That gluten is a monster!
There’s been a clash of opinions flying through the gluten-free community on the recent news that Lady Gaga has gone gluten-free to lose weight. As a result, there’s a lot of speculation about how healthy the average gluten-free diet really is and how on earth people that don’t medically need to be on the diet could possibly deprive themselves of glutenous goodies. As a gluten-free community, we should really cut Gaga some slack. In reality, her diet is much healthier than the average gluten-free diet, which often still consists of overly processed foods and high sugar content. Gaga gives a fresh approach to how healthy eating simply and gluten-free can really be.
What she’s embarked on is really much more than just a gluten-free diet. Her diet is completely free of processed foods, excess sugars and most starches. I can’t bring myself to fully understand the mindset that many of us with Celiac Disease, gluten intolerance, or gluten-sensistivity are taking toward this. Many seem to find that the label of her diet as Gluten-free, but not medically prescribed, deems them on high to proclaim that those random non-diagnosed folk striving for better health on a truly healthy gluten-free diet are selling their own medical diagnosis short. To be honest, there are likely thousands of people who eat this way on a daily basis and it just so happens that eating very healthy often excludes gluten. This is something we should celebrate. It’s not making the gluten-free diet into a fad, it’s simply advocating for pure and simple health. How can we argue with that? If in a wild alternate universe I didn’t have my diagnosis and had no real medical reason to be gluten-free, I would probably still eat mostly gluten-free since gluten is often packed into processed foods, which I kick to the curb for health. I’d be shocked and angry to be patronized for that decision.
I sincerely urge the gluten-free community to take another look at their stance towards celebrities, popular names, and even their own neighbors going on the diet to lose weight. If one truly wants to acheive great health, paying attention to what fuels and nutures the body is vital. When no diagnosis of Celiac, intolerance, or sensitivity is present, it’s not a crime to go gluten-free. Let’s start paying attention to the fact that we don’t “own” this “diet”. I’d even like to start using the term “gluten-free lifestyle” rather than diet. She’s bringing a whole new face to this shift and movement toward overall wellbeing.
My last thought; Yes, I’m fully aware that not everything that’s labeled gluten-free is healthy. But in Gaga’s case, she’s eliminating the need to even read those jumbled labels by cutting out the crap. It certainly is healthy and she’s rocking it–she’s gluten-free 2.0! We can all take a lesson from this, gluten-free or not, and learn to properly nuture our bodies on a pure and simple diet and lifestyle.
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