There’s a little buzz on Facebook and Twitter all around an article by www.healthnews.com website.
The article entitled “The Dangers of a Gluten Free Diet” tries to explain how a gluten-free diet isn’t a good idea for weight management or as a detoxifying plan as your immune system and bacterial health could be at risk.
The full article can be found here – This is my view about the article.
This is largely one person’s point of view: a hearsay comment upon another unnamed person’s opinion upon the basis of the selection of a single gluten free dish.
We have seen many people turn up their noses at the mention of soy and gluten free foods but when not told they often enjoy the foods involved and comment favourably on the flavour and texture etc.
We are also not told anything about the other person’s qualifications to make such comments.
It would be necessary to read the supporting research article very carefully and to know who selects the foods eaten in the Spanish study on gluten free eating: the participants themselves or the research people co-ordinating the study?
Were the foods selected on the basis of an understanding of nutritional quality or purely upon the basis of participant preference?
I would agree that the selection of food can alter the balance of stomach flora and fauna and it can most certainly alter the intake of minerals, vitamins, enzymes and electrolytes etc from the food.
One of the problems with any diet is the range and choice of foods within it.
It is my firm belief that people often experience coeliac disease, diabetes, thyroid, constipation and other health issues due to their poor food choices and after diagnoses and the change to a gluten free diet they usually continue to make the same types of poor, unbalanced and nutrient deficient food choices.
Many of the gluten free foods on offer are high starch, sugar, fat and salt: at the luxury end of the market and often contrary to good dietary practice.
In most diets there is too much flour and starch whether the flour is gluten containing or gluten free. The percentage of fruit and vegetables contained in most diets is lower than desirable.
It is my belief, that it is more than possible to maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet on a gluten free diet. A gluten free diet generally does not exclude or significantly alter the consumption of fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products. Even in a vegetarian diet there are better protein choices than gluten.
The problem with many vegetarian diets is that they lean too heavily towards pasta and desserts and are often deficient in quality proteins, fruit and vegetables. Although, I am not a coeliac, I instinctively eat bread, flour, pasta and pastry products sparingly. Compared to most people I consume alcohol and eat pizza, fried foods, animal proteins, dairy products and animal fats sparingly.
I do not drink coffee or soft drinks at all. I avoid meat pies because I find the combination of meat and pastry difficult to digest. I prefer simple one course meals including salads and vegetable stir fries.
A typical stir fry meal often contains 8 – 10 different vegetables in combination with soy beans, chickpeas and butter beans sometimes with a modest addition of some meat and/or a sprinkling of grated cheese. Both the vegetable components and sauces/flavourings can be varied. I only use a quality cold pressed olive oil.
I have fresh squeezed citrus juices every morning. I often use grated lemon rind and ginger as part of my flavouring systems. I also enjoy robust good health with energy levels above the norm and many people comment that I look younger than my age.
I have a full head of hair, a full set of teeth and did not begin to wear glasses for reading until I was 57 years old.
Most of the time, I can still read most things, including the phone book, without the use of my glasses.
The same comments apply, even more so, to my ninety year old father whose diet is even more rigorous than mine.
He eats more fruit and less protein than I do.
That’s my belief.
Best Regards
Paul Smith
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