Ever since gluten found its way into the national conversation, a heck of a lot of people have something to say about those proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, and triticale. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t actually know what they’re talking about, or heard it from a friend who…heard it from a friend who…
No worries, my friends! I’m here to set the record straight on all things gluten (or at least most things gluten). I’m not a scientist, even though I’ve read enough medical terminology about gluten peptides to make me even more confused about whether I should be using the word peptide, protein, or gliadin or glutenin. (Don’t worry—I consult experts before I go on the Internet swearing that vodka is gluten-free.) So rather than listening to a Lohan or a McCarthy on the topic, allow me to drop some truth bombs on you about gluten.
Myth: Going Gluten-Free Makes You Lose Weight
You’ve heard this out of the mouths of many a celebrity who is asked to explain her sudden weight loss or stunning figure, so it totally must be true. If only you don’t eat gluten, you, too, can look like Miley Cyrus! That is, if you want to.
Truth: Gluten-Free Substitutions Can Make You Fat
There are a number of celebrities out there making the “I got skinny going gluten-free” claim, which is how the message gets spread so far and wide. After all, a celiac named Mimi from Nebraska who gained weight after going gluten-free does not make it onto TMZ. But let’s put this “gluten-free diet” trend into perspective.
There’s been this diet that rises and falls in popularity every other decade or so called the low-carb diet, or the South Beach Diet, or the Atkins Diet, depending on the era. It is a diet that cuts out carbs and sugars, and yes, you will lose weight if you go on this diet. And yes, gluten is found in foods that are carbohydrates. But that’s where the connection ends.
If you go on a gluten-free diet for weight loss, you’ll have to cut out gluten-free substitutes, too. That’s because sugar is not good for a diet so when you’re subbing gluten-free brownies for gluten-filled brownies, you’re not doing your waistline any favors.
In fact, depending on the flour that is used in your gluten-free treats, you may be adding more sugar to your diet, not less. Rice flours, tapioca flours, and other gluten-free flours have more carbs and less nutritional value than whole wheat flours (although sorghum flour is a much better gluten-free choice), and you will not lose weight, and will probably even gain weight if you’re substituting an all-purpose gluten-free flour in your recipes.
So don’t listen to celebrities touting a diet du jour. Remember that they also have personal trainers and the means to overhaul their very famous bodies into any shape possible.
Myth: Gluten Intolerance Is All in Your Head
You just know if your friend could relax and stopped stressing out about all of this stuff, her symptoms would simply go away. And you’re sure that telling your friend to “just relax” is totally the answer. You’re helping!
Truth: Gluten Intolerance Is All in Your Gut (and Other Places)
Anyone who has experienced any of the symptoms of celiac or gluten intolerance knows it’s not psychosomatic. Cramps, gastrointestinal distress, eczema, brain fog (okay, so that IS literally in your head), joint pain, and fatigue are real, physical symptoms that can happen when you ingest gluten.
Historically when doctors could not diagnosis a patient (especially a female patient), the answer was “stress” or “hysteria” if you want to go way back to Victorian times. And while having to race to a bathroom in the middle of a night out is certainly stressful, that urgency is not in your head but rather somewhere farther south. Also, when we are told that these painful, chronic physical symptoms are in all in our heads, we want to do something to your head. And it’s not taking you out hat shopping.
Please be respectful to those of us in pain. After all, we only wish these symptoms were in our head so some therapy would make them go away and we could eat normal pizza again.
Myth: A Hundred Years Ago, No One Was Gluten Intolerant
A century ago, everyone ate bread all the time and no one was “gluten intolerant.” How is it possible that all of these people are suddenly not able to eat something that human beings have survived on for centuries with no problem whatsoever?
Truth: Your Great-Grandmother Was Gluten Intolerant
In my family there is a history of gastrointestinal problems, some resulting in death, that went undiagnosed for years. My own mother went undiagnosed with gluten ataxia and is now suffering dire consequences as the result of going untreated for far too long.
Autoimmune diseases have consistently destroyed my family members’ well-being, yet I was the first person in my family to be tested for celiac disease and put on a gluten-free diet. The truth is, doctors know a lot more about celiac disease and gluten reactions today than they did 100, 50, or even 15 years ago. In fact, in North America, it was believed that celiac disease didn’t even exist. This belief has gradually changed over the past 20 years. That’s right, 20 years.
The increase in diagnosis is because of education and awareness and it’s all very, very recent. There are still millions of people in North America who have not been diagnosed with celiac due to a lack of awareness. While this increase in celiac and gluten sensitivity diagnoses may not seem like a positive development, it is certainly a diagnosis many of our ancestors would have been more than happy to receive, and be treated for, without a doubt.
Myth: If a Restaurant Has a Gluten-Free Menu, You’re Safe
Huzzah! There’s a gluten-free menu! You can sit back and relax and not worry about a thing.
Truth: You Still Have to Have the Cross-Contamination Conversation
Thanks to the trendiness of the gluten-free diet, restaurants all over America are offering a gluten-free menu for those of us with issues. This is great news, and will hopefully encourage celiacs, intolerants, and the allergic to head outside to dine more often. Before you order from the gluten-free menu and consider yourself safe, however, take a minute to protect yourself.
You still need to let your server know that you have a medical issue, and that is the reason you’re ordering the gluten-free pizza crust. You need extra care with your order and need to make sure they aren’t making your gluten-free version of dinner on the same counter as the gluten-filled version. That cross-contact with gluten will make you sick.
Recipes to Try from The Gluten-Free Cheat Sheet:
BBQ Chicken Salad
World’s Greatest Granola
Mini Ice Cream Pecan Balls
Recipes excerpted from The Gluten-Free Cheat Sheet: Go G-Free in 30 Days or Lessby April Peveteaux. © 2015 by April Peveteaux. A Perigee Book, Penguin Group USA, Penguin Random House.
April Peveteaux is the creator of the blog Gluten is My Bitch, and the author of the book of the same name. Her newest release is The Gluten-Free Cheat Sheet: Go G-Free in 30 Days or Less (Perigee, 2015). She also writes frequently for CafeMom, The Stir, and Cooking with My Kid.