Gluten Free Is Not Enough

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Image courtesy glutenfreein2011.webs.com

Raise your hand if you came to Paleo after realizing that taking gluten out of your diet was not doing it for you. My hand is raised. I was gluten free for about 4 years before going Paleo. Yes, I felt better. The skin on my legs and abdomen didn’t itch so much that it kept me up at night anymore. I wasn’t the crankiest bitch in the world anymore (yes, I was even crankier than I am now…), and I stopped having diarrhea regularly when I took gluten out of my diet. I lost some weight, too. I’m sure some of you can relate with what I’m saying. Taking gluten out of your diet is generally a beneficial thing to do, since not even healthy intestines have an easy time digesting it.

In fact, according to this New York Times Magazine article called “Should We All Go Gluten Free?“, there are some startling statistics to support the growing gluten free trend. Dr. Alessio Fasano, who founded the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, estimates that up to 18 million Americans have some sensitivity to gluten. I personally think it’s more, but alas, we’re getting somewhere with that number anyway. A decade ago, American doctors would hardly acknowledge that an immune response to gluten existed: it took this Italian export (Dr. Fasano) to shed some light on the subject for us. And now… we have gluten free Chex mix!

And gluten free brownies, pancakes, donuts, waffles, cookies, cakes, chips, you name it. And this, to me, is horrifying. I used to eat a whole lot of gluten free brownies myself, which is why I finally came to Paleo. I still wasn’t feeling good, and why would I? You can’t eat crap and expect to feel healthy.

A lot of gluten free crap still has tons of sugar and other horrors in it. For instance, take a look at this gluten free product’s ingredients. Is this safe for YOUR celiac child? Sure, it may contain no gluten, but…

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What about Glutino’s gluten free Oreo-like cookies?

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The ingredients are: icing sugar, flour blend (corn flour, potato starch, corn starch, white rice flour, tapioca starch, soy flour, potato flour, carrageenan, gum arabic, xanthan gum), organic palm oil, canola oil, cocoa powder processed with alkali, natural cocoa powder, invert sugar, natural flavors, corn starch, egg whites, sodium bicarbonate, sea salt, soy lecithin, ammonium bicarbonate.

Two cookies provide 140 calories and 11 grams of sugar, which is actually more of both than a regular Oreo. Who sits down and eats 2 Oreos? Not this girl. If you for some reason could control yourself and eat only 5, you’d be eating about 27 grams of sugar, which is only 10 grams shy of a Coke. Not to mention the fact that they contain GMO corn, GMO soy, refined palm oil, and grains of all kinds. Not really conducive to reducing inflammation, balancing blood sugar, or stabilizing your energy levels, much less avoiding heart disease and cancer with those GMO’s. Your body will be so thrilled.

These are just a mere two examples of the billions of dollars worth of gluten free products on the shelves today. General Mills, Kelloggs and other behemoths are catching on to the gluten free trend and they’re making lots of money off you with their refined flour, refined sugar, and vegetable oils. It’s all the same as their other crap. It just doesn’t have gluten in it. So be smarter than them, and do yourself a favor: try eating Paleo instead. It will do the job that gluten free cookies never will.

Pick up a copy of Paleo Plan’s Quickstart Guide and Paleo Challenge ebook today!