7 Reasons You Should Not Use Gluten Free for Weight Loss

Many people think that by going gluten free they can lose a little weight.  I mean, why not, it worked for your friend.  Here are a few things about the gluten free diet that makes it not so great for dieters.  I have ended up on this rant because I had a loaf of gluten free bread snatched out of my hands by a 700lb Jabba the Hut who needed the bread for "her diet".  She and many others seemed to think that going on a gluten free diet will magically make the weight fall off of them.  It really doesn't work that way.  

 1

This diet is expensive; you are paying about two to three times the price for the gluten free food that you would have paid for normal food.  

2

You are adding MORE fat to your diet.  Yep, to make gluten free food taste good, many companies have added fats and sugars so that it tastes like it was made with gluten-containing ingredients.  Next time you are looking at a gluten free item for a diet, you should compare fat contents.

3

You can mess with your blood sugar.  Many of these products use rice or potato starch in order to make up the bulk of the item.  This is not a good idea in many cases, since these quickly raise and then drop a person’s blood sugar.  

4

Those on a gluten free diet may have a harder time getting a diagnosis.  For many doctors, the patients have to be eating gluten for a gluten issue to be tested.  If you are already off of gluten, then you are going to get a negative result.  For a real positive, a person needs to have at least two pieces of bread a day for two weeks. 

5

You may not get the right amount of fiber in your diet.  Wheat contains a lot of great things for you, fiber, B-Vitamins, etc.. Those with a form of gluten intolerance will learn to adjust and to get those items from other sources.  However, those on a diet may not think about it.  Without these items you can damage your health.  To be honest, most gluten free "substitutes" don't have everything you need.  

6

Gluten free items can be "junk food.” Some of those "healthy" items you are buying as part of your gluten free diet are just as bad for you as the regular junk food.  It only costs more and is placed in the "health" food section.  However, junk food is junk food; it doesn't matter if it says gluten free or not.  

7 

The reason many of us with some form of gluten intolerance lose weight when we go on a gluten free diet is that we are now able to absorb and use the food we do eat.  Before, everything we ate was flushed or turned into fat since we had nutrition issues.  Since this is no longer the case, our body will start using fat stores, hence the weight loss.  Also those who are now forced on a gluten free diet will have more energy.  I remember not knowing what to do with myself for a while.  

My suggestion is if you need to lose weight and you would like a diet change instead of cutting food and working out, what you should do is cut "bleached" anything such as flour, rice, etc.  Also cut out all the junk food.  This will not only help you lose a little weight, it should make many of you feel better as well.