Are There Health Benefits From Going Gluten Free?

[celiac-in-WV]

What are the benefits, if any, of going gluten free if there is no need to? I am not celiac but my husband is and I thought since he has to eliminate gluten I might as well also. Will it make me a healthier person too?

[queenofhearts]

I think going gluten-free in & of itself is not necessarily healthier, because there are plenty of gluten-free foods that are still not so good for you. (For example, a diet of nothing but Snickers bars would not do much for your health!) But if you are taking the approach of eating a purer diet with more whole foods, fruits, veg, &c. & less processed stuff, then you could certainly reap health rewards yourself. It won't be as dramatic a difference as if you were removing an allergen, but it couldn't hurt!

And by the way, it will make things very much easier for your husband, & you won't have to brush your teeth every time you kiss him! I think it's a very generous thing to do. (And even if you eat gluten outside the home, having a gluten-free household will make his life much less stressful.)

[Rikki Tikki]

What Leah, you mean my diet of snicker bars is not good for me???

[queenofhearts]

Well, it could use more variety. Have you thought of adding M&Ms now & then?

[Rikki Tikki]

Actually I eat them so I can get all my greens!!!

[Ursa Major]

What are the benefits, if any, of going gluten free if there is no need to? I am not celiac but my husband is and I thought since he has to eliminate gluten I might as well also. Will it make me a healthier person too?

As Leah mentioned, it depends on what you eat. If you want to cut out grains and starches in general, including substitute junk food (making them only an occasional treat), then yes, you could definitely benefit healthwise. And so would your husband.

If, on the other hand, you buy substitutes for everything you ate previously, like gluten-free bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, sweets, pasta etc., then I would say, no, you'll do the opposite. Because those substitute foods are generally higher in starch and sugars and therefore are worse for your health than the foods that contain gluten. Those substitutes won't damage the villi further (unless your husband also has intolerances to things like soy, rice and corn, as I do), but they wouldn't benefit his general health.

[queenofhearts]

Ah yes, the green ones have special powers. (But we'd better look out, we're hijacking this thread!)

[Nancym]

Actually you might just feel better giving up the gluten. And what a wonderful way of supporting your hubby! I saw, give it a shot!

[BFreeman]

What are the benefits, if any, of going gluten free if there is no need to? I am not celiac but my husband is and I thought since he has to eliminate gluten I might as well also. Will it make me a healthier person too?

I don't know about the 'healthier" part, but it will sure make things easier on you. I'm not celiac but husband has DH; I wouldn't have done it if our children were still at home, but I made a clean sweep of the kitchen, gave away bags and bags of things, and have all my alternative flours lined up in jars on the counter and my downloaded recipes organized in a book. When home, I eat what he eats. I don't have to watch out for cross-contamination, it's easier to fix just one meal, etc. The only thing I buy for myself that he can't have is an occasional exotic flavor of ice cream. I fix pizza, pasta, whatever I want to fix, with gluten-free ingredients; I even made my mother-in-law's birthday dinner gluten-free and no one would have known. (That chocolate cake recipe with cream cheese frosting someone posted was so good I would make it even if we could go back to the way it was.)

BF

[penguin]

Well, if you're gluten-free and don't buy a lot of the gluten-free substitutes (breads, cookies, donuts, etc), you de facto cut out a lot of crap. Almost the entire fast food industry, for example. In my household, we eat healthier just because we can't eat out as much and what we eat when we're out is healthier anyway. My husband doesn't have to be gluten-free, but he mostly is at home (cheerios and crackers excluded) and he eats a lot healthier because the stuff to binge on isn't around. Except, of course, when he's out to lunch with his buddies

But if you eat a lot of substitutes and ice cream and corn chips, you'll be even more unhealthy, just because the replacement stuff is super unhealthy. A slice of gluten-free bread usually has 3-4 times the calories and fat than that of wheat bread, and usually no fiber.

[kbtoyssni]

Going gluten-free in itself won't make you healthier, but the increased awareness of knowing exactly what's in everything you're eating probably will make you eat healthier. There aren't any negatives to going gluten-free, though (unless of course you change to the Snickers-only diet), so I'd do it. I don't know if it's possible to express how appreciative I'd be if I were your husband. You will make his life so, so much easier and healthier that I think it's worth it.