Everybody wants to eat gluten free. Celebrities, athletes and even First Lady Michelle Obama.
Apparently they think it will help them lose weight. Well, the truth is, it won't.
The truth is, only a very small percentage of people in the world actually need to eat a gluten-free diet. These are people who suffer from Celiac Disease, which is a hypersensitivity to gluten that results in the body not being able to properly digest food.
Celiac Disease is serious. It can cause a person great pain. If left untreated or un-managed, it can even result in death. Which is why, obviously, having the disease is a great reason to rid your diet of foods made with gluten.
Trying to lose weight is not.
The truth is, cutting gluten from your diet has absolutely nothing to do with helping you lose weight. In fact, according to more and more dietitians who are seeing more and more of their patients express an interest in gluten-free diets for weight loss, cutting gluten from your diet can actually cause you to gain weight.
You see, when gluten is removed from foods such as bread or pizza crust or, well, anything, it needs to be replaced with something that will hold the ingredients together and provide some substance. Often, that "something" is eggs, butter or oil. Sometimes all three. And all three have 10, 20 or 30 percent more calories and fat that gluten.
So what's the takeaway? It's this: If you have Celiac Disease, by all means consult with your physician and consider removing gluten from your diet. It could significantly improve the quality of your life.
But, if you're interested in cutting gluten from your diet just to lose weight, you're probably not going to be successful.
Weight loss is and always has been about one thing: taking in fewer calories each day than you burn.
