After nearly a decade of living G-free, I can honestly say that even if I did not have celiac disease, I would still choose to be G-free. Why? This diet, which I originally went on for medical reasons, has benefited my body and mind in more ways than I could ever have imagined. Gone are the days of living off foods with mile-long lists of ingredients, or one-dimensional starches that left me forever craving more… without providing my body with the nutrients that it needed to thrive. I have more energy than before. I have more stamina to train and work out more efficiently. By default, when those factors are in synch, I tend to want to eat in a healthier way.
You, too, may find that by building your diet around basic foods close to their natural state—foods direct from the earth such as fish and meats, fruits and vegetables and nuts—you will nourish your body, instead of merely cluttering it with empty calories and unpronounceable chemicals. Though it may seem like a removal diet, the G-free lifestyle will in fact open your eyes to the variety of nutrient-dense foods you have been missing out on. “If you look at foods in nature,” says nutritionist Ashley Koff, RD, “giving up gluten is actually almost a nonissue. There are maybe five things you can’t have.”
We are always investigating the amount of memory our computer hard drive has, or how many gigs of music our iPod can hold, or how many operations our phones can perform, and at what speed—why not think about the foods that we put into our bodies with the same level of specificity? If only we demanded the same efficiency from our foods as we do from our electronic devices!
As it is, we obsess over fat and calories but pay very little attention to actual ingredients in the foods we eat, and the essential nutrients that they should be delivering. Somehow, we lose sight of the fact that, quite simply, some foods are healthier and more nutritionally dense than others. Some foods fill us up and leave us happy and satisfied; other foods leave us constantly hungry for more. Foods that carry maximum nutritional impact are crucial, whether you have embarked on a particular diet out of necessity, or by choice.
Most people can relate to episodes of overeating. Many times, you might feel a persistent dissatisfaction, even after a monster meal. Sound familiar? No matter what quantity of food you are eating, if your body is not getting the nutrients that it needs, it will continue to want more. Your body has an internal checklist of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that it needs every day to flourish. If your diet is not checking off every item on that list, your body sends signals to “keep on searching,” to fill those nutritional deficiencies… thus throwing us into “overdrive eating.”
Once G-free, you are no longer simply robot-eating bag after bag of pretzels. You are examining every food choice, and measuring how those choices make your body feel. Soon you become aware of alternatives—you will probably even want to research ingredients in more detail.
Refuse to believe the myth that a G-free diet is a restricted diet. In reality, the exact opposite is true. Some people will say, “Oh, I am so sorry that you cannot have so many things!” or “Why would you ever give up everything you used to eat?” Don’t be fooled into thinking that going G-free means limiting your options. This diet is about getting more, not giving up. If you are conscientious and do your research, it will have the exact opposite effect—of expanding what you eat on a daily basis. Many people eat a nutritionally flat diet of wheat, wheat, and more wheat: cereal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, pizza for dinner. Missing from this food schedule is variety—and nutritional balance. Before going G-free, I ate only one or two grains, and a fairly straightforward repetition of meals. Even if I could, I would never turn back to such a limited menu.
To give just one example: If not for my diagnosis, would I have ever even learned how to say the word “quinoa”? I highly doubt it. But as soon as I realized how powerful (not to mention yummy) this food was, I was absolutely astonished. Was it possible that a single food could give me such a megadose of nutrients? How could I not have known? Why was I not demanding as much from my food before I got sick? This once-mysterious food has since become an all-star staple in my cupboard.
The secret to long-term health and fitness is not counting calories and fat and leaping on the scale first thing every morning. (I have done all of the above.) Though these numbers may make you feel more in control, the critical information is what’s behind those numbers. You can get triple the amount of fat from a bag of almonds than from a bag of M&M’s, but the nutritional content isn’t even in the same ballpark. In terms of heat and energy burned versus energy stored, 2,000 calories is 2,000 calories. That said, eating 2,000 calories of junk a day would leave you with a significant mineral and vitamin deficiency—and a significant lack of energy. Eventually, your body is going to cry uncle. Going G-free forces you to step up and start looking at the big picture.
Once you begin selecting your input based on the nutritional content of foods, you will start to witness the incredible effect eating this way has on your brain, your energy level, your whole outlook on life.
Learning to investigate what you eat, Ashley Koff, RD, confirms, can work wonders both on your body and your overall well-being. “If somebody comes to me and asks about giving up gluten, I will say, ‘Absolutely,’” she told me. “We are overwheated. We eat too many premade products. There are so many naturally gluten-free foods that provide valuable nutrients and offer taste variety. So avoiding gluten, and incorporating these options, can be a health-improving, absolutely beneficial decision,” she said.
Even if you do not have celiac disease, the G-free diet is a terrific way to amp up your health regime by demanding more from your foods. You don’t have to give up gluten altogether if you’re primarily making this move to slim down. You can start by G-freeing one aspect of your diet—your breakfast cereal, say, or your lunchtime sandwich—and see how you feel after a week. If that inspires you to remove gluten from yet another part of your diet, by all means go for it! But it is important to note that going G-free will not, in and of itself, make you skinny. That is not what this diet is about. This diet is about making choices that maximize your health and give you the most bang for your nutritional buck.
Even G-free foods are not exempt from the nutritional magnifying glass. Is it better to have a pasta without gluten? Yes. Are there some that are more beneficial to your system than others? Most definitely. Simply grabbing a G-free pasta or bread without examining exactly what it will offer you is better than simply grabbing the old standby, but your investigations should not end there. Read the label, and consider every ingredient. People with celiac disease are already in the habit of taking these steps before eating any food, and I believe that this extra attentiveness does more than just keep us safe from gluten: It also heightens our awareness of nutrition in general, and makes us think more carefully about what exactly we are putting in our bodies.
