Six Hidden Dangers of a Gluten-Free Diet
You might be wondering “Is a gluten-free diet healthier for you?” or “Should I go gluten free?” First, let me say that most people do better avoiding gluten as a whole. A lot of people with autoimmune disease who have gone on a gluten-free diet have noticed a positive difference in their health. Unfortunately, not all of our practice members do well when they give up gluten. For some people, there are side effects of a gluten-free diet.
In this article, I’ll address some pitfalls and challenges of gluten-free diets and answer the question of whether going gluten free is right for you. But first, let’s talk about the benefits of a gluten-free diet.
Benefits of a Gluten-Free Diet
There are a lot of benefits of being on a gluten-sensitive diet. I’ve witnessed this firsthand in our practice members and myself. A gluten-free diet can increase energy levels, eliminate bloating, soothe inflammation in the intestines, and relieve joint pain. Many autoimmune patients experience improvement after going on gluten-free diets. However, you have to embark on a gluten-free diet the right way in order for it to be beneficial.
Gluten-Free Danger #1: Ignoring Other Food Sensitivities
If somebody has multiple food sensitivities and they just take out one of those foods from their diet, they may not see a difference in overall symptoms. The symptoms may remain because they’re still eating other foods to which they’re reacting. This happens a lot when somebody goes gluten free.
Often people on a gluten-free diet still consume many grains or other foods to which they react. Other grains are cross-reactive with gluten, meaning the immune system can confuse the two and think that the person is still eating gluten. For example, a person who gets joint pain from gluten may also feel joint pain when they eat a similar grain. Consequently, they don’t feel any better on a gluten-free diet and they think their body handles gluten well. They get this false sense of security that gluten isn’t the problem because they didn’t feel any better when they went on a gluten-only elimination diet.
Danger #2: Eating Unhealthy Gluten-Free Foods
When somebody goes gluten free, they typically just replace gluten-containing foods with gluten-free foods. The problem is that gluten-containing foods are usually highly processed foods like pasta, crackers, bread, cookies, or cake. When you swap these out for gluten-free substitutes, you are still eating processed unhealthy foods. Gluten-free foods can contain a lot of added sugar and/or a high-starch and carb content, which can impact metabolic health and blood sugar. They usually contain other grains, too, which might cross-react with gluten.
Gluten-free foods are usually high glycemic, which can lead to blood sugar issues. In fact, if you’re wondering, “can going gluten free help you lose weight?” the answer is “not always.” People have told me they’ve actually gained weight when they went gluten free. They were eating gluten-free bread, gluten-free pasta, gluten-free cookies, and gluten-free everything, which are usually super high glycemic because these foods are made with lots of starches and rice. There’s a lot that has to go into replacing wheat flour in a recipe. A lot of ingredients must be used to form something that acts like gluten-containing wheat flour.
Many gluten-free foods contain a lot of added ingredients like gums and binders, which need to be there to keep the product together when there’s no gluten. Gluten acts like a sort of culinary glue that holds the ingredients together, so instead of a bread just having wheat and yeast and salt now you have to have five ingredients to replace those three. This means there’s a chance for more exposure to different ingredients that can potentially lead to even more food sensitivities.
Gluten-free replacements also can contain high amounts of ingredients like rice that may be higher in arsenic.
Danger #3: Going Grain Free Forever
Another possible situation? When someone does go gluten free, they actually go on a completely grain-free diet and they make the mistake of going grain free forever. One problem is that grains do have some health benefits. Obviously, they’re high in fiber for the most part, and they have different phytonutrients, antioxidants, B vitamins, and other important components like magnesium and iron.
The fiber in grains also typically acts as prebiotics, so fiber is good for the microbiome. As long as you’re not reacting to grains and you’re digesting them well, they can act as good food for the gut microbiome.
When people cut grains out completely, they could miss out on the benefits of having grains in their diets. We’re talking about the unprocessed, clean, unmodified grains that our body knows to recognize, such as brown rice, quinoa, gluten-free oats, or buckwheat. Choosing organic grains that haven’t been genetically modified makes a difference. If the protein structure of the grain has been modified or changed in any way, the immune system doesn’t know what it is. That can make a difference in how well the person handles it.
You want clean sources of grains, so you’re not introducing pesticides and other inflammatory substances into the microbiome, which isn’t helpful. Eating a diverse diet is the biggest factor that helps the microbiome and cutting out grains can make the diet less diverse. We don’t want to cut out whole food groups if we don’t have to.
Danger #4: Eating Corn
Corn is a common replacement for gluten in a lot of foods. Yet corn has its own type of gluten protein, so it can act similarly in the gut to gluten in a negative way. And because most corn has been genetically modified it also looks foreign to our system. Most people don’t do well with corn, and a lot of the gluten replacements are corn-based. It’s in practically everything, including in some pastas.
Danger #5: Eating Too Much of the Same Thing
One of the reasons why people develop a reaction to a food is that they get too much exposure to it. By eating too much of one food, too often, a person’s body gets overwhelmed and can’t break it down efficiently. Consequently, the food looks like something that’s foreign or potentially harmful to the body so the immune system reacts to it. Our bodies are always trying to protect us from what they consider potentially harmful. If you have constant exposure to a food that could lead to a problem, but if you have the food only once in a while, that can prevent a problem.
When people go gluten free, they often eat too much of certain foods. For example, almond-flour bakes well, so it’s a common wheat flour substitute. If you’re using it to bake a lot of gluten-free treats, you could start reacting to it. One of our practice members who had arthritis was reacting to almonds on a food sensitivity test. She was eating a lot of almond-based foods and drinking almond milk every day. When her results showed almond sensitivity, we said, “No wonder you’re having a reaction.”
Danger #6: Eating or Drinking Cross-Reactive Foods and Drinks
Everything from eggs, soy, coffee, dairy, and corn can cross-react with gluten, meaning your body confuses these foods with gluten. These are the types of foods you typically get more exposure to when you’re gluten free and because they cross react with gluten, you react to them as if they were gluten. Other common cross-reactive foods that people eat more of on a gluten-free diet include amaranth, buckwheat, potato, sesame, sorghum, tapioca, hemp, and quinoa.
Foods That Cross-React with Gluten • Amaranth • Buckwheat • Chocolate • Coffee • Corn • Dairy • Eggs • Hemp • Oats • Potato • Quinoa • Rice • Sesame • Sorghum • Tapioca • Yeast |
How to Know If a Gluten-Free Diet Is Right for You
The best way to know if giving up gluten is healthy for you is to work with a functional medicine provider. At the Caplan Health Institute, we can point you in the right dietary direction. The first step? Schedule a free 15-minute discovery consultation. If you come on board as a practice member, I can order testing and look at your medical history to determine whether going gluten-free could relieve your symptoms. We’ll work with you to craft an effective, healthy, and personalized diet plan. You’ll feel confident that you’re eating the right foods and you’ll be on your way to glowing good health.
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