This So-Called Gluten Free Diet Fad

Recently I have been seeing quite a few articles surfacing around the Internet about the gluten free diet.  Sounds good right?  Well as I read through them I realized they were calling going gluten free… a diet fad!  Which I guess I wouldn’t exactly mind if thats all these articles were talking about… but astonishingly these writers are actually claiming that gluten free products were going to far or “going overboard” on their marketing being that “so few people actually have full blown Celiac Disease”.

Now I get that if you do not truly have Celiac Disease and you are only going gluten free to loose weight that it may not work as well as one would have hoped considering you can still bake cookies…just with a gluten free recipe or that some gluten free products actually have more calories than regular gluten filled foods.  I personally gained about 15 pounds after going gluten free, granted I was severely malnourished from suffering from Celiac for 15 years before getting diagnosed.

So what really bothers me about these articles that seem to be complaining about seeing gluten free products on store shelves?  To me it just goes to show how oblivious some people in society today can be when they do not have to worry about every little thing they eat thinking- is this going to make me sick in the bathroom for a week?  Or damage my intestines, possibly causing cancer later on?  These people will probably never fully understand how wonderful it is for people living with Celiac Disease to go into a regular grocery store and pick up a baking mix or even some cereal…that tastes like real cereal!  And the sad thing is they probably will never understand, unless they or someone close to them develops a severe food allergy or autoimmune disorder.

And to the people who they claim do not need gluten free foods since they do not truly have Celiac Disease, I am happy that they are taking an interest in gluten free foods.  And I hope they continue to purchase gluten free products to encourage companies making the gluten free foods to continue doing so!