Some time ago, a craze overtook America. It was the “fat free” craze. Dietary fat was discovered to be the evil enemy of good health and was to be avoided at all costs. Well people really liked the products that contained fat, so soon there was a whole slew of new fat free products in the stores — cookies, cakes, breads, you name it. If they wanted you to buy it, they told you it was “fat free.” Heck, there were bottles of water that touted being fat free.
Problem? Everyone started believing that if it was fat free, they could eat as much of it as they wanted! It doesn’t matter that it’s cake — it’s fat free! There are some people who realized the absurdity of this, but many people didn’t (and still don’t). Well, the ship has sailed on “fat free” and who knows if or when it’ll come back. Fat was the first major alimentary enemy that we had, and people don’t just forget about original sin too easily.
Now we are in a new era. There is a new enemy, and his name is gluten. I want to start with this: I am not saying that gluten is not a problem. Many people have terrible allergies to gluten and there is plenty of evidence to suggest it does some pretty nasty things to your insides even if you don’t experience it as acutely as an allergy. I am saying that gluten has begun to join fat among the ranks of “if it’s gluten free, I can eat as much of it as I want!” If you easily picked up on the flaw in the fat argument, this one shouldn’t be a brain teaser.
People! Just because someone eliminated one ingredient from your brownie that is unhealthy or toxic doesn’t mean that you can have as much brownie as you want with no consequences!!
Please be careful of anything that gives you the impression that you can eat all you want with no consequence. Yes, it may be gluten free, but chances are those baked goods are made up of so many nuts it’ll make your head spin. If you are hacking the challenge with Paleo cookies, breads, and cakes, I salute you! Just keep in mind the results that you want and eat accordingly. If you need something sweet, gluten free can be a great way to go. But gluten free doesn’t mean consequence free.
Eat, live, thrive. Keep it in balance.
