Gluten Free, The Way To Be???

“I’ve been training so hard and the scale stays the same.” “I did cardio everyday last week and my pants still don’t fit any better!” “I can’t get my strength to go up no matter what I do.” Do you fall into these categories? The majority of complaints I hear are based on the fact that the individual is doing the work but not seeing the results. Now, I usually tear down their current program and find a million flaws but let’s say that their statement is true; they are literally following every workout perfectly and still not seeing results. What now? There can be a few factors holding them back such as; hormone imbalances, lack of sleep/recovery time, or diet. Odds are it’s diet!

With a million fad diet plans coming out, almost on a daily basis, it makes it very difficult to know what is the right plan to follow. This is where it’s easy to get lost in eating the wrong things because you think they are good for you. Let’s look at one of the most recent trends in winning the war on weight gain; gluten-free. Will taking gluten out of your daily diet really help you lose weight? First we look at the reasoning behind the surge. Celiac disease is a full-blown allergy to gluten that affects only a small percentage of the population. However, there is growing concern that even a mild reaction, or gluten sensitivity, occurs in a much higher percentage of the population than people realize. Those sensitive to gluten may have increased levels of digestive issues, inflammation and reduced nutrient absorption. These factors can affect our ability to lose weight. Now that we know how it can harm us, let’s look at how taking it out can affect us.

Wheat is the most common source of gluten in the diet, but gluten is found in a variety of starch sources, such as: bread, cereal, pasta and other processed foods and baked goods. When people make a conscious effort to eliminate gluten from their diet, they’ll likely reduce their overall carbohydrate intake as well. Replacing wheat bread with gluten-free bread doesn’t reduce carbohydrate intake, therefore not directly affecting weight loss. If you choose to eliminate gluten from your diet for weight loss purposes, you’ll want to eat more vegetables, nuts, seeds and protein instead of replacing one carbohydrate option for another. Reducing carbohydrates in the diet has been shown to consistently support weight loss not necessarily reducing gluten. Now we are back to the basics of Dieting 101. When we take out processed, high carbohydrate foods we tend to lose weight. Eliminating starches and adding more protein and veggies will have you seeing results. It seems that following a gluten-free diet isn’t really the culprit; rather following proper nutrition will already have you eating gluten free for the most part. Gluten is not an active ingredient in any healthy diet so eliminating should be easy if you are making the right choices. So when you look at trending diets just know that you may need to do more than just eliminate gluten or whatever the “evil of the week” may be in order to reduce your waist line. Some of these fads are great ways to start but they never replace the basics of a good diet. Buying gluten-free everything only means you are eating a bunch of foods that you should not have needed in the first place. Be careful when jumping on the newest bandwagons. Stick to simple principles when trying to lose weight: take in the protein, grab the veggies and BRING IT!!!