The Latest Hot Diet Trend

[Lori2]

Here are the first couple of paragraphs from an article by Dr. Mercola. Fortunately, he does highlight the severe problems that some people have while saying that most people would be better off without gluten. However, I feel that the fact that there are a lot of people (like me) who have some problems with gluten but are not as severely impacted as most of you, make it more difficult for you to convince people how bad your problem really is.

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"The latest hot diet trend to make headlines, including making an appearance at Chelsea Clintons recent wedding, may turn out to be surprisingly good for your health: gluten-free.

"Caterers and specialty bakeries alike are serving up increasing numbers of gluten-free cakes and other goodies to meet a small, but steady and growing, demand. Many are also offering an increasingly sophisticated vegan variety, which was also featured at Clintons wedding."

[sandsurfgirl]

I kind of laugh when people say gluten free is good for your health. Only if you eat healthy food and you can certainly do that on a gluten diet for a lot cheaper and make life easier if you aren't celiac or intolerant.

Let's see, I think I could make a gluten free day totally NOT healthy.

Breakfast: Kinnikinnick gluten free donuts, coffee with loads of sugar and half and half

Snack: Glutino pretzels, peanut butter, Glutino wafer cookies

Lunch: Amy's Gluten Free Mac and Cheese, canned peaches with sugar added, hot dogs

Snack: Chocolate Pudding, Gluten Free Rice krispie treats

Dinner: In N Out burger no bun, french fries, Chocolate Shake (fries and shakes at In N Out are gluten free.

Yep, real health food!

And I might add, there's way more fat and calories and way less fiber in gluten free replacement foods over whole grain gluten stuff. Phooey!

[kareng]

Fritos, popcorn with extra butter, ice cream.... If only = no calories.

[sandsurfgirl]

I'm struggling to lose weight gluten free. I blow it with Glutino Candy bars, Glutino wafer cookies, Betty Crocker cookie mix, etc. LOL Oh and those Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. Yum!

[i-geek]

I'm struggling to lose weight gluten free. I blow it with Glutino Candy bars, Glutino wafer cookies, Betty Crocker cookie mix, etc. LOL Oh and those Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. Yum!

I find it easiest not to bring that stuff home at all. My mom restocked our kitchen so that we would have available food when we returned from a vacation last week, and she bought a bunch of goodies like gluten-free cookies and muffins from a local bakery. Normally I don't buy that stuff, and now I remember why. Rationally I know I don't need a second cookie right now, but I know the cookies are there and delicious...I think some of this stuff needs to go in the freezer. Out of sight, out of mind. Thankfully she also bought lots of fresh fruit and veg.

[anabananakins]

Here are the first couple of paragraphs from an article by Dr. Mercola. Fortunately, he does highlight the severe problems that some people have while saying that most people would be better off without gluten. However, I feel that the fact that there are a lot of people (like me) who have some problems with gluten but are not as severely impacted as most of you, make it more difficult for you to convince people how bad your problem really is.

Open Original Shared Link

"The latest hot diet trend to make headlines, including making an appearance at Chelsea Clinton’s recent wedding, may turn out to be surprisingly good for your health: gluten-free.

"Caterers and specialty bakeries alike are serving up increasing numbers of gluten-free cakes and other goodies to meet a small, but steady and growing, demand. Many are also offering an increasingly sophisticated vegan variety, which was also featured at Clinton’s wedding."

Oh man. That sort of publicity just causes problems. I'm convinced gluten is evil, but that doesn't mean replacing regular cake with gluten free cake is a good health choice!

I was in the pharmacy the other day and I could hear the assistant saying something about "all this gluten free nonsense" and doing stuff to "capture the gluten free market". I hadn't mentioned anything about gluten to her (and she wasn't' talking to me so I didn't butt in) but I found her comments both inappropriate and yet, kind of understandable. I remember saying something similar to my mother about products in the supermarket (bad karma for me!) People see these products, see 'gluten free' on menus and read articles about Chelsea Clinton's cake, but there's so little explanation of why such products exist and why they are needed. Even if you can get that across; explaining cross contamination is a whole other story. I mean, it takes "I watch what I eat" to whole new level of meaning

We could do quizzes to screen the real gluten free people. [insert some scenario where there is no food option but a salad with croutons in it] Do you:

a) Eat them. Croutons don't contain wheat, silly! Only if they are "whole wheat croutons".

b ) Pick them out. If I can't see it, it can't hurt me!

c) Pull a gluten free snack bar out of your bag. You expected this would happen.

d) Go hungry. You'd hoped this wouldn't happen.

We'd all go with c) or d) and the fad diet people would go with a) or b )

[Monklady123]

Don't forget to add my personal favorite healthy food, Snickers, to the list.

