Gluten free is not a fad diet. It’s a way of life, much like veganism and vegetarian or even pescetarianism. While its purpose is to eliminate gluten from one’s diet, it has recently gained popularity due to fitness gurus and influencers selling it as another form of clean eating. Some even believe that it is healthier than having gluten in your diet, but there has been no hard evidence of health or weight loss benefits for those who do not have a gluten allergy.
However, another study suggests that it may help with losing weight and increase overall health. Regardless, people on the diet do claim that gluten makes them more sluggish and breakout, certain gluten intolerant individuals even develop depression. If you’re planning to start your journey to a gluten-free life, here are a few tips to get you started.
Kiss your carbs goodbye
For some people, this is incredibly easy. For others, they might find it hard to replace their pasta with konjac pasta, or their pizza with gluten free options. However, this is the sacrifice that one makes if they want to go gluten-free. Reach for more whole foods and fruits or protein is going to be much healthier than processed carbs. Furthermore, nutritionists have been suggesting that the recommended diet for humans consist of vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, fish and lean meat instead of processed wheat and the like. But there’s one thing that doesn’t occur to many: Gluten-free does not equate wheat-free. This means that you can still have a diet that consists of rice, millet, quinoa and buckwheat.
It’s not going to be convenient
If you think that you can just reach for any gluten-free option in the supermarket… You’re right. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be reaping the weight loss benefits because processed food is processed food. Expect to have lots of refined grains or sugar and a whole lot of calories.
There are also a bunch of hidden gluten in packaged food. You will need to learn to read the labels as they can be hiding behind any of the following: wheat, barley, rye, malt, brewer’s yeast and oats. You will most likely need to prepare your meals in advance and double checking everything that you’re buying to ensure that it’s gluten free because companies can slap the label on without necessarily being gluten free.
Planning to lose weight? Think twice
If you’re looking for a diet that will help you shed your extra pounds, you should take another step back and evaluate what you’re willing to give up and what you’re not. Losing weight isn’t about going on a diet or another, but it’s about making the necessary adjustments to your lifestyle. Cutting out one group of food or another permanently from your diet is impractical and unhealthy for the mind because you’ll find yourself obsessing over it. You should be able to eat what you want but in controlled amounts. If you’re a pizza lover, don’t torture yourself over going on a gluten-free diet, instead, think about how many healthy meals you can have a week without feeling like a chore or massive pressure. Losing weight is easy, but losing weight healthily takes effort and it shouldn’t come in the form of a simple diet.
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