Is the gluten free diet a fad or a truly important healthful diet?\u00a0 I have two opposing opinions, both of which are probably right.<\/p>\n
I have been gluten-free for over twenty years, so you can be sure that for me, this diet is not a fad.\u00a0 However “everyone” seems to be jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon these days.\u00a0 Gluten-free is main stream.\u00a0 Is this a good thing?\u00a0 Yes and no.\u00a0 Here’s why I think this:<\/p>\n
In many ways, the more gluten-free options, the better.\u00a0 Many restaurants have dedicated gluten-free menus, or at least an allergy chart which helps you choose (hopefully) safe orders.\u00a0 Supermarkets have entire gluten-free sections of varying sizes, and these sections are getting bigger and more comprehensive all the time.<\/p>\n
The level of awareness itself has grown by leaps and bounds – from literally none outside a very small and isolated group of people, to practically everyone, at least everyone living in major centers.<\/p>\n
All the choices and awareness helps immeasurably in following a gluten -free diet.\u00a0 It is no longer a chore to eat out.\u00a0 I can buy treats instead of having to make them myself. Live has become easier and my level of stress around food has dropped.<\/p>\n
This is all driven by a growing awareness of celiac disease, gluten sensitivity and gluten allergy.\u00a0 If you have any of these conditions, then you health and well-being depend on a strict gluten-free diet.\u00a0 I don’t even put my gluten-free bread in a toaster that has been used for wheat-based bread for fear of cross-contamination.\u00a0 I can use all the help I can get.<\/p>\n
The problem with the fad part of the gluten free diet is that not everyone takes it as seriously as I need them to in order to eat safely.\u00a0 For example, I ate at East Side Mario’s in Sudbury, where they have a reduced gluten-free menu that is barely adequate.\u00a0\u00a0 While they promise gluten-free food, it is a half-hearted attempt, and they ended up serving salad that had the croutons removed (I found part of one at the bottom of my salad bowl, after<\/em> I had nearly finished the salad) rather than a gluten-free, crouton-free salad.<\/p>\n The gluten-free fad provides a false awareness.\u00a0 Yes, people have heard of the diet, but not everyone gets how serious it really is.<\/p>\n Some brands are not clear about which of their products are gluten-free and which aren’t.\u00a0 You may think a brand is gluten-free, but then accidentally grab one of their other wheat-based products by mistake.\u00a0 This has happened to me more than once, with disastrous results.<\/p>\n There is also debate over oats: can they be gluten-free or not?\u00a0 If you think not, as I do, then you have to watch for food that is labeled gluten-free, but contains oats and is therefor not what you should be eating.<\/p>\n In short, the popularity of the gluten free diet means those of us who are serous about it are back to being very careful, checking ingredients, and carefully cross-examining waiters, but now we have to watch for false confidence in a potentially fake gluten-free meal.<\/p>\n Does any of this ring true for you?\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps you disagree?\u00a0 Please leave a comment and share your experience, opinion or question.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is the gluten free diet a fad or a truly important healthful diet?\u00a0 I have two opposing opinions, both of which are probably right. I have been gluten-free for over twenty years, so you can be sure that for me, this diet is not a fad.\u00a0 However “everyone” seems to be jumping on the gluten-free […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[11],"tags":[37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2567"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2577,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions\/2577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allergy-details.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}