"A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten."
Gluten-free nutrition focuses on excluding gluten-containing grains and prioritizes alternative options to maintain a balanced diet.
What is Gluten?: Understanding what gluten is and where it's found in food is essential for starting a gluten-free diet.
Celiac Disease: Knowing the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disorder caused by gluten consumption.
Gluten Sensitivity: Learning about non-celiac gluten sensitivity and how it differs from celiac disease.
Wheat Allergy: Knowing the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of wheat allergy, which is different from gluten intolerance.
Gluten-Free Labeling: Understanding the labeling requirements for gluten-free products to ensure safe consumption.
Gluten-Free Whole Foods: Identifying safe whole foods that are inherently gluten-free, such as fruits, vegetables, and meats.
Gluten-Free Grains and Flours: Understanding which grains and flours are naturally gluten-free and safe to consume.
Cross-Contamination: Knowing how to avoid cross-contamination in food preparation to prevent accidental gluten exposure.
Gluten-Free Meal Planning: Learning how to plan safe and nutritious gluten-free meals.
Restaurant Dining: Knowing how to navigate a menu and communicate with restaurant staff to ensure a safe gluten-free dining experience.
Gluten-Free Baking: Learning how to use gluten-free flours and substitutes for baking.
Nutritional Deficiencies: Understanding the potential nutritional deficiencies that can occur on a gluten-free diet and how to prevent them.
Cooking Tips & Tricks: Learning new cooking techniques and methods when cooking gluten-free meals.
Gluten-Free Snacking: Identifying safe and gluten-free snack options to integrate into a gluten-free diet.
Gluten-Free Travel: Knowing how to safely navigate gluten-free eating while traveling.
Whole Foods: Eating whole, unprocessed foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Avoiding processed foods that may contain gluten.
Paleo: This diet is based on the theory that the human diet has not changed significantly since Paleolithic times. The diet excludes grains, dairy, and processed foods that contain gluten.
Keto: A diet high in healthy fats like avocados and coconut oil, moderate protein, and low-carb vegetables. It excludes grains and processed foods that contain gluten.
Low FODMAP: A diet that eliminates gluten along with other fermentable foods that can exacerbate digestive issues such as fructose, lactose, and certain types of fiber.
Specific Carbohydrate: A strict diet that eliminates grains, starches, and most carbohydrates. It emphasizes whole foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and dairy products that don't contain lactose.
Vegan and Vegetarian: These diets exclude animal products and promote plant-based meals. While not all vegan or vegetarian foods are gluten-free, the focus on whole, unprocessed foods can lend itself to a gluten-free lifestyle.
Mediterranean: A whole food-based diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, and lean protein. While not specifically gluten-free, it can be modified to exclude gluten-containing grains and processed foods.
"Gluten is a mixture of prolamin proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats."
"The inclusion of oats in a gluten-free diet remains controversial, and may depend on the oat cultivar and the frequent cross-contamination with other gluten-containing cereals."
"People with gluten-related disorders, including coeliac disease (CD), non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), gluten ataxia, dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), and wheat allergy may benefit from a gluten-free diet."
"The gluten-free diet is demonstrated as an effective treatment, but several studies show that about 79% of the people with coeliac disease have an incomplete recovery of the small bowel, despite a strict gluten-free diet."
"Gluten may cause both gastrointestinal and systemic symptoms for those with gluten-related disorders."
"In at least some cases, a gluten-free diet may improve gastrointestinal or systemic symptoms in diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, or HIV enteropathy, among others."
"There is no good evidence that gluten-free diets are an alternative medical treatment for people with autism."
"Gluten proteins have low nutritional and biological value."
"The grains that contain gluten are not essential in the human diet."
"Replacing flour from wheat or other gluten-containing cereals with gluten-free flours in commercial products may lead to a lower intake of important nutrients, such as iron and B vitamins."
"Some gluten-free commercial replacement products are not as enriched or fortified as their gluten-containing counterparts."
"Children especially often over-consume these products, such as snacks and biscuits."
"Nutritional complications can be prevented by correct dietary education."
"A gluten-free diet may be based on gluten-free foods, such as meat, fish, eggs, milk and dairy products, legumes, nuts, fruits, vegetables, potatoes, rice, and corn."
"Pseudocereals (quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat) and some minor cereals have been labelled commercially as alternative choices but have since been found to be problematic among gluten-intolerant and coeliac individuals depending on the quantity consumed."
"People with gluten-related disorders, such as coeliac disease (CD), non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), gluten ataxia, dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), and wheat allergy, may benefit from a gluten-free diet."
"Several studies show that about 79% of the people with coeliac disease have an incomplete recovery of the small bowel, despite a strict gluten-free diet."
"A gluten-free diet may, in at least some cases, improve gastrointestinal or systemic symptoms in diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, or HIV enteropathy, among others."
"People with a poor understanding of a gluten-free diet often believe that they are strictly following the diet, but are making regular errors."