Why you should go gluten-free

You don’t have to go gluten-free just because you have a wheat allergy, or worse, Coeliac disease. In fact, more and more people go gluten-free everyday, for a variety of reasons – some may feel it helps with their diet plan, while others find it helps them prepare low-calorie meals. In fact, it’s poised to reach fad diet status. However, there are a bunch of very good, medically-based reasons why going gluten-free might be the best decision you ever make about your diet, and we’re here to enlighten you.

You don’t fully digest wheat.

Surprised? It’s true. Cows, sheep and other animals digest it fine – but they have more than one stomach to break it down and help digest it thoroughly. We, with our puny single stomachs, don’t fare quite as well. Wheat is hard to digest, and the undigested parts start to ferment within your gut, producing gas and causing you to bloat up.

Wheat is an inflammatory agent.

Pro-inflammatory foods, like wheat, convert to sugar very rapidly – causing a rise in your insulin levels, which in turn creates a burst of inflammation on the cellular level. Doesn’t sound pleasant, does it? And this happens to everyone – not just those with gluten sensitivities. This kind of inflammation, it is now being found, can contribute to a number of previously unsuspected diseases – including cardiac disease and Alzheimer’s.

Refined wheat has very little nutrutional value.

There’s not really much point to it nutritionally. Manufacturers take ordinary wheat, which has some amount of nutrition in it, and strip it of any value (creating refined wheat flour, which is the form we use in almost everything – putting a lot of our food on the high glycemic index). Refined wheat flour acts mostly as filler – it doesn’t really do anything positive for your body. See other points for potential negative effects, however!

There are over 300 symptoms and diseases linked to gluten.

Wheat is on the top-eight allergens list – so many people are allergic to it without even knowing what’s causing their discomfort! In fact, 1 in 100 people have Coeliac disease, but most remain undiagnosed. If you’re experiencing gastric discomfort, you should visit your nutritionist. Many symptoms have now been found to be linked to gluten, such as fogginess, mood swings, depression, insomnia, back and joint pain, sore muscles, bone deterioration, stubborn weight, headaches and so on. Overall, you’ll find your body and brain just function better when you go gluten-free.

It’s easy to make the switch!

Most people are afraid of making the switch as they don’t want to sacrifice treats like bread, cake and ready-made pasta, or go through extra effort making their food, but it’s actually surprisingly simple. And you can’t deny that when you replace over-processed, chemically-treated foods like refined flour with real foods, you’ll be in much better health! There are several tricks to replace wheat with other ingredients in your cooking, and there are also loads of great gluten-free products available in today’s market, which can make your life and cooking substantially easier – you can even get gluten-free pasta and low-carb, gluten-free ready meals from brands such as Eat Water! The sacrifice is really very small.