I remember just a few short years ago how difficult it was to find gluten-free food in the grocery store. I have vivid memories of my mother buying various kinds of flour in order to create her own gluten-free baking mix, because there weren’t any on the market.
Fast forward to 2016 when I’ve written entire blogs reviewing the various brands offering gluten-free flour mixes!
But are there negative aspects of the booming gluten-free industry? For those of us with celiac and gluten sensitivity, is it helping us or hurting us?
Walk into any grocery store today and you will undoubtedly find a gluten-free section containing pastas, cookies, crackers, cake mixes, granola bars, flour blends… the list goes on and on. Is this massive boom in product availability, options, and awareness helping or hurting the celiac community?
Why It’s a Blessing
1. The Glorious Options!
I remember when first diagnosed with celiac how few options there were at the grocery store. And of the options available, there was a 50/50 chance it would taste something like gritty cardboard. My how the tides have changed! While I do try to keep the processed food to a minimum, it’s so nice to be able to easily find things like pie crusts, lasagna noodles, instant waffles, panko breadcrumbs; the list goes on and on! It really is a gluten-free smorgasboard out there.
2. Not only are the options greater – the food is BETTER.
With Americans spending over $4 billion a year on gluten-free products, there is now serious competition among companies vying for the attention of gluten-free shoppers. Not only do we expect more options, but we expect them to taste just as good as the gluten-containing version. Long gone are the days of one lonely brand of styrofoam textured bread at the grocery store. Now we have exclusively gluten-free bakeries, gluten-free pizza that is actually delicious, and lots of great restaurants catering to our needs.
3. Less Social Isolation
Being restricted to a gluten-free diet can sometimes be isolating, especially at social events like office parties and weddings. The gluten-free boom and the consequent awareness has really helped out with this issue. It’s now easier for hosts to change recipes to be gluten-free, it’s less complicated to explain a gluten-free diet to others, and kitchen and wait staff at places like hotels and banquet halls are well equipped to handle a gluten-free meal.
Why It’s a Curse
1. Lax Restaurant and Wait Staff
One of the biggest problems I face is waiters not knowing if my questions and requests are due to celiac disease or to a lifestyle choice. I often feel like the more prevalent the gluten-free diet becomes the less seriously my requests are taken at restaurants. The dramatic increase of the gluten-free movement has also led many critics to call it the “latest diet fad,” meaning that we have to fight even harder to make sure that people know that for those of us with celiac and gluten-intolerance it is a serious health issue.
2. Growing Cross-Contamination Issues
As more restaurants begin to cater to the growing number of gluten-free dieters, the risk for cross-contamination grows along with it. While some restaurants are careful to take extra measures like changing out gloves and preparing food in separate areas, many more restaurants don’t take the necessary precautions to avoid cross-contamination while still labeling their dishes as gluten-free.
3. People Not Taking Us Seriously
While an estimated 1% of the population has celiac disease, a whopping 29% of Americans are attempting a gluten-free diet. Unfortunately, this segment of the population who simply view gluten-free dieting as an easy health fix may be making life challenging for those of us who need to avoid gluten. Phrases like “cheat day” or “just a bite” when referring to a gluten-free diet diminish the seriousness and damage that gluten can pose to those with celiac and gluten-intolerance.
So what do you think? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Do you think the gluten-free boom is a blessing or a curse? I guess we’ll all have to wait and see.
Comments
Barbara Bonavoglia:
I believe it’s mostly a blessing, but for some a curse. The blessing is definitely the products have gotten better and so many more products are being added almost daily. I feel the cross contamination in restaurants have been going on for a long time…way before ‘gluten intolerance’ became known. I do feel bad for health food stores who opened up to help Celiac’s by carrying almost 100% gluten free products. They are shutting down one after another, since the grocery stores are now carrying gf products…Bad for them…but on the brighter side for us, the prices are lower in the supermarkets than the health food stores…So there’s a lot of good to this for those of use with Celiac Disease, gluten intolerance, or wheat allergies…
As for the restaurants, it’s good to let the waiters know about cross contamination and get them nervous by saying you can get very sick if there is any contamination. That usually get’s them nervous enough to check it out!!
Apr 12, 2016
Jeanne:
For me, my answer to this question depends on the day. Am I recovering from being glutened the day before at a supposedly safe restaurant? Am I trying to explain to an acquaintance why it’s really best if I bring my own lunch to her home rather than have her cook for me? Or am I enjoying a picnic with friends or family, where I can have a sandwich on something that tastes like REAL BREAD?? Or perhaps enjoying a small amount of accurately labelled GF frozen yogurt (with accompanying lactase pills) at the froyo place on campus with my daughter. It is indeed a different world from the one I was diagnosed in; one with both more wonderful options and one fraught with new hazards. My advice to myself and all celiac ‘family’: Be careful out there. But have fun.
Apr 12, 2016
Michelle:
I feel it is a blessing but it does have its downs. My daughter is 5 and diagnosed with celiac disease about 6 months ago. It was a 3 month battle to figure out what was wrong. Now that we know she is on strict gluten free diet. She is doing very well and I am pleased with all the options. I feel the longer it is around the less likely people will see it as a fad diet as it is a serious condition for some.
