Little did I know that gluten-free-ness would explode into what it is today - one of the fastest-growing nutritional movements in the world - and this mission of mine would become all-consuming. This chapter gives you a basic rundown of what living gluten-free is all about.

What Is Gluten, Anyway, and Where Is It?

Gluten has a couple definitions; one is technically correct but not commonly used, and the other is commonly used but not technically correct. I give you more details on both definitions in Chapter 5, but to get you started, and for the purposes of most of this book, here's the common definition: Gluten is a mixture of proteins in wheat, rye, and barley. Oats don't have gluten but may be contaminated, so they're forbidden on a strict gluten-free diet, too.

You can find lots of information about what you can and can't eat in Chapter 5, as well as a detailed listing of safe and forbidden ingredients at www.celiac.com or other Web sites. But you need to have a general idea of what kinds of foods have gluten in them so you know what to avoid. Foods with flour in them (white or wheat) are the most common culprits when you're avoiding gluten. The following are obvious gluten-glomming foods:

  Bagels

  Beer

  Bread

  Cookies, cakes, and most other baked goods

  Crackers

  Pasta

  Pizza

  Pretzels

But along with these culprits come not-so-obvious suspects, too, like licorice, many (read "most") cereals, and natural flavorings. When you're gluten-free, you get used to reading labels, calling manufacturers, and digging a little deeper to know for sure what you can and can't eat (more on that in Chapter 6).

You have to do without those foods, but you really don't have to do without. There's a subtle but encouraging difference. Food manufacturers make delicious gluten-free versions of just about every food imaginable these days. I talk more about those options and where to buy them in Chapter 9.

But I Thought Wheat Was Good for Me!

You may see lots of labels proudly declaring a product to be wheat-free (some of which, like spelt and kamut, aren't really wheat-free at all). When something says it's wheat-free, it doesn't mean the food is gluten-free.

REMEMBER

Gluten is in wheat, but it's also in rye and barley - and most people don't eat oats on the gluten-free diet, either. So something can be wheat-free but still have other gluten-containing ingredients, like malt, which is usually derived from barley. In that case, the product is wheat-free but not gluten-free.

Anyone who's spent more than a day on planet Earth has been barraged with messages hailing the virtues of wheat - especially in its whole form. Wheat and other grains hog most of the food pyramid(s), suggesting you should eat gobs of it, and it's touted as a good source of fiber and nutrients. Wheat does provide some health benefits, but you can find those benefits in other food sources, too. So how can wheat be at the root of so many health problems?

For three reasons, wheat may not be the key to perfect dietary health:

  Wheat was invented yesterday. Wheat wasn't introduced until the Agricultural Revolution, about 10,000 years ago - that's yesterday, evolutionarily speaking. Before that, people ate lean meats, fish, seafood, nonstarchy vegetables, berries, and fruits. When wheat came on the scene, it was completely foreign.

  Humans don't fully digest wheat. Human bodies have to adapt in order to tolerate wheat, and lots of people don't tolerate it well at all. Most humans have only one stomach - and one just isn't enough to digest wheat. Cows have four stomachs (actually, four chambers within one stomach). That's why Bessie the Bovine does okay with wheat. The wheat goes from one stomach to another and another and - well, you get the picture. By the time it reaches tummy number four, it's fully digested and Bessie's feeling fine.

  Wheat contributes to leaky gut (Z is for zonulin). When people eat wheat, they produce extra amounts of a protein called zonulin. The lining of the small intestine is basically a solid wall of cells that most materials can't pass through on their own. On the lining of the small intestine, zonulin waits for nutrients to come along. When important vitamins and minerals are present, zonulin tells the passageways in the intestinal wall to open so those nutrients can pass into the bloodstream. The blood then carries the nutrients to other parts of the body.

When some people eat wheat, they produce too much zonulin and the gates open too wide. All sorts of stuff gets into the bloodstream, some of which, like toxins, shouldn't be there. This increased permeability of the lining of the small intestine, or leaky gut syndrome, can cause lots of different health issues.

