"Gluten Free" - please no mas

[bill5]

Anyone else tired of this silly trend? Gluten is only bad for you if you have some kind of sensitivity or allergy to it. For "normal" people it is in fact a good, healthy thing to have in itself (not saying you should gorge on it either). I'm also tired of the products that proudly and ridiculously proclaim themselves "gluten free" when it's a given, considering the product. Like gluten free veggies, or shampoo.

 

[shadow9d9]

I think the whole purpose is for people that have allergies/sensitivities/celiac's disease. Gluten is also rough for people with stomach problems in general.

 

[pauldun170]

I think the whole purpose is for people that have allergies/sensitivities/celiac's disease. Gluten is also rough for people with stomach problems in general.

Dropping gluten from our diets worked wonders.
Wife went gluten free 2 years ago. I'll only have bread if its a social situation (birthday cake or if I'm a guest and pasta\gluten crap is served)

No regrets and don't care what anyone thinks about it.
I will say that the marketing is crazy nowadays and the garbage they are shelling with a gluten free label is pretty crazy.

 

[Ventanni]

The idea is that it supposedly takes approximately ~200,000 years for the human digestive tract to genetically adjust to new foods on a more global scale, but farming has only been around for 10,000 (ish) years or so. If you look at the foods of our pre-human ancestors, they were foods more akin to the paleo diet (I'm not advocating the paleo diet here, but in general that's what the human body is most suited for: Fruits, nuts, raw vegetables, lean meats, etc).

Personally, I notice a difference when I'm not eating gluten, but this could also simply be the additives they put in bread to preserve freshness. I tend to buy higher quality bread, but as a baker-on-the-side for fun, real homemade additive-free bread doesn't last on the shelf as long as store bought bread does. Makes you wonder just what we're eating!

 

[Zivic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e6buMZPTq0

 

[michal1980]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e6buMZPTq0

has its good moments

 

[CPA]

There's one good think I've found by "becoming" gluten-free - less of my calories are coming from starches and simple carbs (flour). Because so many items now contain flour or wheat of some sort, there are added calories which I just don't need. I have not substituted everything with "gluten-free" products, but I have increased my diet and spend towards them, and don't regret it.

 

[Kaido]

Anyone else tired of this silly trend? Gluten is only bad for you if you have some kind of sensitivity or allergy to it. For "normal" people it is in fact a good, healthy thing to have in itself (not saying you should gorge on it either). I'm also tired of the products that proudly and ridiculously proclaim themselves "gluten free" when it's a given, considering the product. Like gluten free veggies, or shampoo.

Not really, for 2 reasons:

1. I have a gluten allergy, so I benefit from all the nonsense

2. It actually IS helping a lot of people, because they're cutting out Twinkies, white bread, white pasta, etc. So it's a great start to a healthier diet for a lot of people!

 

[michal1980]

Not really, for 2 reasons:

1. I have a gluten allergy, so I benefit from all the nonsense

2. It actually IS helping a lot of people, because they're cutting out Twinkies, white bread, white pasta, etc. So it's a great start to a healthier diet for a lot of people!

So they are eating less. nothing to do with gluten.

 

[Xcobra]

So they are eating less. nothing to do with gluten.

DING DING DING! Even if you still eat products with gluten, you'd still need to eat less calories to freaking lose weight.

 

[Phanuel]

I'm tempted to start eat croissants to fill a calorie # I need to hit because I can only force down so much chicken and so many eggs in a day without getting exhausted at eating.

 

[shortylickens]

Its more than a trend.
People die if they eat gluten. I know two of them. They're both nice as well.

Is penicillin a trend?

 

[WelshBloke]

So they are eating less. nothing to do with gluten.

That is to do with gluten.

Gluten free bread, pasta, cake, etc all tastes like crap!

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

There is a tremendous increase. In food allergies and intolerances. According to the cdc, it went from about 7% when I was a kid to about 17% today and appears to be slowly rising. I've fed people for 40 years and it's pretty clear to me that prepackaged over processed 'convenience ' foods are to blame. It's not because of the media, it's not because people are more aware, it's because convenience has superceded everything else. It's made worse by being such a slow moving trend. The bottom line is all you folks choosing convenience over good food are screwing with your body chemistry and passing it on to your children.

 

[shadow9d9]

That is to do with gluten.

Gluten free bread, pasta, cake, etc all tastes like crap!

I have gluten free pasta that tastes fine.

 

[WelshBloke]

There is a tremendous increase. In food allergies and intolerances. According to the cdc, it went from about 7% when I was a kid to about 17% today and appears to be slowly rising. I've fed people for 40 years and it's pretty clear to me that prepackaged over processed 'convenience ' foods are to blame. It's not because of the media, it's not because people are more aware, it's because convenience has superceded everything else. It's made worse by being such a slow moving trend. The bottom line is all you folks choosing convenience over good food are screwing with your body chemistry and passing it on to your children.

I think we are just much more aware of intolerances now. Years ago people just said that something "didnt agree with them" and just moved on.

I have gluten free pasta that tastes fine.

Every gluten free pasta I've ever tried (and I admit its not many) always has a weird (crumbly?) texture. Had to describe but basically a texture not like pasta.

 

[Zivic]

I think we are just much more aware of intolerances now. Years ago people just said that something "didnt agree with them" and just moved on.

