Gluten : The Doom of Us All?

The Ender

So, gluten-free is becoming A Thing where I live. There are relatively frequent newspaper articles about all this obviously horrible & toxic gluten in everyone's food, complaints about how the GOVERNMENT won't protect us from the great gluten menace, insinuations that Big Ag is coming to get us, etc.

As a result, most restaurants and even fast food places are now offering gluten-free substitutes for normal food, and I'm starting to get strange looks from restaurant staff whenever I say, no, that's alright, I don't have gluten allergies and just want the normal fucking food (I almost lost my patience today and said exactly that). Because I guess I'm some crazy fool for not seeing the pure, sinister nature of gluten and resigning myself to an early grave at the hands of the great destroyer.


...I am not crazy, right? This is just a dumb health fad, and there is no reason to believe that gluten is harmful unless you're allergic to it?

Has there been an upswing in gluten allergy cases or something? Did Oprah tell people gluten was bad for them?


Or am I gravely mistaken and my gluten-filled sandwich is going to bump me off and assume my identity?

Rend

The Wiki wrote:

Despite the health claims for gluten-free eating, there is no published experimental evidence to support such claims for the general population." A significant demand has developed for gluten-free food in the United States whether it is needed or not.

Noisymunk

Gluten-Free labeling is because having Celiac disease really sucks and the labeling is helping people afflicted make better choices when grocery shopping.

Arsenic Canary

I have rather severe gluten allergies. Like, if I eat a sandwich on whole wheat bread, I will be praying for a swift and merciful death at the hands of a benevolent god in the near future.

The whole "gluten-free" thing is definitely a fad (and one that drives me crazy as well), but as Noisymunk said, it has made grocery shopping much easier.

As for the hype, I believe at least part of it has to do with a book named "Wheat Belly," which blames American obesity on the consumption of wheat.

Noisymunk

Gluten-Free diet, when it works, is because hey you just drastically cut back carbs and started paying attention to what and how much you were eating. Yay!

Also restaurant staff looked at you weird because that's a weird thing to say. Just order the food, dude, they don't care about your brain problems.

doomybear

I'm pretty sure Celiac's disease is a thing, but there is evidence that a gluten allergy is instead caused by fermentable, oligo-, di-, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAPs) instead, as concluded by this study. These are the same people that contributed to the gluten-free fad with their earlier study, so I'm just going to have to say that the science is unsettled - for now.

Steev

I work with two people who claim switching to a gluten-free diet has greatly improved their lives, but I wonder if it just happened to coincide with them choosing better ingredients. At least one of them is a fan of that Wheat Belly book. On the other hand, my fiancee has Celiac disease and this fad sure has made things handy for her!

Weird that you're getting strange looks in restaurants, though. I've not had that problem when I go out to eat with her; she orders something gluten-free, and I order whatever I want. She's had to deal with plenty of mistakes with her orders and send the food back because of obvious gluten contamination, although things have improved.

The Ender

Noisymunk wrote: »

Gluten-Free diet, when it works, is because hey you just drastically cut back carbs and started paying attention to what and how much you were eating. Yay!

Also restaurant staff looked at you weird because that's a weird thing to say. Just order the food, dude, they don't care about your brain problems.

I didn't say anything: they asked if I wanted gluten free, I said no thanks, then they gave me the stink eye.

There are literally signs on restaurants around town that day, LET'S EAT GUILT FREE - GLUTEN FREE MENU ITEMS NOW AVAILABLE.


Fair point about Celiac's disease; I just want to make sure I'm not the one on the crazy train every now and then and doing something conventional that is also harmful.

minirhyder

Where do you live that this is this much of a thing?

LoveIsUnity

He might live in LA, where I can confirm that it's that much of a thing.

If you don't have stomach issues and feel shitty after you eat gluten, then you probably don't need to worry about it.

CelestialBadger

Fad diet. But coeliacs must be in heaven right now, since every restaurant seems to have gluten-free options. Of course, it'll blow over soon and they'll be back to mail-ordering bread, poor bastards.

