Whether you’ve seen the word pop up in bestselling diet books, on menus and bakery signs, or supermarket aisles, you’ve heard about gluten. After a while, you start wondering if your wellness would be better off without gluten, or if the protein is impeding your weight loss results, but is there any point going for a full-blown, gluten-free diet?
There was a time, ending just a few years ago, when you only ate gluten-free foods if your wellbeing was affected by celiac disease. Now, everyone seems to be avoiding gluten – just because they think it’s healthier. According to Dr. Alessio Fasano, a researcher and director of the Centre for Celiac Research at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston, your body doesn’t have the enzymes to break gluten down, which means you cannot totally digest it.
In fact, Dr. William Davis, author of the book Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health, thinks everyone would be better off not eating wheat, as whole grains are different than they were 50 years ago; they’re now toxic to the human body. Davis argues that celiacs are the ‘canary in the coal mine.’ Although Davis’ book offers none of his own research, it does contain sections of other studies and anecdotal case studies of 2,000 of his patients who told him their health problems improved or disappeared after they stopped eating foods with wheat in them.
Davis notes, ‘Wheat Belly represents the distilled experience and lessons I’ve learned over these last several years, lessons learned by accident in my quest to help solve the dilemma of heart disease. And, by the way, I hardly ever see any heart attacks anymore.’ Since the publication of his book, and follow-up The Wheat Belly Cookbook, about 25% cent of the American population has cut back or cut out their wheat consumption, believing it’s a healthier way to eat.
However, Fasano warns that a gluten-free diet can actually be worse for your wellbeing, as there is often a high content of sugar and fat in gluten-free foods, in order to make them taste better. The diet is also really difficult to stick with, because you have to be vigilant about reading every label on every food product you put in your mouth, and gluten-free food also costs two to three times more than regular food. So, unless you have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, maybe you’re better off just sticking with wheat.
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