A reader sent an interesting question a few weeks ago.  She wanted to know if eating a gluten-free diet was of any benefit in the case of people who are NOT gluten-sensitive.  Great question.

The answer depends on what you choose to eat instead.

In general, processed food-like items contain large amounts of wheat.  Converting to a wheat-free diet should therefore, theoretically, have the net effect of significantly decreasing the amount of processed things in your diet.  So if you exchange wheat-containing, processed junk-food for other kinds of processed junk-food that are marked gluten-free simply by virtue of the fact that they are made with a stripped, non-gluten-containing grain such as white rice, then there will be no benefit to removing the gluten from your diet. 

But if you replace the usual commercially baked products in your diet [like bread, cake, bagels, waffles, pancakes, biscuits, muffins, and boxed items marketed specifically for breakfast (toaster cakes, granola bars, cereal bars, and so on)] with more fruits and veggies, nuts, legumes, fish, eggs, leftovers from dinner, pastured meats, and of course gluten-free whole grains, it is reasonable to expect that the change will be of enormous benefit.

In other words, there is a benefit to eating gluten-free, but it is not because of the gluten!

—————————————————————————————————————-

If you’ve never been on “Your Health is on Your Plate” before, and you’re not sure where to start, visit Lets Start at the Very Beginning to get a jumpstart on preventing diabetes and obesity in yourself and the ones you love!!

—————————————————————————————————————-

Then, scroll down and check out “A Milestone Celebration — Your Favorite Posts” to find a list of great blog entries!

—————————————————————————————————————-

Follow Dr Sukol on Twitter @RoxanneSukolMD.  

To comment on this post, follow Dr Sukol on Facebook at Roxanne Breines Sukol.