Gluten Free Diet for Weight Loss

Want to loose weight? Why not go gluten free? There are two types of gluten free diets, replacing gluten filled food with gluten free alternatives, or completely cutting all gluten out of your diet. Can you guess which of these diets will help you loose weight? Surprisingly both (depending on implementation)!

Something I want to make clear, you do not need a fancy diet to loose weight, forget keto, forget gluten free just live in a calorie deficit. When you burn more calories in a day than you consume, you will lose weight.

The main goal of a diet is to force you to consume less. If you cut out all gluten containing foods without finding gluten free alternatives, you have a great chance at lowering your overall calorie intake. However, if you replace your gluten containing foods with gluten free alternatives, you may be consuming more calories that expected. 

In my pantry I have two boxes of elbow macaroni from Barilla. One is gluten free, one is full of gluten.

Each box says one serving is 85 grams of pasta. Looking closely you see that the overall calories per serving are the same. However look a little bit deeper. The gluten free variety contains more carbs, less fiber, less protein, less potassium, iron and other vitamins and minerals. Overall the gluten free elbow macaroni is less healthy! 

Gluten Free diets for the main stream is a fad. For people like my with Celiac Disease gluten free diets are a must. When attempting to diet and loose weight forget about the gimmicks. Eat well, exercise, and eat less. 

But wait, why do people loose weight when they go on a gluten free diet? Let me tell you it is not
because they are eating gluten free alternatives. When someone starts a new diet they start to read nutrition labels, eat more fruits and vegetables, make better eating choices. The decision to diet often leads people to exercise and be more active. Eating better and being more active forces lends itself nicely to weight loss. A large contributing factor is the avoidance of certain foods. Fast food and beer. 

I will not tell you to avoid a gluten free diet, I will not tell you be on a keto diet. In fact I would never advise one diet over another. If you want to lose weight eat better and exercise. If going gluten free helps you eat better, then be my guest as we break awful tasking bread.