It was also useful to me when I was trying out diet exclusions to see if it'd fix some digestive issues my breast-fed baby had. There's a cafe near me with gluten-free salmon sandwiches that are absolutely amazing.

Karrmer

Try cutting out gluten and refined carbs and see how you feel. I know for myself, and many others, doing so improves my well bring dramatically but I do not have any more of a "gluten allergy" than anyone else.

I'd say it is a lot like sugar. It isn't good for you, it isn't necessary in any way at all in your diet, cutting it out entirely would be a benefit - but consuming a reasonably small/normal amount isn't likely to mess you up in a way you'd really ever notice.

For example, do you fart? Give me some pasta or bread or milk and I'll knock out some farts, but when I stick to my normal diet I can generally go weeks without one. Bloating, inflammation, bowel issues etc can all be related to gluten for a lot of people.

The only way for you to really know for sure is to just try not eating it for a few weeks.

Hahnsoo1

Yeah, it's like when that low carb fad went around (and is starting to taper off). Diabetics now have a lot of great choices for foods, instead of having to dig around for hidden information on carbs, protein, and fat to balance their diets. There will definitely be another food fad to roll around, but Gluten-free is currently pretty big in California (at least in the Bay Area where I live).

EclecticGroove

SteevL wrote: »

I work with two people who claim switching to a gluten-free diet has greatly improved their lives, but I wonder if it just happened to coincide with them choosing better ingredients. At least one of them is a fan of that Wheat Belly book. On the other hand, my fiancee has Celiac disease and this fad sure has made things handy for her!

Weird that you're getting strange looks in restaurants, though. I've not had that problem when I go out to eat with her; she orders something gluten-free, and I order whatever I want. She's had to deal with plenty of mistakes with her orders and send the food back because of obvious gluten contamination, although things have improved.

There is also the very real situation where it is simply psychosomatic, IE a person thinks they will feel much better by doing/taking something, even when there is absolutely nothing behind it... and they do. (and the opposite is true as well).

So long as it's not actually harmful, they can go ahead and think that glutin free diet is a miracle.

mts

Well one of the benefits is the term gluten free has now become regulated like you now can only put it on packaging if it's made in a gluten free facility, like no products with gluten can be made there

The Ender

minirhyder wrote: »

Where do you live that this is this much of a thing?

Vancouver Island, near Nanaimo.

ceres

Are you actually looking for any advice or just asking what's with airline peanuts

If you're looking to discuss the merits and drawbacks of GF D&D might be what you want

The Ender

ceres wrote: »

Are you actually looking for any advice or just asking what's with airline peanuts

If you're looking to discuss the merits and drawbacks of GF D&D might be what you want

I was looking specifically for advice on whether or not GF had known heath drawbacks / benefits; I didn't think the scope was really large enough for D&D.

The question was answered in any case.

Kalkino

It must be great to be a celiac now, in terms of ingredients anyway, even my parent's closest rural supermarkets seem to have lots of GF options now, where they didn't a decade ago when I knew some local celiacs.

tinwhiskers

For the restaurant thing, its also a convenient up sell. They ask and if you say yes even if you don't give a damn, its an extra $2 for them.

Darkewolfe

ceres wrote: »

Are you actually looking for any advice or just asking what's with airline peanuts

If you're looking to discuss the merits and drawbacks of GF D&D might be what you want

But what IS with the airline food? It has gluten in it!

I'm a bit curious how many people really have celiac disease. Since this fad kicked in, a lot of people who'd never mentioned anything about bread before suddenly were telling me that we couldn't get pizza because they had celiac disease.

Slo

The Ender wrote: »

minirhyder wrote: »

Where do you live that this is this much of a thing?

Vancouver Island, near Nanaimo.

I walk down commercial drive in Vancouver, and pretty much every single restaurant/coffee shop there advertises Vegan and Gluten Free foods.

Freakin' Hipsters.