Gluten Free?

maybebabysawyer11

Has anyone ever done a gluten free diet to lose weight??  I know that generally gluten free diet are used when someone is diagnosed with celiacs disease but I have heard a lot about the benefits that it will have with weight loss.  I am thinking of starting this type of diet but wanted to know if anyone had experience or knew anything about gluten-free for weight loss?

djrunjoy

Eating gluten-free will not help you lose weight.  In fact, many gluten-free substitutes have markedly less fiber and nutrients than whole-wheat or other whole-grain foods.

I have celiac-disease and many people with the disease actually gain a little weight when they remove gluten from their diets because they are able to absorb more of their food.  The benefit for me years ago after I was diagnosed was that my stomach was much flatter because of all the bloating I had endured for so long. 

It really depends on how you go about eating.  If you are replacing whole-grain bread with gluten-free bread that is made of mostly starches and white rice flour... then you will not lose weight, but probably gain weight.  However, if you are replacing plates of white pasta for plates full of vegetables, then yes... you will lose weight.

There's nothing magic about gluten... weight loss and greater health is still a matter of caloric intake and eating clean fiber-filled food your body can process. 

amymatt615

I have also heard that eating Glueten Free when you do not need to is not a good thing.  I work with a severly autisic child who is on a very strict glueten free diet, and when I am at their house I tend to bring my own foods.  Glueten free foods tend to be very high in calories.