But yes, I think it does make it more difficult for people with celiac or those with a real intolerance when others are only doing it as a "fad" or just as another "diet". I have a friend who started gluten-free after I told her about me. She gets headaches like the ones I was describing so thought she'd try the gluten free thing. But... she picks and chooses. Doesn't eat pasta or white bread but will eat multi-grain bread. Or will eat the croutons in a salad. Etc. It annoys me, although I probably shouldn't let it bother me.

[K8ling]

Don't forget to add my personal favorite healthy food, Snickers, to the list.

But yes, I think it does make it more difficult for people with celiac or those with a real intolerance when others are only doing it as a "fad" or just as another "diet". I have a friend who started gluten-free after I told her about me. She gets headaches like the ones I was describing so thought she'd try the gluten free thing. But... she picks and chooses. Doesn't eat pasta or white bread but will eat multi-grain bread. Or will eat the croutons in a salad. Etc. It annoys me, although I probably shouldn't let it bother me.

SNICKERS IS gluten-free?!?!?!??! OH HAPPY DAY!!!!

That just made my day!!

[Skylark]

I just had this conversation with a friend. I had to remind her that whole wheat bread is really healthy food if you're not gluten sensitive. I wish I could get commercial gluten-free bread with all the fiber and the nice, low glycemic index of whole wheat. All these fadliacs are making me crazy.

[The Glutenator]

And these fad diets are really great for keeping the price of gluten-free food down (said with as much sarcasm as possible)!

[Cheryl-C]

Agree, agree, one hundred times over with everything stated here. When something becomes a "fad," the safety of it goes out the window. There's a difference between someone saying "I don't want the bun on my burger, I'm cutting out carbs" and someone saying, "I don't want the bun on my burger, because you might cc it and I'll be sick all over your lovely bathroom." Ugh.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have things to choose from, and I'm sure the "faddiness" of it all has helped that. I just feel like because there's this fashion to it now, food providers (especially restaurants, omg) are more focused on marketing to those who are watching their figures, as opposed to those of us watching our colons.

*facepalm*

[kareng]

At least I'm really trendy and stylish for once!

[Skylark]

At least I'm really trendy and stylish for once!

:lol: :lol:

I figure if I keep living my life in my usual way, every now and again I line up with the trends through sheer, random chance. Right now my hair is trendy too. Hollywood stars are paying hundreds of dollars for Brazillian Blowouts to get the long, straight hair I naturally have.

[looking4help]

This "fad" diet craze is driving me nuts! I think I will explode if I hear one more person say something like oh!! I have heard of that! That is the new way to lose weight right? How much have you lost?

ARGGGHH!! Well, let's see between the malabsorption (sp??) issues teamed up with the vomiting, and lovely D problems let's see I have lost about 24 pounds in less than 4 months! Problem is that it wasn't FAT I lost! It was muscle mass!

Let's see what this new "fad" diet can do to the restaurant waiter/waitress. Real scenario here: I am at P.F. Chang's and am thrilled to see a gluten free menu and have already read up on how much they are priding themselves in training on gluten-free. Well, I begin my I need gluten free soy sauce to the waiter and he smiles proudly and claims he "gets" it because his dad has the same diet. Really? I exclaimed. (At this point I am all bubbly inside thinking I got a waiter that will really understand me.) THEN he says oh the great thing is that he did the diet for a while and now he is healed. HEALED??? I asked him slowly do you mean that he now can eat gluten???????????? He nodded his head proudly and my heart sunk!

WTH????????? Why oh why do some think that they are "healed" after a period of time on a gluten free diet????

[SGWhiskers]

I make sure I tell everyone that hints at it being a fad diet that I gained 20 lbs when I went gluten free. That usually makes them stop and ask the question about how a "diet" made me gain weight and I give a 4 sentence description of damage, malabsorption, and vitamin deficiencies and the reason it gets a reputation as a "miracle diet."

I can see thoughtful wheels turning about the seriousness of the disease and it makes me feel better about the "fad diet" thing. I don't feel pushy since they brought it up and lots of times, people end up asking about IBS and I tell them to get tested.

Fad diet or not, greater public awareness is leading to more products being labled gluten free. I like seeing it in print at the grocery store and not having to look it up. I do worry about the safety if the government does not step in soon to get strict labeling standards. I also worry about the little companies getting swallowed up.

[modiddly16]

My personal favorite is..."but it says all-purpose unbleached white flour...that's not wheat"

*slaps hand to forehead*

I definitely think people are nuts if they think they'll lose weight by going gluten free...I know some people DO lose weight but I mean...a lot of the way you make up for the lack of ingredients is by adding lots of sugar to gluten free desserts haha

A girl on facebook sent me a message saying she tried those Riceworks Chips and loved them, so she's going to go gluten free and asked me to help. I told her no.

In my defense, I barely know this person and how she even knew about my eating habits is beyond me.

