Let the battle begin!
Greetings Glutards! So it's been just about two months since I found out I have Celiac Disease and had to give up my favorite carbs cold turkey. I've had a lot of questions from people about what being on a gluten free diet is like. What are the advantages? Do you lose weight? Should I do a gluten free diet too? Why is gluten so evil? Is a gluten free diet healthy?
Well I figured I would answer your questions by weighing the pros and cons of being a glutard. Let’s get started…
The Pros:
- Let’s start with the obvious. If you have Celiac or a gluten sensitivity, going gluten free will help halt or reverse the damage to your intestinal tract.
- When there’s a bad snow storm coming and everyone is raiding the store for bread, you can just stand back and laugh at the carnage.
- Some people lose weight. It’s worked great for me. I’ve lost 2 whole pounds since October…
- Going gluten free makes your smarter! True story. You learn about fun things like quinoa. What is quinoa? Well, It’s a quality grain and your new best friend.
- You’re stomach doesn’t feel like it’s going to explode every 30 minutes, cutting down on those embarrassing races to the little boys room.
- Generally, you eat healthier. By going gluten free, you tend to eat less process foods and learn to read labels closely to really understand what’s in your foods.
- And finally, beer farts become a thing of the past…
The Cons:
- Look out for WEIGHT GAIN! Specialized gluten free products often contain higher levels of fats and sugars. Gluten free is not a “magical” cure-all diet, honey.
- Italian bistros become your personal hell. No more romantic dates at the Olive Garden for you.
- NOT ALL CARBS HAVE GLUTEN! A lot of people suffer from nutritional deficiencies from low carb intake and lack of education about the diet.
- You really crave sandwiches. Especially when you live a city that is built around an iconic sandwich. Did you know that Benjamin Franklin used to sign all of his important documents with Cheese Wiz?
- Your diet may be lacking in fiber. We all need nature’s broom. Gluten free diets can be lacking this vital component since it eliminates most of the traditional fiber sources.
- You have to resign yourself to the fact that you will never again have good pizza. I’m still mourning the loss of the Fra Diavolo pizza from La Fourno.
- Avoiding gluten is hard! Staying away from gluten is like trying to avoid all of the stupid f*cking memes that everyone posts on Facebook. They are everywhere and they are pointless.
- Gluten free is not cheap, girl. Since gluten free products are marketed as a specialty food, they can be really expensive compared to their gluten counterparts. I spent $20 at Whole Foods just on bread cubes to make stuffing for Thanksgiving. Blue Cross should cover that sh*t. Can I get a prescription for a nice gluten free baguette, please?
Let’s Wrap it Up: Basically, if you need to get gluten free due to Celiac or another gluten sensitivity, consult your doctor and educate yourself on how to do it right. Also, gluten is not some evil chemical being added to everything your put into your mouth. It’s natural. So if you don’t have any medical problems with gluten, don’t let fad diets and late night Google searches scare you into the gluten free void. Just do your homework and enjoy everything in moderation.
So what do you think guys? Does this help ya’ll with your questions about this exciting diet? What questions can I answer for ya next week? What would you like to see me cook? What should I try/review? Where is this relationship going? Stop… you’re smothering me…
But seriously, leave me comments below or on the That’s Glutarded Facebook page and let me know what you want to see! I love feedback. It’s all about you 
Glutardedly Yours,
~Tim
Hi Tim, it was nice to read you your blog. Your writing style is very fun. Wish you the best to be strong and be the healthiest you can be. Send you my prayers.
ReplyDeletePeace!
George
Are you living in my closet?? Your blog sounds just like the crap I say on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteI've been gluten free since August 31st and am just now starting to feel better, unless some asshole waiter forgets to tell me about that tiny speck of flour in something, and then it's back to square one!
And why is it my job to educate the people at Fry's to stop putting shit with gluten UNDER the gluten free sign? Don't you have to be able to read to get a job there??
Steps off of soapbox. Sigh....
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal opinion take the responsibility for the way you eat and exercize. I am not saying a Gluten Free Diet is a bad diet i'm just saying Gluten is in so many things we eat and it was never an issue until sometime within the last ten years when someone decided to blame gluten for their medical problems an blow it out of proportion an now all of a people are allergic to it? how does that happen?.Ten years ago there was no such thing as a gluten free pizza nor did anyone care about what gluten even was. I just think its another thing to blame for peoples poor diet and obesity. I agree that there are pros and cons and there is a good way to go gluten free and there is a bad way. If you simply replace the processed junk you were eating with gluten-free, processed junk you're not doing yourself any favors.But the problem is that there is a much higher Gluten content in the products now than there ever have been.Nevertheless, if you choose to eat a Gluten diet and have no issues which is very positive, but many people have a serious reaction to Gluten which causes very destructive autoimmune diseases or are an integral part.
ReplyDeleteCoeliac disease is one of the most common diet related disease affected by glutten, a protein that can be found in grains, which by reacting with immune system leads to a small bowel damage which gets flatened and inflamed also reffered to as villous athropy.
ReplyDeleteThis diseases affects between 1-2% of worldwide population and it affects all ages of both men and women.In general in order to present such a disease propably there must be some kind of genetic predisposition because there are genes associated with susceptibility to coeliac disease are HLA DQ2 and HLA DQ8. Either one or both of these genes are present in the majority of people with coeliac disease. While 30% of the population carry one or both of these genes, only 1 in 30 of these people (approximately) will get coeliac disease.Finally long term consequences of untreated coeliac disease are related to chronic systemic inflammation, poor nutrition and malabsorption of nutrients.
Because there is no treat for this dissorder in order to avoid such problems a gluten free diet is sugested. It might seem a may seem like a difficult and limiting task but there are several natural foods that are both gluten free and delicius such as : Fruits, vegetables,
meat and poultry,fish and seafood,dairy products,Beans, legumes and nuts.
Also grains and cereal can be added in a glutten free diet because there are also gluten free products such as :rice,cassava,corn(maize),soy,potato,tapioca,beans,sorghum,quinoa,millet and others.
but allong with medicines there is a constant need for carefull inspection of labels in order to locate glutane because all glutane products are forbiden. Finally all beverages are gluten free but except beer as tou suggested allong with ales, lagers, malt beverages and malt vinegars that are made from gluten-containing grains are not distilled and therefore are not gluten-free. Thankfully there are several brands of gluten-free beers available in the United States and abroad.
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for three days and consumed cold. If you make it without beef 30 minute low carb meals
ReplyDeleteMoreover, the results reported that women who participated in the study had more success following the Mediterranean diet.
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