“People with any sort of food allergy are unequivocally better eaters,” said Pat Manocchia of La Palestra. “The consequence of eating the wrong food is dramatic and instant. With someone who is just eating ice cream every day,” he went on, “they might not really know that it’s clogging their arteries. But it is. They just don’t have that immediate feedback mechanism as a guideline.” Even if you are lucky enough not to get immediately ill after ingesting gluten, you might find that, after a G-free period of time, you feel more sluggish than usual after coming into contact with gluten.
Patrick Cole, of New York City, who gave up gluten to improve his energy levels and regulate his weight, says that, after three years on the G-free diet, he feels immediate stomach cramping and intense fatigue after any accidental encounter with gluten.
Eating plenty of whole grains and seeds such as quinoa and rice bran—which are dense in nutrients and rank much lower on the glycemic index than your run-of-the-mill refined wheat product—is crucial. Low-glycemic-index carbohydrates, which release slowly into your bloodstream, provide a steady flow of energy over several hours, rather than the quick sugar high that a plain white baguette (which has a glycemic index higher than 100—and the index ranges from 14 to 103!) or chocolate chip cookie will give. Low GI carbs can also help prevent the storage of food as fat. In making the switch to G-free living, pay attention to a food’s glycemic index. Choose grains that provide for lasting burn, and not a quick spike and then severe dip of energy. (See the charts on here.)
Many of the general ground rules for carb intake apply to G-free carb intake as well: “Understanding how carbohydrates affect your body is critical to a successful gluten-free diet,” says Ashley Koff, RD, who recommends eating small amounts every three hours to optimize metabolism and provide more reliable energy. “We absorb nutrients better that way,” she said. “Breaking up meals—and especially our carbohydrate intake—puts less strain on our digestive system. Whether a food contains gluten or not, you really have to pay attention to the balance of carbohydrates in your body.” By the same token, just because a food is gluten-free, you still should not devour the entire bag (been there, done that, will do that again), however tempted you might be. You are not exempt from the laws of portion control!
Like anyone else, you also need to monitor the nutritional profile of your diet. G-freers often have deficiencies in fiber, magnesium, and some B vitamins. Often, this is due to the fact that most wheat and gluten-containing products are fortified, and have vitamins and minerals added to them. Most G-free products, on the other hand, are not fortified, since the fortification process can often introduce glutenous contaminants into a food. Therefore, Ashley Koff stresses the importance of making sure that you are getting the proper spectrum of nutrients on the G-free diet. “As in everything, try to balance your nutrient intake (carbs, protein, fat) and get them from a variety of foods,” she says. Many regular G-full breads are fortified with nutrients, so when you exchange them for G-free breads and pastas—many of which are not fortified—you want to make sure your other dietary choices make up these potential nutrient deficits. It can be fun to do so; throw some pine nuts on your pasta or include olives and chopped vegetables in your pasta sauce. “If you are eating a variety of real foods,” says Ashley, “you are probably not going to incur any nutrient deficiencies. But if you are living off packaged and processed foods—whether they are G-free or not—then you increase your risk for deficiencies.”
As always, consult with your physician before trying any new diet. If you are already G-free, make sure that your doctor regularly runs blood work to monitor the level of nutrients in your blood. Keep an eye on those numbers and track them as you continue on your G-free journey.
If you have gone on the G-free diet with the ultimate goal of slimming down, you should also talk to your health care practitioner about an exercise regimen that is right for your body. When your blood sugar remains fairly constant—instead of rising and dipping dramatically as it would if you are living off pizza and pastries—you might experience a surge in energy and stamina. Use this energy to your advantage, because no healthy lifestyle is complete without a consistent workout regimen. Whatever you like to do—whether you are a runner, a gym rat, a hiker, a biker, or a swimmer—you might find that the G-free diet gives you more of what you need to cross that finish line.
As I have said before, the G-free diet is necessary for some people, and beneficial for most. When you go G-free, your awareness of your own body—and what exactly you are putting in it—increases. Those mystery 56-letter ingredients are no longer an issue: You will be focused on basic, satisfying foods that pack a ferocious nutritional punch. Your energy levels will rise with your nutrient intake, and your health will take the front-row seat it deserves.
Ashley Koff, RD, prepared the following chart for me. She drew most of the information from Dianne Onstad’s Whole Foods Companion and George Mateljan’s The World’s Healthiest Foods.
| Nutrients | Quinoa (100g) | White Flour (100g) |
| Protein | 13g | 10g |
| Fiber | 6g | 3g |
| Iron | 51% RDA | 6% RDA |
| Magnesium | 52% | 5% |
| Potassium | 30% | 4% |
| Manganese | 112% | 34% |
| Calcium | 6% | 1% |
| Nutrients | Buckwheat (100g) | Semolina (100g) |
| Protein | 13g | 13g |
| Fiber | 10g | 4g |
| Iron | 12% RDA | 6% RDA |
| Magnesium | 57% | 11% |
| Potassium | 19% | 7% |
| Manganese | 65% | 30% |
| Calcium | 1% | 1% |
| Nutrients | Amaranth (100g) | Couscous (100g) |
| Protein | 14g | 13g |
| Fiber | 15g | 5g |
| Iron | 42% RDA | 6% RDA |
| Magnesium | 66% | 11% |
| Potassium | 15% | 6% |
| Manganese | 112% | 39% |
| Calcium | 15% | 2% |