Discovering the Benefits of a Gluten-Free Lifestyle

The gluten-free lifestyle isn't about your diet. Sure, this book talks about food, but the diet itself takes up only a few pages. Being gluten-free involves a lot more than just cutting gluten out of your diet. It affects every aspect of your life, from how you communicate and with whom, to how you handle ordering at restaurants, attending social functions, and dealing with emotional challenges.

I believe it's important to take control of your diet - or, if it's your kids who are gluten-free, help them gain and retain control. Going gluten-free also gives you an opportunity to reach out and help others who may be embarking upon the wonderful world of gluten freedom, as well as a chance to discover more about nutrition and what you're actually putting into your body on a daily basis. If that sounds like a lot of work, relax. I guide you through it. And not only can you feel better, but you also can feel better about yourself!

You have lots of company. The gluten-free movement is sweeping the nation for plenty of reasons, but the one that stands out is that when people give up gluten, they often feel better. This section tells you what the gluten-free diet can do for your body - the benefits you can enjoy in addition to all the emotional perks of the lifestyle.

People today live in a quick-fix, panacea-pursuing, pill-popping, make-me-better-fast society, and if they see promise of a quick way to fix what's ailin' them, they're buyin' it. Changing both your diet and your lifestyle is neither quick nor easy, but the benefits of going gluten-free can be fantastic - no surgery or medication required!

Eating isn't supposed to hurt

Food is fuel - it's supposed to give you energy and make you feel good, not make you hurt. But when you eat things that your body doesn't like for some reason, it has a sometimes not-so-subtle way of telling you to knock it off. Food that your body objects to can cause gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and nausea - and even symptoms that don't seem to be associated with the gastrointestinal tract, like headaches, fatigue, depression, joint pain, and respiratory distress.

Luckily, when you figure out which foods your body doesn't approve of, you can stop eating them, and then your body stops being so pouty. In fact, if you feed it right, your body can make you feel great in lots of different ways.

Making nutrition your mission: Head-to-toe health benefits

Twelfth-century physician Maimonides said, "Man should strive to have his intestines relaxed all the days of his life." No doubt! When your intestines aren't relaxed - or when they're downright edgy or uptight - they affect all your other parts, too. It's kind of like when you're in a really good mood and your best friend is grumpy - the situation can make you grumpy, too; one cantankerous intestine can be a buzz-kill for the entire body.

In a way, the body's reaction to gluten doesn't compute. For some people, eating gluten can cause headaches, fatigue, joint pain, depression, or infertility; at first, those types of symptoms may seem unrelated to something going on in your gut, much less something you eat - much less something as common in your diet as wheat.

But those problems - and about 250 others - are symptoms of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. People with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity do sometimes have gastrointestinal symptoms, but more often the symptoms are extraintestinal, meaning they take place outside the intestinal tract.

If your body has problems with gluten, the gluten-free diet may help relieve lots of symptoms, such as the ones listed:

  Fatigue

  Gastrointestinal distress (gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, heartburn, and acid reflux)

  Headaches (including migraines)

  Inability to concentrate

  Weight gain or weight loss

  Infertility

  Joint, bone, or muscle pain

  Depression

  Respiratory problems

The list's impressive, isn't it? The idea that eliminating one thing from your diet - gluten - could improve so many different conditions is almost hard to believe. Yet it's true - and it really makes sense when you realize that if the food you're eating is toxic to your body, your body's going to scream in lots of different ways.

In people with gluten intolerance, eating gluten may make the symptoms of some psychiatric conditions worse. Some of the most fascinating findings recently indicate that removing gluten from the diet can improve behaviors of people with these conditions:

  Autism

  Schizophrenia and other mood disorders

  Attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder (ADD/ADHD)

I talk a lot more about this link in Chapter 4.

Millions of people have wheat allergies, which are different from gluten sensitivity or celiac disease - and they, too, improve dramatically on a wheat-free/gluten-free diet.

