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| Nutritionist and Author |
Are you starting 2012 off not knowing the basics about genetically modified foods and the health risks associated with them? If so and if you live in Tucson, there’s an easy way to remedy that situation: Attend a couple of short movies.
by Melissa Diane Smith
The gluten-free diet is one of the most talked-about and followed diets these days for good reason: It’s the nutritional answer for the growing number of people who learn they are gluten intolerant. However, few people realize it, but eating gluten free can harm health in other ways when we focus only on “gluten-free” and end up eating a gluten-free version of the Standard American Diet that leads to ill health. Many people are doing that, unknowingly making mistakes with their diet that lead to weight gain, elevated blood sugar, heart disease risk factors, new allergies, immune system problems, and more.
I will address these issues and the little-covered topic, “It’s Gluten Free but Is It Healthy?” at the Southern Arizona Celiac Support (SACS) general meeting on Saturday, January 14, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. In my presentation, I’ll explain the most common mistakes people make with the gluten-free diet that lead to health problems and cover key food concepts that promote better health. My presentation will take place at Pima Community College, 4905 E. Broadway Blvd., and will be immediately followed by book signings of Going Against the Grain and my follow-up book Gluten Free Throughout the Year.
Reprinted from the “Just the Facts” Q&A with me in the January 2012 issue of Better Nutrition magazine.
We’re a few years into the “gluten-free” diet revolution in this country, yet many people still don’t understand the basics about celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and the ins and outs of going gluten free. To give us the answers, we posed commonly asked gluten-related questions to Melissa Diane Smith, our Go Gluten Free columnist – a leading nutritionist and author of Going Against the Grain and Gluten Free Throughout the Year – who has been counseling people on the gluten-free diet for more than ten years.
