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Old Sat, Nov-02-19, 17:53
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Calianna Calianna is online now
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I should probably read Wheat Belly before expressing my opinion on gluten, but I do agree with Bob in that I think there's a bit of a fad concerning gluten free - I suspect the number of people who are so sensitive to gluten that they can't even handle any possibility of cross contamination with gluten containing products is relatively small.


However, I believe there's an awful lot of people who would benefit greatly from not eating gluten, at least from the aspect of it limiting their carb choices, and quite possibly limiting their overall carb intake, since such a large part of the carbs consumed these days are from gluten containing sources.


In addition, it seems that there's simply more gluten out there today than ever before too. In part, it's because of the increased gluten content of modern wheat. But then I also compare the results of home bread baking to what's available ready made. That 100% rye bread I talked about earlier was so dense, and would only rise ever so slightly because it had so little gluten in it. Those loaves were as heavy as bricks, even heavier and more dense than the solid, heavy, commercially made breads that I've seen from time to time(german ryes and pumpernickels, with just a few thin slices sold in a little cellophane packet, shaped like little rectangular bricks). If I were to go in search of a typical commercial or bakery made loaf of rye bread, what I'd find would be almost as light and fluffy as a loaf of white bread, because they add so much gluten to it to make it more attractive and palatable to modern bread expectations. There was also a huge difference between the whole wheat breads I made, and the whole wheat bread available commercially - mine was a lot more dense, just not nearly to the extent of that rye bread.

Anyhow, my point is that even with bread products that were traditionally (centuries ago) made only with the gluten that happened to exist in the particular grain used to make that type of bread, there wasn't nearly as much gluten in it as there is now. If you're the least bit sensitive to gluten (gluten is a protein, most allergens are proteins, hence gluten is very suspect as an allergen), your body is taking quite a gluten hit every time you eat any kind of gluten containing product these days. Depending on your reaction to it, and the severity of your reaction, you could very possibly find that going gluten free eliminates all kinds of problems, many of which the typical individual might not think could be related to diet.

So despite my belief that gluten free is a bit of a fad, considering how much gluten is out there in so many things, I think it's probably a good fad, and will likely help a lot of people, assuming they can stick to it long enough to see benefits, and don't go overboard replacing standard gluten containing products with the ever growing selection of gluten free substitutes out there.
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