Do you have questions about nutrition? Send them to us at comer@lavanguardia.es, our nutritionist Aitor Sánchez will answer all your questions.
Is it good to eliminate or reduce gluten if I do not suffer from an intolerance? (Cristina Lorenzo, reader)
Hello Cristina,
If you don't have any problem with gluten, eliminating it will not necessarily be positive or negative for your health. Restricting gluten from our diet has been one of the fashionable pieces of advice of the last decade and has often been recommended in a very general way and with a broad brush. It is true that not only people with celiac disease could benefit from a gluten-free diet and that in certain anti-inflammatory and digestive protocols and even in the treatment of non-celiac gluten sensitivity, this type of diet therapy gives very good results. That doesn't mean it's a priority for everyone. 85% of the population does not have any problem with gluten, and, therefore, removing it will be indifferent to our body.
Behind all the bubble that exists in the withdrawal of gluten, we cannot ignore that a large part of the benefits that many people say they experience are due to a change in the eating model. It is not so much about having removed gluten, but rather about removing from your diet many products that are typically unhealthy and ultra-processed that usually contain gluten in their ingredients. For example, if a person follows a diet in which he has eliminated industrial pastries and cookies, reduces his amount of bread, pasta and refined cereals that are so typical within our Westernized diet, it is more than understandable that he would find himself Better, we lose weight or we find ourselves digestively lighter, which are the typical improvements that are referred to, but I insist, not because gluten was an ingredient that harmed us, but because of the profile of those foods.
In fact, there are many people who change their eating model and have these improvements, despite maintaining significant amounts of gluten in other products, such as 100% whole wheat bread or whole wheat pasta, which are much healthier than refined versions, and since they are made of wheat, they of course have gluten.
Definitely. Following a gluten-free diet will only bring us benefits if we have a pathology or condition that justifies it.
I have stopped eating foods that I thought made me bloated, but it still happens. What should I stop eating to avoid it? (Roxy Pazos, reader)
Hi Roxy,
What has happened to you is very common, so don't worry. People are very bad at identifying which foods make us feel bad because in our diet we mix many different products, cooking techniques, moments...
I would recommend that you consult with your doctor or consider seeing a dietician-nutritionist because the term bloating is very subjective and can be caused by many different things. For some people it may be gas, and for others it may be digestive discomfort. We could talk about fluid retention or edema, and even some intolerance or allergy that we may be suffering from.
Whatever your case, it seems that your diet or lifestyle continues to cause it. By going to a professional consultation, they will be able to analyze your diet history and thus identify potential suspects within your diet. It is very common and happens to us a lot in consultation, having to do several weeks of screening and partial elimination of foods to know exactly which one is giving us problems in cases like yours.
I'm sorry I can't give you a more specific answer, but there can be so many variables, even different from those of food, that from what they tell us it should be assessed in an individual consultation.