[kareng]

A girl on facebook sent me a message saying she tried those Riceworks Chips and loved them, so she's going to go gluten free and asked me to help. I told her no.

Maybe you could explain that anyone, even evil gluten eaters, can eat Rice Works. The company encourages that.

[bluebonnet]

I'm struggling to lose weight gluten free. I blow it with Glutino Candy bars, Glutino wafer cookies, Betty Crocker cookie mix, etc. LOL Oh and those Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. Yum!

LOL!! all delicious treats that are hard to stay away from!

[Skylark]

My personal favorite is..."but it says all-purpose unbleached white flour...that's not wheat"

Don't you know flour grows on trees, neatly packaged in 5 lb bags?

[srall]

Um, I've admitted this in other posts, but I actually did go gluten free as part of a "fad" diet. Well, I don't know how else to categorize it. I was feeling blah all the time (didn't realize then that chronic D and C, joint pain, fatigue and brain fog were not normal) and my friend (age 42) and her friend (age 60+) had done a diet detox where they eliminated gluten, dairy and soy. My friend said her 60+ friend could now get down on her knees and clean under the fridge. That was beyond my comprehension as I couldn't even sit cross legged anymore. (I am also 42) So I gave it a try and (okay...now you have the Halleluiah Chorus running through your mind) O.M.G. it was Life Changing. My fad diet has transformed my life...given my life back to me. This "fad diet" has literally saved my life. I've been glutened a couple times since and have ended up in bed. There is not a doubt in my mind that gluten/dairy/soy have caused problems including fatigue, brain fog/confusion, infertility, arthritis etc...

Also, I admit I was one of those people who rolled my eyes at people and their special diets (never someone diagnosed celiacs...just those whose diet choices made me nervous, and question my own choices) and see how karma is paying me back?

I think a couple of positive things could come of this latest diet trend. More people may realize that the health problems they are calling "normal" can be managed through diet, and perhaps food will become cheaper and more accessible. Although, funny enough the meat and veggies have been in the stores lo these many years...

[anabananakins]

Um, I've admitted this in other posts, but I actually did go gluten free as part of a "fad" diet. Well, I don't know how else to categorize it. I was feeling blah all the time (didn't realize then that chronic D and C, joint pain, fatigue and brain fog were not normal) and my friend (age 42) and her friend (age 60+) had done a diet detox where they eliminated gluten, dairy and soy. My friend said her 60+ friend could now get down on her knees and clean under the fridge. That was beyond my comprehension as I couldn't even sit cross legged anymore. (I am also 42) So I gave it a try and (okay...now you have the Halleluiah Chorus running through your mind) O.M.G. it was Life Changing. My fad diet has transformed my life...given my life back to me. This "fad diet" has literally saved my life. I've been glutened a couple times since and have ended up in bed. There is not a doubt in my mind that gluten/dairy/soy have caused problems including fatigue, brain fog/confusion, infertility, arthritis etc...

Also, I admit I was one of those people who rolled my eyes at people and their special diets (never someone diagnosed celiacs...just those whose diet choices made me nervous, and question my own choices) and see how karma is paying me back?

I think a couple of positive things could come of this latest diet trend. More people may realize that the health problems they are calling "normal" can be managed through diet, and perhaps food will become cheaper and more accessible. Although, funny enough the meat and veggies have been in the stores lo these many years...

Well, to be honest I guess I did too. I read the Paleo Diet book at Christmas and it made sense to me and I gave up all grains in January and felt fantastic. When I started slipping and eating them again, I eventually worked out my issues were with gluten. I ate gluten for 4 months during testing, and then went totally gluten free. It doesn't matter if I'm celiac or not because I eat as carefully as if I were. I think the difference between that and doing it as a fad diet is that the fad dieters won't worry about being strict with the cross contamination and eliminating ever gluten containing item. If they give up bread and pasta and feel great they are happy with that - but would they refuse a gluten containing pill or grilled chicken cooked on a contaminated grill? They might be 'gluten lite' and feel better but they aren't 'gluten free'.

I was talking to a friend's wife at a party recently and I got very excited when she said she was gluten free... until she said she didn't worry about if she was eating out or at a friends place. She feels mostly better and doesn't have horrible reactions if she gets glutened, so near enough is good enough for her. That actually makes me more scared to eat at her place because I can scare people who don't have any problems with hints of what gluten does to me into being safe for me, but someone who has some problems but not all I think is more likely to think I'm over reacting.

[Skylark]

You want funny? I picked up my gluten sensitivity on Atkin's diet, yet another fad diet. I react strongly enough to wheat that identifying the sensitivity on my elimination diet was easy. (Ow!) I don't react as noticeably to rye and had been eating some rye crackers assuming I had regained my childhood wheat allergy. I dropped everything starchy including the rye to start Atkin's, and suddenly a few nagging GI symptoms vanished. I thought to myself wheat...rye...gluten!!!