Apr 12, 2016
Gayle:
I’ve had celiac disease for over thirty years and I agree 2016 has made big differences in the choices we have for a gluten free diet, but, I am still very careful when going out to eat because as you said restaurants do not really take the needed precautions. I did have one incidence with a restaurant that was claiming to serve gluten free waffles, until I asked if the waffles were made in a separate waffle maker than the regular waffle maker and they were not. I immediately told the wait staff that the waffles were not gluten free and that they should not be on their menu. Fortunately the next time I went to this restaurant for breakfast they were not on the menu.
I do not like the craze of “a gluten free diet” for people that are not suffering from celiac disease. I don’t understand why someone would want to eat gluten free if they didn’t have to.
When I was diagnosed with celiac disease the gluten free diet was extremely hard, if may be easier now but it is not a fad diet.
Apr 12, 2016
Connie Taylor:
I definitely agree that is hurting those of us that truly have celiac. I was diagnosed in 1976. After being hospitalized and tested for everything in the book, I had a biopsy of my intestine where they finally diagnosed me with “sprue”. Back then there was not such a thing as “celiac”. My only choices for gluten free foods were rice cakes. Of course a list of things that contain wheat, barley, oats, malt, etc. was given to follow my diet. I left the hospital with 79 lbs. & in 9 months my weight was 112 lbs. following this diet and eating rice cakes. I went years without bread or any other products now available. I do get upset when so many people now claim to have celiac and are in this “gluten free fad”. I also think that because of this demand for the gluten free fad, make the prices so high that persons like me that really need them sometimes can’t afford them. I think doctors now are declaring the celiac diet for anything & the real celiacs that suffer from pains in your stomach, diarreah, loss weight, lack of energy and so on are the ones paying for this celiac fad.
Apr 12, 2016
Ann Jones:
I went carb-free at one time, and did very well that way. I saw companies, like Keto, come and go. At the height of the public movement, it was possible to get almost everything. Then it went out of fashion almost overnight, and suddenly, my staples were no longer available. This took the process from being acceptable and enjoyable to being a total pain in the you-know-where.
Although I doubt very much if being GF is doing me much good, I understand the situation that those with celiac are in, and I am very careful to test restaurants and wait staff when I am out. I try to make it easier for those that come in after me that have serious and immediate responses to gluten. I am not willing to go back to eating gluten in any kind of hurry.
It does concern me, though, about what I may do if I can no longer have GF convenience. I don’t like to cook – will I make the effort if it is harder work? I am honestly not sure. I am more concerned about who do not have a choice about gluten. Will they be so spoiled by things being easy now that they won’t want to work harder then? What about the kids?
I think one of the best thing to be done is for those with true gluten issues to learn to not depend on the prepackaged food, but to learn to do more by scratch. I am glad to see so many recipes out there that do that. Meanwhile, I will keep on trying to be a good representative and hopefully make the way easier while I can.
I would just hate to see the bottom fall out like it did with low-carb eating. That is what worries me.
Apr 12, 2016
Ed Barbour:
I think the current availability of gluten free food is wonderful. My wife was diagnosed about 20 years ago and there was almost nothing available then unless you happened to live in a large city. Fortunately at that time I was travelling almost weekly for business and I used to carry an extra fold up suitcase with me. I would visit the stores that sold GF products and fill the “carry on” suitcase to bring GF food back home.
For people with celiac disease, the current selection of GF food is just amazing.
Apr 12, 2016
Matt:
It’s a blessing. The risks for cross contamination and lax wait staff have always been there. I always talk to the wait staff to tell them that it is not a fad, I am medically diagnosed as having Celiac Disease. I ask about shared fryers and workspaces. My experience? Once you speak with the wait staff, they are very accommodating. The few times I have gotten sick eating out has been because I made assumptions about the food without asking, like thinking the tortilla chips on the table were from a bag and not house made in the same fryer as onion rings
I also don’t eat out that often. Instead, much of the food I eat is prepared at home. Having more options in the grocery aisle is fantastic. When I first was dXed 7 years ago, most everything that was available was pretty gross. The fact that I have options when it comes to baking mixes is amazing. Even having different brands of breads and cereals is pretty awesome.For me, I will never complain that the glut of GF choices is a bad thing. It makes a miserable disease that much more tolerable.
Apr 12, 2016
Sherry Fariss:
My husband and daughter are both gluten intolerant. Neither has tested positive for celiac disease, but I doubt that they have it. I realize that many people have jumped on the GF bandwagon, thinking that it is a health fad. This is not the case for my family members. I guess what I’m saying is that I find it somewhat unfair to lump people who cannot tolerate gluten, who become violently ill after they have been exposed to it, with the GF fad crowd. I don’t know if in your 1% you are including the “intolerants”, but I suspect your percentage would be much higher if you did include those who cannot eat gluten without reaction.
Otherwise, I find this article to be helpful and accurate. There are blessings and curses. I tend to think the blessings outweigh the curses, though. Keep up the good work.
Apr 12, 2016
Yesenia:
I do not think being gluten free is a fad diet. It is a lifestyle change for many with auto-immune diseases. I had thyroid cancer about 3 years ago and after reading many articles and books about gluten and dairy, I finally decided to become gluten and diary free. This site has helped me enormously and I believe many auto-immune disease like thyroid disorders are coming on here to better their health as well. When I walk into a restaurant one thing I have always noticed is if they advise me the white rice is not gluten free, then I run away and I don’t look back.
Apr 12, 2016
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