Gluten is getting a lot of attention these days. We hear about gluten allergies, wheat alergies and health problems that can be associated with gluten. Gluten-free products are showing up everywhere, and as the demand for gluten-free breads, cookies, cakes, pastas, flours, and other is steadily rising, more and more companies are introducing these products to the market. But many people are still not aware what gluten is and many doctors scoff at the idea that “gluten intolerance” even exist.
An estimated 1 percent of the U.S. population has celiac, an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine, according to 2003 data published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The only treatment is a lifelong elimination of gluten from the diet, the protein found in common grains such as wheat, barley, spelt and rye.
What is Gluten?
Gluten is a type of protein that is found in cereals, especially wheat, barley, spelt and rye. A protein similar to gluten also occurs in oats. All these foods are relatively recent additions - by evolutionary standards - to the human diet, which means that our digestive system did not have enough time to adapt to processing gluten. Therefore, it’s not surprising that problems with gluten tolerance are common (although often undiagnosed), as many people have difficulties digesting it. It is often thought that this disorder is associated with difficulties with maintaining optimum weight.
During our evolution, early humans’ diet consisted mainly of fruit, berries, nuts and large seeds, plus leafy greens, vegetables, roots and the occasional piece of meat. Just about 12,000 years ago grasses were introduced into our diet. Within 10,000 years bread had become known as “the staff of life” in many parts of the world.
Wheat products are everywhere, and we are consuming huge quantities of these foods every single day. Few of us can imagine life without bread, pasta, pizza, cakes and cookies… It is no wonder that if you eat lots of something that you can’t digest properly, it can make you sick. And that is what seems to be happening, although some doctors are still skeptical about the whole intolerance concept. If you look on the the Internet for “gluten intolerance”, “gluten and depression”, “gluten and health”, “gluten and obesity”, you will find numerous articles, news and stories from people who suffer from it.
Possible Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance
Problems with gluten tolerance are more common than most people realise, however it’s often unrecognized or misdiagnosed, as it can manifest itself by a host of seemingly unrelated symptoms. Gluten intolerance is often associated with IBS, depression, difficulties with your weight, aches and pains in bones and joints, and chronic fatigue. If you suffer from some or all of these problems, perhaps you are gluten intolerant.
Gluten Free Diet: What we should be eating for health & perfect weight
For people suffering from wheat intolerance, the gluten-free diet is no picnic. And it isn’t just difficult and inconvenient; but also expensive. For most people it means studying the labels for gluten that often shows up unexpectedly on the list of ingredients. However, there is a better way.
Despite its popularity, wheat gluten is not an essential nutrient. The easiest - and best - way to get rid of gluten from your diet is to eat only unprocessed foods. All unprocessed food (obviously, with the exception for the grains which contain gluten) is gluten-free. Here is the summary of recommendations for a healthy diet:
- At least 60-80 % of the calories consumed should come from fresh, raw fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens (essential!). The important thing the bulk of your fruits, veggies, and greens should be eaten RAW. Raw foods have a wonderful effect on the body - giving you more energy and supplying essential nutrients in the completely unchanged, unprocessed form - just as nature intended them for us!
- You should be eating plenty of salads (no commercial salad dressings, please!) and fresh fruits to give you energy and satisfy cravings for sweets. Many people dislike greens - in fact I only know few people who eat lots of greens - raw lettuce, spinach, kale, collards, etc. - on a regular basis. My advice is to buy a good blender and start making green smoothies. Green smoothies are simply fruit smoothies with some leafy greens added. They are highly nutritious and help stop cravings for junk foods and sugar.
- In the morning, prepare a quart of green smoothie and drink it during the course of your day. Consuming green juices made with a juice extractor is also a great idea.
- The rest of of what you eat during the day should be steamed or slightly cooked vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. The following grains and grain-substitutes can be used: rice, quinoa, buckwheat (more closely related to spinach than wheat), corn, amaranth, soy, millet (a good substitute for couscous), potato and tapioca as well as flour made from them.
- Although unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, cheese, milk,are all gluten free, for optimum health it’s recommended to eliminate completely or limit consumption of animal products to once or twice per week.
- Eliminate all processed foods from your diet - this will save you time studying the labels in the supermarket. If you decide to occasionally have them - read the label carefully. Many foods that may on the first glance seem like gluten free, may still have some quantities of wheat added.