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The Gluten-Free Diet: A Beginner's Guide With Meal Plan.
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NUTRITION
The Gluten-Free Diet: A Beginner's Guide With Meal Plan
Written by Ryan Raman, MS, RD on December 12, 2017
What Is Gluten?
Why It's Bad
Foods to Avoid
Foods to Eat
Health Benefits
Negative Effects
Gluten-Free Menu
Helpful Tips
Bottom Line
A gluten-free diet involves excluding foods that contain the protein gluten, including wheat, rye and barley.
Most studies on gluten-free diets have been done on people with celiac disease, but there is another condition called gluten sensitivity that also causes problems with gluten.
If you are intolerant to gluten, then you need to avoid it completely. If not, you will experience severe discomfort and adverse health effects (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source).
Here is a complete guide to the gluten-free diet, including a delicious sample menu. But first, let’s start with the basics.
Gluten is a family of proteins found in wheat, barley, rye and spelt.
Its name comes from the Latin word for “glue,” as it gives flour a sticky consistency when mixed with water.
This glue-like property helps gluten create a sticky network that gives bread the ability to rise when baked. It also gives bread a chewy and satisfying texture (3Trusted Source).
Unfortunately, many people feel uncomfortable after eating foods that contain gluten. The most severe reaction is called celiac disease.
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the body mistakenly harms itself. Celiac disease affects up to 1% of the population and can damage the intestines (4Trusted Source).
If eating gluten makes you feel uncomfortable, it’s best to tell your doctor.
These are the most common ways to test for celiac disease (5Trusted Source):
Blood test. A blood test will look for antibodies that incorrectly interact with the gluten protein. The most common test is a tTG-IgA test.
Biopsy from your small intestine. People with a positive blood test will likely need to have a biopsy. This is a process in which a small tissue sample is taken from your intestine and checked for damage.
It’s best to get tested for celiac disease before trying a gluten-free diet. Otherwise, it will become hard for your doctor to tell if you have celiac disease or not.
People who don’t have celiac disease but feel they may be sensitive to gluten can try a strict gluten-free diet for a few weeks to see if their symptoms improve. Be sure to seek assistance from a doctor or dietitian.
After a few weeks, you can re-introduce foods that contain gluten into your diet and test for symptoms. If a gluten-free diet doesn’t help your symptoms, it is likely that something else is causing your digestive problems.
SUMMARY
Gluten is a family of proteins that is found in certain grains. Eating it causes harmful effects in people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.
Why Gluten Is Bad for Some People
Most people can eat gluten without experiencing side effects.
However, people with gluten intolerance or celiac disease cannot tolerate it.
People with other disorders like wheat allergy and non-celiac gluten sensitivity also frequently avoid gluten.
Aside from an allergy, there are two main reasons why someone would want to avoid gluten.
Celiac Disease
Celiac disease affects up to 1% of people worldwide (4Trusted Source).
It is an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakes gluten as a foreign threat. To remove this “threat,” the body overreacts and attacks the gluten proteins.
Unfortunately, this attack also damages surrounding areas, such as the gut wall. This can lead to nutrient deficiencies, severe digestive issues and anemia, as well as increase the risk of many harmful diseases (6Trusted Source).
People with celiac disease often experience sharp stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, skin rashes, stomach discomfort, bloating, weight loss, anemia, tiredness and depression (1Trusted Source).
Interestingly, some people with celiac disease don’t experience digestive symptoms. Instead, they may experience other symptoms like fatigue, depression and anemia.
However, these symptoms are also common in many other medical conditions, making celiac disease difficult to diagnose.
