation due to the insulin increase in the body. Being gluten-free doesn’t automatically mean you are healthier than those that consume gluten. There are a lot of foods that are gluten free by processing or nature that are still junk food. But, almost everyone who is truly healthy is gluten-free: consuming an anti-inflammatory diet that decreases all starchy and sugary foods automatically means decreasing gluten, plus a host of other foods and food products.