In Boulder, Colorado you are a part of the majority if you are “gluten-free” without having Celiac’s Disease.
The gluten-free train is so big in this town that virtually every restaurant — chain or boutique — has fully gluten-free menus, our coffee shops sell gluten free pastries and cookies, and we even have a gluten free dentist.
It’s a health choice that gets a lot of wrath nationally. Some critics say that the 29% of Americans who are trying to keep a gluten-free diet are wasting money and not affecting their health. Many have lambasted gluten-free testimonials of positive results as naive, or wrongly associated with gluten.
And of course, there’s the homely nickname “glutard,” for anyone who goes gluten-free.
Well, despite national criticism of glutards, and my personal love of bread and crackers — I’ve decided to jump on the train. It wasn’t a rash decision. I’ve done an awful of of reading about gluten free diets, the chemical makeup of gluten in both indigenous world populations and within the United States. Not all countries get food in the same way, so it’s important to look at the possibility of selective grains having a bigger or smaller impact on health.
I’ve also done some ethnographic research of my friends and family who makeup part of the local gluten-free community. Everyone’s answer is the same: I feel much better without gluten.
Becoming a glutard.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was a recent article in The Atlantic called, This Is Your Brain on Gluten. It’s a bit of an editorial piece on the author of the New York Times Bestseller, Grain Brain: The surprising truth about wheat, carbs, and sugar; your brain’s silent killers. Basically the premise of the book, and the interview, is to say that gluten have adverse affects on the brain and could contribute to Alzheimer’s, general confusion and dementia.
It also goes as far as to say there is empirical and evolutionary data that support that the brain functions best when it’s slightly starved. Here is an excerpt from The Atlantic article:
[David] Perlmutter extrapolates from this that our brains were meant to function optimally during a fast. When we go without food, in the initial stages, we create sugar from glycogen that is stored in our livers and the muscles. After we fast for a few days, we start to mobilize fat, creating ketones. “When the brain is powered by ketones,” Perlmutter reasons, “it functions a lot better, allowing us, when we’re calorie-deprived, like in our hunter-gatherer days for example, to remain clever.”
It seems a little foolish to not give it a try. A gluten free diet doesn’t disrupt the oldest and wisest wisdom for healthy diets: which is to eat whole, fresh foods and lots of vegetables. It conveniently reduces how many cookies and slices of bread one can eat. And perhaps the best thing it does it makes the consumer more aware of his/her consumption habits. Thinking about your food is bound to allow you the opportunity to make good health choices. When eating becomes too easy, you no longer think about the consequences or effects of whatever you are putting in your mouth.
So Glutaridia, here I come. I’m joining the statistic.
