Is gluten free the key to a healthier lifestyle? Find out what Consumer Reports discovered. Bread and other sources are horrible for us, or is it? Walk into any supermarket and you will see foods that state Gluten Free which we are supposed to be healthier for us. The current Gluten Free craze is not much different from the “Fat Free” craze from a number of years ago, when anything with fat in it was supposed to be bad for us, however, many of us found out that in order to get taste and texture into the foods, we ended up eating more sugar and other things that were much worse for us than the fat. Apparently, without gluten, the flavors and textures of food also are replaced with things that may have a downside to our health. Many of us have reduced our gluten intake while eating healthier overall and have assumed that the resulting weight loss was primarily from removing gluten from our diets. Most diets fail because of a lack of change to our lifestyles. Consumer Reports had discovered that the weight loss, improved energy and other perceived benefits of “Gluten Free” may actually be because we have improved our overall diet and exercise more, rather than just from removing breads and other sources of gluten from our diets. Consumer Reports in their latest issues takes on the “Gluten Free” craze and offers us some insight on how a lack of gluten in our lifestyle actually can leave us nutritionally deficient, while also exposing us to arsenic as many of us switch to large amounts of rice. Read the article here and get past the hype. Will a gluten-free diet really make you healthier? The biggest trend in the food world shows no signs of slowing down. Here are the six realities behind the labels. Published: November 2014 Eighteen months ago, Ahmed Yearwood decided to go gluten-free. “A few years earlier, I’d given up processed foods and felt great,” the 41-year-old business owner recalls. “I figured cutting out gluten would make me feel even better. Everyone told me I’d have more energy and lose weight.” He lasted less than a month. “Everything was rice this and rice that—it was way too restrictive,” he says. “And I didn’t feel any different healthwise than I did before.” Yearwood reverted to his former eating habits. “Some of the grains I eat have gluten, but I still feel amazing.” Just as fat was vilified in the 1990s and carbs have been scorned more recently, gluten—a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye—has become the latest dietary villain, blamed for everything from forgetfulness to joint pain to weight gain. “Gluten free” is a claim you see on everything from potato chips to bread to hummus—and even on cosmetics and laundry detergent. Some people must avoid the protein because they have celiac disease—an autoimmune condition in which gluten causes potentially life-threatening intestinal damage—or gluten sensitivity. But less than 7 percent of Americans have those conditions. According to a recent survey of more than 1,000 Americans by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, 63 percent thought that following a gluten-free diet would improve physical or mental health. About a third said they buy gluten-free products or try to avoid gluten. Among the top benefits they cited were better digestion and gastrointestinal function, healthy weight loss, increased energy, lower cholesterol, and a stronger immune system. read more