| A gluten free diet is not something anyone will | | | | well as essential fatty acids, are common due to |
| take up just for fun, as unless you have a | | | | interference with the absorption of other food. |
| sensitivity to gluten, it is of no benefit. Contrary | | | | Even after following a gluten free diet for over a |
| to popular belief, it is not a weight loss diet. It's | | | | year, many people still suffer from various |
| true that some people lose weight when they | | | | vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies. It's probably a |
| first start on a GF diet, but others gain weight. | | | | good idea for anyone, but particularly someone on |
| Of course, sometimes the only way to find out if | | | | a gluten free diet, to eat some fish or take a fish |
| you are gluten intolerant is to exclude it from the | | | | oil supplement every day and supplement with a |
| diet for a period of time, and see if the | | | | good one-a-day multivitamin and mineral |
| symptoms you suspect it may be causing go | | | | supplement (making sure that it is labelled as |
| away. [Gluten intolerance is also often linked to | | | | gluten free). If you look for selenium on the label, |
| other intolerances, such as to dairy products. ed] | | | | that indicates that it is probably a good mix. |
| The foods which contain gluten are all grains of | | | | Anyone on a gluten free diet will have become |
| one kind or another, principally wheat, rye and | | | | aware of just how much the standard diet relies |
| barley, as well as products derived from them, | | | | on flour and other wheat, rye and barley |
| such as malt, wheat germ, semolina, etc. If you | | | | derivatives. It's quite difficult to fill a shopping |
| eat these and you have celiac disease you don't | | | | trolley with gluten free food in the average |
| absorb the nutrients; they cause damage to your | | | | supermarket, even though many do make an |
| intestine and sometimes other problems as well. | | | | effort to provide a small selection of such |
| The situation is similar in other forms of gluten | | | | products on a couple of shelves at the back of |
| intolerance. For this reason, gluten is of no | | | | the store. Because in the main, the store's |
| nutritional value to people suffering from gluten | | | | grocery buyers do not have this condition, the |
| intolerance, quite apart from the damage it may | | | | selection available is usually small, and may consist |
| be causing. In fact, one of the signs used in the | | | | of items which are picked with little regard for |
| initial diagnosis of celiac disease is nutritional | | | | quality, purely on grounds of easy availability. |
| deficiency. | | | | Because wheat and its derivatives are so |
| Obviously, if you can't get any nutritional benefit | | | | versatile, substitutes for wheat and its partners in |
| from gluten AND it's doing you damage, then a | | | | crime are many and varied, depending on exactly |
| gluten free diet is a necessity, but there are | | | | what they are being used for. For example, gram |
| important nutrients which in a normal diet would | | | | or chickpea flour (besan or garbanzo flour in the |
| be obtained from wheat and the rest, which will | | | | US) makes a great batter for coating vegetables |
| need to be considered when deciding what to use | | | | or small pieces of meat, rice flour can be used to |
| as a substitute. Although you may be able to get | | | | make pancakes and for thickening gravy and |
| similar bulk, taste and properties as an ingredient, | | | | sauces, buckwheat flour is often used in baking. |
| the nutrients will be different, and you have to be | | | | We don't have millennia of experience of this type |
| aware of this, and make adjustments elsewhere. | | | | of cooking, so we can't rely on recipes and |
| In the UK, all wheat flour except wholemeal is | | | | methods handed down from one generation to |
| fortified with iron, thiamin, niacin and (for most | | | | the next to balance our diet, but by watching our |
| types) calcium by law. Whole wheat flour naturally | | | | bodies, and taking note of information we find on |
| contains useful quantities of magnesium, niacin and | | | | packets and elsewhere, it becomes easier. |
| folate, as well as selenium in some cases | | | | A gluten free diet won't cause malnutrition in |
| (depending on where it is grown). White flour also | | | | somebody who needs to be on it, rather the |
| contains around 10% protein. None of these | | | | reverse. But nobody should eat gluten free if they |
| nutrients are available to someone who is gluten | | | | don't need to either for diagnostic or health |
| intolerant, and deficiencies of vitamins D and K, | | | | reasons. |
| folic acid, calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc, as | | | | |