The Label 'Gluten-Free' Is Everywhere-But Should You Actually Eliminate It From Your Diet?

• Some medical conditions require strict gluten avoidance, such as celiac disease.
• Some practitioners recommend people with autoimmune disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, psoriasis, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, avoid gluten.
• People with non-celiac gluten sensitivity can have side effects from consuming gluten, such as flu-like feelings, bloating, mental fogginess, and fatigue.
• Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is a skin rash that results from eating gluten.

Gluten-free foods can also be highly processed and lack nutrients. The gluten-free craze has caused a boom in highly processed foods made with refined gluten-free grains, such as white rice. The fact that a product is gluten-free does not mean it is automatically healthy.

Gluten-free whole grains full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibre, include brown rice and quinoa. Gluten-free, carb-rich foods include sweet potatoes and fruit.

• Many people say they eat gluten-free, but they've just eliminated wheat-based foods like bread, pasta, and bagels. Wheat is only one source of gluten.
• Some people think gluten is found in every type of grain. Gluten-free grains include rice, corn, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, sorghum, teff, and oats.
• Some people think all carb-rich foods contain gluten. The truth is that most whole foods are naturally gluten-free, except for a handful of grains.