Posted on 07/06/2014 8:45:50 AM PDT by Kaslin
It all started while we were on vacation and watched a video on the Daily Caller from the Jimmy Kimmel show. Jimmy likes to continue a tradition of the “Man on the Street” interviews started by the original late night guy – Steve Allen. This time Jimmy was on a mission to show that anti-gluten is fueled mainly by ignorance. Four saps were lured into telling the world that they would never let gluten touch their lips or enter their body. Then when asked to describe what gluten is they were left on the clown pile of life helplessly babbling.
Personally, I was a naysayer on the subject of gluten as the California crazies hopped on the bandwagon of the mania. That was until my endocrinologist told me that avoiding gluten would help me control my blood sugar level while I was losing weight which aided my avoiding diabetes. Mr. Kimmel sent me to the internet to research the subject to avoid the pratfalls of other health-crazed Californians.
What I found was that gluten is a protein found in grains – particularly wheat, rye and barley. Gluten causes dough to rise and gives it a chewy texture. It is true that some people have intolerance to gluten, but it is not an allergy – it is just an intolerance. That is estimated to be one person out of every 133. Here is where the fun starts – there has never (yes, never) been a study that has shown that avoiding gluten for the other 132 people without an intolerance has any beneficial effect. But don’t try to convince the crazed people who have sworn off gluten as if it were a deadly poison.
Then I found out that corn, rice, and potatoes have no gluten. Being the cynical person I am, it occurs to me who might be behind this entire fad. Certainly there is no science behind it, but there sure is plenty of push to avoid gluten. Could it be corn, rice, and potato growers have banded together to convince the American public to eat their product and avoid those other foods? No that would never happen – would it? We never been told something was good for us and then later experienced an Emily Litella (Gilda Radner) moment – Never Mind.
Then I read about Peter Gibson, a professor from Melbourne, Australia, who did a study in 2011 that found gluten intolerance is a genuine condition. The study was widely accepted and accelerated the concern about gluten launching an increase of 50 percent in the sale of gluten-free products in the United States. However, Gibson did not have the “settled science” lobby breathing down his neck and redid his testing. He discovered that the reactions found in the first tests were not actually related to gluten. As stated in the article in Real Clear Science, “The rise in non-celiac gluten sensitivity seems predominantly driven by consumers and commercial interests, not quality scientific research.”
Concurrent with the world realizing that gluten-mania was driven by both false science and irrational exuberance, we have found out that the entire basis of our diet has been founded on bad science. The original research was done by a man named Ancel Keys and then accepted unflinchingly by the establishment that embraces these issues, like the American Heart Association, Centers for Disease Control and the Agriculture Dept. Some have questioned Keys’ work over the past 50 years, but we have been told that the consumption of animal fat in our diet was too high and we needed to avoid it. It has become “settled science.”
Then the Annals of Internal Medicine actually did an extensive study and found out animal fat is not the leading cause for heart disease, diabetes and obesity. So butter that corn and down that steak because that is not what is causing heart disease. Just do it in moderation.
Now the entire food world has turned over the essence of what is a good diet except – the American Heart Association (AHA). For good fun we read a column in that radical, right-wing publication—The Daily Beast – telling of the AHA’s refusal to alter their guidelines regarding consumption of saturated fats. Wow, nothing more amusing than seeing the left go after the left. But the doctor who wrote the column blamed “commercial interests.” Excuse me! The AHA is part of the left-of-center, East Coast intelligentsia. Don’t try and hang this one on us – the Republicans. We still eat our meat and baby backs. We didn’t fall for all this malarkey. But accepting blame for their errors has never been a big feature of the left – (note their blame of GWB for the last decade).
The reality is that food fads are food fads, science is never settled, and eating a well-balanced diet which includes fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, and yes some fats, will keep you in good stead unless you indulge in gluttony. Also, what you eat is your choice and if you want to die with a cheeseburger hanging from your lips God bless you. But watching the left genuflect to the latest food fad or any other unscientific craze is always great entertainment.
So this 4th of July weekend eat those hot dogs and burgers and enjoy yourself with reckless abandon while you celebrate your freedom from the food police.
People with celiac disease have to swear off gluten. I had to make my father’s gluten-free cakes after he was diagnosed. What a pain that was! Two days after several slices were consumed, I had to throw out the cakes because the taste was off.
Yup.
We have a diabetes epidemic now, but like you said...some people can even go off insulin, just by avoiding certain foods and drinks.
