Summary of GFD
Gluten Free Diet – a gluten free diet is a recommended diet for individuals diagnosed with celiac disease ( an autoimmune disease ) and those with a gluten “sensitivity.” Symptoms of gluten sensitivity vary; however, some common elements are weight gain, weight loss, stomach bloating, stomach pain, stomach distension, gas, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting; long term symptoms show as hair loss, fatigue, headache, possibly migraine, dermatitis and joint pain. Females may also miss or have sporadic menstrual periods.
Gluten is a protein compound found in wheat, barley, rye, and triticale.
The goal of the diet is to reduce or eliminate the ingestion of gluten.
Strengths
Awareness of food effect on behavior.
Priorities are clear cut.
Reduces intake of processed foods.
Emphasizes whole foods.
Drinking plenty of water is mandatory.
Symptom changes are noticeable.
Weaknesses
RDA vitamin and mineral deficiencies occur when whole grains are missing from diet.
Calorie intake is severely reduced when removing grains like wheat from the diet.
Allergic sensitivity and autoimmunity are not distinguished clearly – medical laboratory tests may be required.
Support structure may be difficult to establish.
Focuses on manufactured or process foods requiring package inspection beyond normal or standardized food labels.
Other:
Rating of this Diet: For those just beginning a gluten free diet, ratings are usually low. As one becomes more familiar with removing processed foods containing gluten, and eating more whole foods, ratings tend to go up.
Because it’s hard to effectively bring all the components of this diet into one’s eating behaviors and because direction and support for this diet is not well known, this diet is very challenging if not just plain difficult.
Diet analysis:
The choice of a gluten free diet is odd, if one does not have a medical diagnosis prescribing the diet or if one is trying to simply remedy symptoms that should actually be diagnosed and treated by a physician. Unlike many diets, for a celiac, the gluten free diet is a lifelong diet. Without correction to diet, as diet is the only known treatment, there are higher risks of colon and small intestine cancers as well as health deterioration stemming from the GI tract’s inability to absorb nutrients ( malabsorption and malnutrition ).
Celiac disease occurs when small intestine villi are damaged, and enterocytes that release digestive enzymes are not functioning as intended. These issues combine to inhibit the small intestine’s ability to process and absorb nutrients.
If this gastointestinal disease is diagnosed by a gasteroenterologist, which can be completed through blood testing and a biopsy of the small intestine, and the diet is prescribed, most of those who are making their first attempts at going gluten free will face many challenges and setbacks.
The variations in the amounts of gluten in various packaged products and the amount of gluten that adversely affects someone can vary from package to package and person to person.
Many diagnosed, and even those who have not been diagnosed, with celiac disease experience severe weight loss. This type of weight loss is not limited to fat loss, as non-gastrointestinal symptoms like early bone disease, anemia, and other kinds of autoimmune disease (e.g., type 1 diabetes and or thyroid disease) may affect body systems other than the gastrointestinal tract.
The gluten free diet is used to reduce common symptoms produced by celiac disease, help the individual maintain a healthy body weight, and allow the individual a healthier lifestyle. Many of the diets plans in the USA have an obsession with diet as weight loss programs. This nuance undercuts a more accurate description of diets as fat loss programs. Although weight gain or muscle-mass building diets may often resemble weight loss diets with their eat-more-of-this and eat-less-of-that type programs, many, and I should say most, dieters investing in these kinds of diet plans find their own weight resembling a yo-yo with weight fluctuating up and down. A diet designed for healthy energy balance and active lifestyle choices, or even a diet to put on weight with a goal other than muscle mass, is an oddity when the diet doesn’t fit with more recognized fat or weight loss programs.
Note that a gluten free diet does not necessarily mean a diet free of gluten.
Various levels of gluten can be discovered through food package logos describing variations of foods containing gluten in parts per million:
GF-5ppm is CSA (Celiac Sprue Association) certified.
GF-10ppm is GFCO ( Gluten Free Certification Organization aka GIG ) certified.
Any manufacturer can voluntarily report GF-20ppm, and these manufacturer’s foods can, and, indeed, often do contain wheat, barley, rye, triticale, and oats.
Alternative diet choice possibilities:
Although both of these diet alternatives do not address the nutritional RDAs for healthy skin, bone, and GI tract function, those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Irritable Bowel Disease ( i.e., Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis), and even those diagnosed with celiac disease, may find the SCD ( Simple Carbohydrate Diet ) to be beneficial.
A second alternative is the FODMAP diet.
If the gluten free diet is not reducing symptoms, either or both of these diet alternatives may be worth trying.
Additional research cited below assisted in determining gluten free diet variations per the Food and Drug Administration Guidelines website as well as a celiac disease website :
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/ScienceResearch/ResearchAreas/RiskAssessmentSafetyAssessment/UCM264152.pdf
http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/PreventingCrossContamination/a/Gluten-Free-PPM-table.htm