Where do you stand on the Wheat debate?

1. 65

   ThompsonPenposted 10 years ago

   Where do you stand on the Wheat debate?
   
   sI personally know many people that have gone gluten free and feel and look amazing. I have read pro's and cons, I have all the data, but I'm still just not sure where I stand. I wonder if what I'm witnessing with my friends is a placebo effect, or if it's just cutting out the processed foods, or both. I think I'm for it because if nothing else, it teaches to eat real food, not the processed junk.

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2. 72

   Abby Campbellposted 10 years ago

   I have had an intolerance to wheat since I was a little girl. My teen girls are now seeing problems with the same. Therefore, we stay away from wheat and gluten.
   
   As a nutritionist, I have studied about wheat and gluten. Since you've done some research, you may have found this already but I'll mention in case you haven't. Since the 1950s, wheat and other grain crops have changed drastically due to being genetically modified. It seemed to be a good thing for farmers and food manufacturers to do at the time as it wasn't long before that the U.S. came out of the depression. Genetically modifying crops helped to sustain them. It was a success and has continued since. It's been over 60 years since modification began, and progression took place more and more (especially over the last 20 years). Our grain crops have changed so much that the gluten in these foods have been altered so much that it's wreaking havoc on the human body. This is why Celiac's disease and gluten intolerance has exponentially multiplied over recent years. It was less than one percent back in the 1950s. Statistics are now showing that the disease and intolerance may be affecting more than 80 percent of the American people. With that being said, we are one of the few first world countries allowing genetically modified foods to be sold. Most other first world countries in Asia, the European Union, and South America won't even allow it; they have placed a ban on these crops/foods.

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      Ericdierkerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      great question and an awesome informative comment. Thank you. I have reduced consumption.

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3. 61

   BobMongerposted 10 years ago

   I don't know, I'm still pretty skeptical about this whole "gluten free" thing. My wife and I tried cutting out all the "modified" foods from our diets for 6 months and the only difference we saw was our food bill went sky high.  As far as a rise in occurrences of specific allergies and disorders I can't help but wonder if these have been with the human race since time immemorial and are just now being diagnosed because our technology has advanced to that point. We humans have been genetically altering our food supply in one way or another for at least the last 10,000 years and we are living longer because of it. Think about it, what foods do any of us eat that hasn't been modified from something else? All our livestock are the end result of selective breeding. All the grains we eat began as grasses until we began modifying them to suit us. Even our pets began as something other than what they are today.  If we are to believe these advances in genetic modification are so bad for us then why are humans living longer and longer lives? We should be dying off like flies, yet such is not the case-indeed quite the opposite is true!  As the planet's population explodes we are being hard pressed to grow enough to feed everyone. To disregard advances in the way we produce food because of possible side effects in small segments of the population is insane.  If you were to ask any resident of sub-Saharan Africa to curtail growing of grain genetically modified to be viable in their climate because some western pseudo-scientist had concerns about its gluten content I doubt you would be well received.

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   1. 72

      Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      GMO since eons ago is quite different than it has been in recent decades. GMO is now done with chemicals, pesticides, etc. - not naturally. As far as living longer, I would have to interject that the "quality" of life has not improved.

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