Most Gluten-Free Food is Unhealthy And People Don't Know It

Some people, such as those with Celiac disease, need to eat gluten-free for health reasons, but gluten-free food has become a health fad recently, and a lot of people are eating gluten-free wrongly thinking that it is "healthier". This video centers on packaged foods.

I explain that wheat, the main gluten-containing grain, is quite healthy, high in both protein and fiber, and that eliminating gluten necessitates removing not only wheat but all of its close relatives, such as spelt, einkorn, emmer, khorasan/Kamut, rye, and barley, all of which are healthy grains with good nutritional profiles.

A lot of commercially-made gluten free products, both flour blends and packaged foods, are designed to replicate the flavor and texture of wheat products, but not their nutritional profile. They often use refined starches and as such are ultraprocessed foods, often disturbingly low in protein and with almost no fiber. These foods increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, including health problems like type II diabetes, obesity, high-blood pressure, fatty liver disease, and heart disease, among others.

I compare two commercially-available gluten-free flour blends, one from King Arthur and one from Bob's Red Mill. The King Arthur one is especially bad, whereas the Bob's Red Mill one is substantially less bad, but still more processed than most whole grain flours.

I explain how I prefer skipping these blends altogether and instead working with alternate flours directly. I mention bean flours including chickpea (besan, or garbanzo bean), mung bean, urad, and soybean, pseudocereals including quinoa, buckwheat, and amaranth, and gluten-free grains, including oat, teff, and sorghum.

I conclude by explaining how to read nutritional labels and tell people what to look for and what to avoid, especially taking care to look for and avoid refined starches, and to seek out foods with at least 3-4 grams of protein per 100-120 calories, and at least 1 but ideally 2-4 grams of fiber per similar quantities.

Source Links:

Whole-wheat flour nutrition facts:

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Wheat_...

Unenriched white (refined) all-purpose wheat flour Nutrition Facts:

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Wheat_...

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour:

https://www.bobsredmill.com/product/g...

King Arthur Gluten Free All Purpose Flour:

https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/ite...