I was talking to a doctor one time. I mentioned the epidemic and said, “It’s because there’s starch and sugar in everything”.
She said, “Sugar doesn’t cause diabetes” and I asked, “Oh, then what causes it?”
She said, “Being overweight.”
I said, “Well?”
End of conversation.
You learned something that I too figured out quite a while ago. We are all different and what works for one, doesn’t work for someone else.
Carbohydrates convert to glucose. Your body requires insulin to process glucose so the ingestion of carbohydrates triggers an insulin response. Insulin is the hormone that triggers fat storage. Long term, too much insulin leads to insulin insensitivity and Metabolic Syndrome, and then to Diabetes and other very serious problems.
It does matter what you eat, not just how much.
It’s a stupid stereotype used by shallow pathetic people who can’t feel good about themselves without dragging down others. And just like the other guy I will agree with your self evaluation. Bye.
Gluten free is the biggest food hoax the last few years.
You only go through that cycle if you’re not doing anything with the energy. People training eat a lot of carbs, they have to, it’s the only way to give their body the energy it needs, and it’s not getting stored as fat, it’s getting burned. Labeling an entire food group as bad just because some people consume it wrong is just as wrong. Carbs are perfectly fine, IF you’re going to do with them what your body WANTS you to do with them.
You can find good food here. Unfortunately, a lot of bad food has been pushed by the food Nazis. I was watching an old episode of Naked City with Mickey Rooney that was filmed in NYC about 1960, I’d say. He played a worker in a small supermarket and it was obviously filmed in a real supermarket. At one point, pertinent to the plot, there was a closeup of a steak - it had such marbling that I was drooling with not only gluttony but envy as well - where did all our thickly marbeled steaks go?! Where’s the cream on top of the bottle that we skimmed off circa 1960? Where’s did all the ingredients that Julia Child so happily displayed on her show go?
I’ve read that gluten intolerance is more prevalent in the Irish population. I know GMO is not a popular topic here, but I think that plays a large part in it.
I’ve found the artificial sweeteners don’t agree with me. I’ve reduced the sugar I eat and feel a lot better.
This notion that carbs are bad for you is nuts! Yes, they’re not so helpful if you’re lying around the house all day eating white potatoes (although if people want to, fine with me). But, of course, people who work at hard labor or athletes must do the pasta thing. And who wants to live in a world without pasta, by the way? Or wonderful bread?! Moderation is the goal.
I'd noticed that problem too until I started drinking a probiotic called keifer.
It made perfect sense. Our bodies require bacteria to fully process food, but between our over processed diets, sterilizing our environments, and taking antibiotics as a standard treatment, these beneficial bacteria are either killed off outright or not staying as plentiful as they should.
Replenishing them with probiotics was a smart choice...for me anyway. Watching carbs is one thing, but days of misery vs. no biscuits, cake or pizza.....EVER?
Just shoot me now! :-)
Which type of sugar have you reduced?
The post-bankruptcy Hostess Twinkies are still as good as 1960.
I am very sorry, but I just can't stand by and not comment on this nonsense. You and many others here are victims of ad campaigns designed to sell “protein bars”, “muscle powder”, frozen dinners and other processed foods that have few or no “carbs”. It is a bad joke! There is nothing inherently bad about foods that contain carbohydrates. Many foods that contain carbohydrates are extremely rich in nutrients and very good for you. Many foods that have no carbohydrates are highly processed and have basically almost no nutritional value.
There is no substitute for common sense and moderation in all things. Common sense tells us that highly processed low carb foods with highly processed added nutrients are probably not as good for you as fruits and vegetables that come from your garden that just happen to be high in "carbs". Use your brains people.
“50 years ago, wheat wasn’t 6 feet tall. Highest was 2 feet. I drove a combine. Extra stalk was just a waste. Contributed nothing to the quality of the wheat.”
I guess you can say what you want, but if you don’t mind, I’ll believe what I read from people that POST THEIR NAMES when discussing the subject. There’s plenty out there.
Pretty much everything. Cut soda, unsweet tea instead of sweet tea, candy, sugar in coffee, and so on
We eat a lot of sugar and once you get used to the lower amount of sugar you don’t need as much.
I saw one cardiologist who blames heart disease on sugar. He had a book but was on fox. Compared sugar to sandpaper in your arteries. Which the cholesterol then stuck too.
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