http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2018/05/gluten-free-gimmick-2/
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Cardiologist + Author + Health Crusader
"The food you eat is making you sick and the agencies that are providing you with guidelines on what to eat are giving dangerous advice with devastating health consequences. You can change that today."
The Gluten-Free Gimmick
By Dr. Davis |
Don’t be fooled by the marketing. Just because it’s on the shelf at Whole Foods Market doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
I want to begin by clearly stating that people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity need to meticulously avoid all gluten sources, but they do not need gluten-free junk carbohydrate ingredients in their place. This is the sort of self-destructive thinking encouraged by the gluten-free food industry. This industry makes billions by filling grocery stores with overpriced junk carbohydrates.
Don’t replace one problem with another. Removing gluten but replacing it with excessive carbohydrate intake is causing diabetes, dementia, high blood pressure, obesity (need I go on?) to soar.
In both Wheat Belly Total Health and Undoctored I discussed the need to avoid gluten-free foods made with “junk carb” ingredients like cornstarch, potato flour, tapioca starch, and rice flour. This bears repeating, because so many people continue to hear the Wheat Belly message as a “gluten-free” message. The Wheat Belly lifestyle means living a healthy grain-free life, not just going gluten-free.
The majority of gluten-free foods sold in stores pack on the pounds and impair your ability to lose weight. Just because they lack gluten does not make them healthy.
CORN STARCH, RICE FLOUR, TAPIOCA STARCH, OR POTATO FLOUR. These are the four ingredients most commonly used in gluten-free processed foods. They are awful for health and will completely shut down any hope of weight loss, often resulting in outright, sometimes outrageous, weight gain and inflammation.
Managing carbohydrates to improve control over metabolism and health means 100 percent avoidance of these terrible products marketed to an unsuspecting public believing they are eating healthy by avoiding gluten.
Nothing raises blood sugar higher than the gluten-free junk carbohydrates in gluten-free multigrain bread, crackers or gluten-free pasta — higher than even table sugar. Blood sugar that results from eating two slices of whole grain gluten-free bread made with potato flour, rice flour, or other unhealthy grains like millet can easily top 180 mg/ dL (in those without diabetes) over the first hour after consumption, regardless of the mayonnaise, meat, cheese, or other foods in the sandwich.
There are indeed some food producers who have developed gluten-free and grain-free products without junk carb ingredients that do not raise blood sugar and therefore are safe. However, they remain few and far between. This is why I promote Wheat-Free Market products to my community.