But beyond the obvious improvement you enjoy if you have an intolerance, other conditions and symptoms can improve on a wheat-free diet, such as PMS and menopausal symptoms. Eliminating wheat may even slow or reverse the signs of aging, reducing wrinkles and improving the tone and texture of skin.

Mastering the Meals

This book is about a lifestyle, not a diet. But no matter where that lifestyle takes you - eating in, eating out, attending social events, choosing, planning, shopping, preparing - being gluten-free all comes down to one thing: food.

If you're a culinary hacker and you're afraid you'll have to wake up at 4 a.m. to bake gluten-free bread and make pasta from scratch, turn off the alarm and go back to sleep. Plenty of gluten-free specialty foods are available to take the place of all your old favorites. Better yet (from a health standpoint), you're likely to find that those foods become less important to you. And considering that they're really not very good for you, that's a good thing.

Whether you're a kitchenphobe or a foodie, living a gluten-free lifestyle offers you an enormous selection of foods and ingredients to choose from.

Planning and preparing

Putting together smart and healthful gluten-free meals is a lot easier if you plan ahead. Walking through a store, perusing restaurant menus, or (gasp!) sitting in a bakery with a growling tummy isn't exactly conducive to making good food choices.

TIP

Give yourself a healthy advantage by planning and even preparing meals in advance, especially if your busy schedule has you eating away from home frequently. If you know you'll be pressed for time at breakfast or lunch, make your meals the night before, and bring healthful gluten-free snacks in resealable plastic bags.

One of the coolest things about adopting a new dietary lifestyle is exploring new and sometimes unusual or unique foods. You may never have heard of lots of gluten-free foods and ingredients, many of which not only are gluten-free and delicious, but also are nutritional powerhouses. With the new perspective on food that the gluten-free lifestyle can offer you, you may find yourself inspired to think outside the typical menu plan, exploring unique and nutritious alternatives.

Shopping shrewdly

The healthiest way to enjoy a gluten-free lifestyle is to eat things you can find at any grocery store or even a farmer's market: meat, fish, seafood, fruits, and nonstarchy vegetables (see Chapter 9 for more tips on shopping). If you want to add canned, processed, and even junk foods to your shopping list, you can still do most of your shopping at a regular grocery store, and you can even buy generics.

If you hope to enjoy the delicious gluten-free specialty products that are available these days, you can find them in health food aisles or at health food stores or specialty shops. Or you can shop in your jammies on one of the many Internet sites specializing in gluten-free products (if you're using your library's Internet or an Internet cafe to shop online, I suggest you change out of your jammies).

Some people worry about the cost of the gluten-free lifestyle, but it doesn't have to be more expensive. I talk about eating gluten-free affordably in Chapter 9.

Considering your kitchen

For the most part, a gluten-free kitchen looks the same as any other kitchen - without the gluten, of course. You don't need to go out and buy special gadgets and tools, and with only a couple exceptions, which I cover in Chapter 8, you don't need two sets of pots, pans, utensils, or storage containers, either.

If you're sharing a kitchen with gluten, you need to be aware of some contamination issues so you don't inadvertently glutenate (contaminate with gluten) a perfectly good gluten-free meal. Keeping your crumbs to yourself isn't just a matter of hygiene, but it can mean the difference between a meal you can eat and one you can't.

TIP

Some people find having separate areas in the pantry or cupboards for their gluten-free products helpful. This idea is especially good if you have gluten-free kids in the house, because they can see that you always have on hand lots of things for them to eat, and they can quickly grab their favorite gluten-free goodies from their special area.

Cooking outside the recipe box

I believe if you give someone a recipe, you feed 'em for a meal. Show them how to make anything gluten-free, and you feed 'em for a lifetime. The point is, you can make anything gluten-free, and you're not constrained by recipes or the fact that you can't use regular flour or breadcrumbs. All you need is a little creativity and some basic guidelines for using gluten-free substitutions, which you can find in Chapter 10.

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