I have a love hate relationship with the trendiness of gluten-free. Gluten free hit the New York Times Magazine two weeks ago and the Sunday Styles section this week. Its official. I, a middle aged mom accountant who lives in a Chicago suburb, am officially trendy.
Of course no one told my closet. Or my music collection. Which is still on CDs. And if you plan to tell my friends make sure they don’t have any coffee in their mouths. I don’t want anyone to choke or spit coffee on you.
On the one hand I am thrilled to be able to eat at more than three restaurants without becoming extremely ill. I am glad to have my choice of gluten, dairy and corn free cake mixes. I am glad that people, at least in big cities, can find food that I can eat and have me over without killing me or feeding me plain salad…no croutons, no cheese, no dressing.
That said, I find the whole idea of eating this way without a medical reason a bit weird.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think anyone over the age of three should have dairy. I don’t think processed food is healthy for anyone. I always ate organic, whole foods. I also think that wheat as we used to know it is long gone and there is an argument for not eating it.
I think that if you have any autoimmune issue you should work with a nutritionist on an elimination diet plan that gets rid of all the biggies including gluten, dairy and corn. Then see what foods are making things worse. Gluten and dairy are the usual suspects, but since half of celiacs also react to corn, and many react to nightshades, you just want to see what the problem is.
That said, if you have no autoimmune disease, no autism and no medical reason to also give up barley, oatmeal, quinoa (see my post on gluten-free quinoa) spelt and other whole grains, I see no reason to ban them from your life. Sure I feel better and look better gluten-free….but that is because I have celiac disease!
I don’t think people should eat a lot of grains because neither primates nor bears, our closest genetic ancestors) eat grains. That said, do I think an occasional bowl of beef and barley soup is going to hurt a person without a medical gluten issue? No. I don’t. I can assure you that if eating a bowl of beef and barley soup would not make me faint and then leave me malnourished for a month, I would eat it.
Look, if you think you react to gluten a controlled elimination process is great. There are people who have medical reasons to avoid gluten but who lack a test that they can use to prove their condition.
Listen to your body. If you need to give up gluten, do it. It is much better than suffering with MS, arthritis or asthma, or horrible stomach pain.
But if you do not need to give it up then DON’T. Enjoy beer.
And have a cup of beef and barley soup once in a while.
