I’ve been writing about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet in various ways since 2004. Mostly through the Celiac Handbook Website and more recently, this blog. I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 1999 and have seen a revolution in the amount of gluten-free products available, both online and in the supermarket. This is what I’ve spent the bulk of my time writing about.
It’s rather funny, every time I write about a new product (especially a mainstream company offering a gluten-free version of their already popular gluten-filled food), I get a flood of emails and comments lambasting me for promoting junk food. While I can appreciate people’s intentions and their belief in the power of food — I personally don’t like to stand on a soapbox and tell people what they should be eating. I like to present both naturally gluten-free items as well as the countless new gluten-free products that seem to come out on a near daily basis. I want to let people make up their own minds about what they are going to eat. Learning to eat in any particular fashion is a journey that every person makes (willing or unwilling) and it is something they must do on their own. As we all know, when someone is “telling us” what to do — we will quickly ignore them as just another bag of hot air.
I have personally tried many different ways of life; vegan, vegetarian, aquatarian, paleo and of course, gluten-free. My weight has been all over the map — as low as 145 lbs. (I’m 6’ 2”) at the height of my undiagnosed celiac disease and as high as 260 lbs. a couple of years ago (way too much eating and sitting at a desk). I now weigh in at a very comfortable 190 lbs. and do my best to eat a diet rich in whole food — my overall health is proof that this is working. Trust me, I do still eat the occasional gluten-free cupcake or brownie, but I try to think of it as a treat and not an everyday “must have”. I do get my fair share of samples to try and there are times when I find myself indulging just a little too much — but, that comes with the territory of what I do. Call it an occupational hazard. This is what I do — and it works for me. I’m not implying in any way that it should be what you do. It’s up to you and you alone to find your path to wellness. You will hear many different opinions from people (both solicited and not) and hopefully armed with good information, you will go down the path that is right for you.
In the mean time, I’m going to keep on reporting what I find — some of it will be healthy (in my opinion) and some of it will no doubt be junk food — but the good news is that it will all be gluten-free.
One final thought: Always, always remember that just because something is gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s healthy. This is a mistake that is all too common.
