What is Gluten free diet?

Gluten free has become a common term these days. It can be seen that at least a small group of people prefer to eat a Gluten free diet. But unfortunately, most of us are not aware of the fact as to what Gluten is.

Gluten is actually a protein that is mostly found in Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rye and Triticale. Gluten, in some people causes allergic reactions. This type of reaction is called gluten intolerance. Gluten sensitivity causes in people the disease known as Celiac disease. People suffering from this, often have to avoid gluten and have to follow a diet that is free of gluten.

The protein named gluten has the qualities of glue. It is usually found in bread, cereals and pastas too. Usually, breads and cakes get that fluffy nature because of gluten. It also helps in binding the dough.

Common foods rich in Gluten

·         Wheat contains gluten. This is the reason why most food we eat contains gluten. Cakes, cookies, waffles, pasta, biscuits, all have large amount of gluten in them.

·         Cereals are also found to be filled with gluten. Barley is yet another grain like wheat that has gluten content in it.

·         Baked food items and those foods that help in thickening are sumptuous in gluten. Hence foods like ice-creams, sauces and puddings tend to have gluten content.

·         Processed foods too have gluten in them. Pizza, salami, soups and lots of other such food contain gluten in them.

Foods that do not have Gluten

·         Rice

·         Dairy products

·         Fruits

·         Vegetables

·         Tapioca

·         Arrowroot

·         Potato

·         Soy flour

And the list goes on and on.

The market today has a lot of gluten free products like gluten free biscuits, cakes, pastries, cakes, breads and cereals. So now that you people are familiar with gluten free diet and also about the term gluten free, you might not get confused with gluten free with something related to weight loss.

It is a fact that people consuming gluten free food
tend to lose weight simply because they are avoiding those foods that tend to increase weight, and not because food free of gluten do not stimulate weight loss. When we skip our regular diet, we tend to lose weight and people have the misconception that gluten free products help in loss of body weight.