Most people are indifferent to gluten since it is the substance that gives bread their chewiness and gives your favorite cupcakes that airy crumb. Novak Djokovic, the tennis ace, believes that ditching gluten helped propel him to World No 1, and Gwyneth Paltrow, Victoria Beckham and Miley Cyrus are all said to be fans of the gluten free diet.
There is a growing belief that gluten is bad for health and that ditching it can be the key to unlocking a newer and fresher life. While medical science is yet to substantiate these claims, they seem to be working for those who believe in it. The main and primary reason why people go on gluten-free diets is because of three reasons –
- - Either they have celiac disease
- - They are gluten intolerant
- - They are allergic to wheat
While the other two are self-explanatory, the first one is the most common and the hardest to tackle. Celiac disease is a condition in which the patients have a bad reaction to the gluten in barley, wheat and rye and this ends up messing with the small intestine and damaging it as well as preventing the absorption of vital nutrients by the body. The symptoms of this can be something as small and mild as digestive problems and minor skin rashes, or something as severe as anemia, arthritis and even intense abdominal pains. Sadly, most people go undiagnosed due to such generic symptoms so it’s hard to pinpoint the exact number.
A gluten-free diet is a key to heading back to normality, and completely eliminating the gluten from your diet can heal the small intestine in a short time and get you up and running. The smallest amount of gluten could restart the damaging process, so make sure to eliminate wheat, barley and rye from all the meals if you have any of the three of the above.
If you don’t have any such issues, gluten isn’t much of a problem. Enjoy the cupcakes!