Gluten Free Common Sense

Gluten Free Aisle

I was recently featured on Fox News to discuss gluten free foods and the gluten free aisle in the grocery store. The interview included one of the most common questions I get asked – What is safe to eat on the gluten free aisle in the grocery store? Please take a minute to listen to the discussion below.

Stop The Gluten Free Madness

I am all for the occasional conveniences in life, but at what point do we step back and say that this has gone a little too far? Going gluten free is about one thing – Better Health. If that is the case, why do so many people reach for the least healthy “gluten free” items on the grocery store shelf? Many of these products are not healthy to eat in the first place. Let’s take a look at some common findings in “gluten free” products:

• Large quantities of processed sugar (Newsflash – this just in – sugar is bad for us!)
• Genetically modified ingredients (GMO’s have been shown to damage the GI lining)
• Grain based substitute flours like corn and rice (substitute grains are known to create the same types of problems as wheat, barley, and rye)
• Thickening agents that are difficult to digest (xanthan gum)
• Processed dairy products with added hormones and from cows eating a grain based diet.

What does all of this add up to? A diet that is incapable of providing the adequate nutrition necessary to maintain health or as in the case of those with a long history of gluten induced damage, a diet that will not support proper healing and recovery. I see it over and over again in my clinic. Patients come in who have been following a traditional gluten free diet already. Yet they remain sick and their health is in a downward spiral. The biggest reason – they use the above unhealthy foods as staples in their diet. They are incapable of healing.

The Cardinal Rule of Nutrition

• One can neither achieve or maintain health eating food that is not healthy (regardless of gluten status).

Bottom line – if you are following a gluten free diet and still having persistent issues with your health, please consider changing your food choice. Gluten free does not mean healthy, and often times gluten free on a label doesn’t mean TRUE gluten free. Change your diet, change your life.