We all like to eat various types of food. Gluten is a plant protein found in wheat plant. John Hopkins Medicine says that, gluten can be extracted in a concentrated form from wheat plants. This can easily be added into other plants. Apart than wheat, gluten comes from barley and rye too.
Generally, gluten triggers diseases like, celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disease. Gluten ataxia is another rare form of neurological autoimmune disease; the individual’s body attacks certain parts of their brain due to the consumption of gluten. Many people don’t realise that they are allergic to wheat.
So now, you all must be thinking whether you should consume gluten. So let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of gluten.
Advantages
- Gluten-free diet is always quite easy and quick to digest. That helps your digestive system to stay in order and doesn’t disrupt the digestive process in any way.
- For a major population of the world, gluten-free diet also helps them to lose weight. If you are planning to lose few extra kilos from your body, then this is a safe option available for you.
- Alright ladies, calm down and pay attention here. Lot of women are struggling with PCOS and PCOD nowadays. So keeping your diet in control and losing weight are the topmost priorities for them. Try to pick a gluten-free diet in your daily routine for better and quick results.
- Gluten also makes you fatigued. That’s why a gluten-free diet could be a safe and high energy providing diet for you. Try it for 2-3 months, you will see the benefits on your own.
- If you are dropping gluten from your daily diet, it doesn’t mean you are compromising on the food items options. You will still have varieties of options available for a delectable meal.
Disadvantages
- It triggers type 2 diabetes. Oh yes, you heard me right. When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, instantly the first thumb rule my physician told me was to stop eating rice and start eating more breads and chapatis (Indian flat breads). Initially, I saw the results. But in the long run it increased my diabetes.
- You will get less fibre if you are skipping gluten from your diet. So eventually, you have to eat high fibrous food.
- Some people argue that gluten-free diet is expensive. Well, personally I don’t feel so. Gluten-free diet is simple and quick to cook too. We cannot avoid the benefits here at all.
- Almost 1% of the world population is suffering from an autoimmune disease called celiac disease which comes only from the consumption of gluten.
- Other diseases which can arise due to the consumption of gluten are GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux), nausea, fatigue, bone pain, joint pain, skin rashes, constipation and so on.
At this point, I would like to sum up my personal experience with gluten. I have been eating gluten since I was a kid. I had severe migraine (partial headache) since I was 13-14 years old. I consulted few doctors but only got a medicine in the prescription. So whenever I used to get the headache I popped in the pill. At times, it gave me instant relief and at times, it took hours to give me relief.
The doctors I consulted, always told me that it will stay with me forever and have to take medicines whenever I am suffering from the headache. Apart than this severe migraine, I never had any other health issues. I am blessed with good immunity but this severe migraine attacks always put me into the back burner. When I turned vegan in October 2019, I also tried to keep myself away from gluten during the same time period.
Initially, it was tough. I was not willing to accept that I have to take rice in lunch and dinner. But slowly, I started to pull this off and it worked so beautifully. In the next few months, the frequency of migraine started to reduce. By the mid of 2020, I was totally migraine free.
The major reason why I shared, my personal experience with gluten is, I wanted to give you all a simple and clear idea that, for a healthy person also gluten could be a health barrier. I never noticed that gluten was the root cause of my migraine issues. I kept on eating but it never helped me. Pick you food carefully. You might not know what works the best or the worst for you. Just be cautious.