"intolerance" my @ss. either you have celiac disease or you don't. People eat like sh!t and blame it on an intolerance. My sister-in-law is like this. on every freaken' diet you can think of. been gluten free now for over a year and she is the same amount of chunky fat she has been for years.

forget the excess amount of calories, forget the excess drinking... it's the gluten that's the problem

 

[WelshBloke]

"intolerance" my @ss. either you have celiac disease or you don't. People eat like sh!t and blame it on an intolerance. My sister-in-law is like this. on every freaken' diet you can think of. been gluten free now for over a year and she is the same amount of chunky fat she has been for years.

forget the excess amount of calories, forget the excess drinking... it's the gluten that's the problem

I dont know, I certainly get a reaction from eating some strong, hard cheeses. Itchy slightly swollen mouth lining, sweating, weird cold/numb band across my facial sinuses. It doesnt stop me eating it because it tastes great and TBH its part of the experience of eating hard cheese to me so I can totally believe in a reaction below a full blown allergic reaction that causes discomfort.

But, also, yes a lot of people are just being finickety and self absorbed about food as well.

 

[michal1980]

I dont know, I certainly get a reaction from eating some strong, hard cheeses. Itchy slightly swollen mouth lining, sweating, weird cold/numb band across my facial sinuses. It doesnt stop me eating it because it tastes great and TBH its part of the experience of eating hard cheese to me so I can totally believe in a reaction below a full blown allergic reaction that causes discomfort.

But, also, yes a lot of people are just being finickety and self absorbed about food as well.

I think a lot of people are subject to the placebo effect. Gluten is the new boogie man. Just like MSG has been falsely vilified. Or the people that blame vaccines for their kids getting sick.

 

[deadken]

I never thought that a gluten free diet was aimed at those trying to lose weight. I simply thought that it was advertising the fact that those products are made in a way that people who need to avoid gluten could enjoy those products. Perhaps I wrong, or perhaps people who see the label are, I don't know. But, I'm not going to suggest that we complain about those products that state that they are made in a facility that processes nuts. IOW: Those labels are there for a reason. For a select few people who need to follow them.

FWIW: A co-worker of mine was going through hell with his kid who was allergic to a TON of foods. They were exhausted trying to find foods that were made with only the ingredients that the child could eat. This was around 15 years ago, so I don't know if the kid grew out of it or not. Which I was surprised to hear him say the pediatrician had suggested was possible. So, please, be tolerant of people who NEED to see those labels to help them feed their children. My buddy was literally exhausted from reading labels of everything they bought and then trying one thing at a time to see if a re-action happened or not. I bet he would have LOVED to see a 'gluten free' label to help him narrow down how many items he had to read. It might not happen to a lot of people, but to the few it does happen to it can really be a tough time. I'm guessing that now it would be a lot easier to find a website of group that can share product brands and types to help, but back in the 1990's, not so much...

 

[CPA]

Was thinking about this issue again this morning as I was eating some Gluten Free Waffles. That's right, waffles.

Over the 30 years that I've been lifting, brown rice has been the staple carb in bodybuilder/strength gainers menu. White rice does not have the nutritional value. We also MUST stay away from flour, particularly bleached white flour, because it has zero nutritional value and is nothing but empty carbs. Additionally, there has been a trend to include nuts, particularly almonds, into diets.

So, what do most Gluten Free "flour" based foods contain? Brown Rice Flour and Almond Flour. Being floured may reduce some of the nutritional value, however, more importantly, these flour have not been bleached and still contain much of the nutritional content as the whole food.

My argument may be silly but I see nothing wrong with eating a "food" based on two other foods that the lifting community has already deemed worthy and essential.

So, why are so many people hating on the gluten-free trend then? My waffles didn't replace some other nutritional food. It allowed me to enjoy something that I normally would have never eaten. That's the way I see my gluten-free diet.

 

[WelshBloke]

We also MUST stay away from flour, particularly bleached white flour, because it has zero nutritional value and is nothing but empty carbs.

I never quite accept the logic of this. Its trueish but unless your meal consists of nothing but white flour I dont get it. If I am eating a dish of pasta I'm getting carbs from the pasta but also I've got some sauce on the pasta, some veggies/salad on the side and possibly a meat course as well.
The fact that the plain pasta doesn't have everything in doesn't really matter.

 

[angminas]

You really care whether strangers eat gluten?

 

[Zivic]

I dont know, I certainly get a reaction from eating some strong, hard cheeses. Itchy slightly swollen mouth lining, sweating, weird cold/numb band across my facial sinuses. It doesnt stop me eating it because it tastes great and TBH its part of the experience of eating hard cheese to me so I can totally believe in a reaction below a full blown allergic reaction that causes discomfort.

But, also, yes a lot of people are just being finickety and self absorbed about food as well.

dairy is a different animal. my inlaw claims gluten causes her migrane headaches and they have been dramatically reduced being on her gluten free diet..... as we asked her why she missed new years at the family.... oh, I had a migrane

You really care whether strangers eat gluten?

I do because people just cant eat a gluten free diet and stfu about it.

 

[Murloc]

it's not a trend here, it's just that there's more awareness about celiac people and so manufactures write it on their package since it's a selling point.
Nobody believes a gluten-free diet is useful in any way if you're not a celiac and nobody talks about it.

I never quite accept the logic of this. Its trueish but unless your meal consists of nothing but white flour I dont get it. If I am eating a dish of pasta I'm getting carbs from the pasta but also I've got some sauce on the pasta, some veggies/salad on the side and possibly a meat course as well.
The fact that the plain pasta doesn't have everything in doesn't really matter.

I understand the logic when it comes to bread: if you eat white bread, it often doesn't have much taste and you're eating it just because you're hungry and it's normal to eat bread. You might as well not eat it and eat something else instead.

Pasta is pasta so it needs white flour, just control the quantity. Here the white flour serves a purpose. If you're eating it with no sauce and meat on the side, you might as well drop the pasta though because it's acting as a filler again so it can be substituted, it's not an integral part of the dish, it's not the support for any sauce.