Why?

My father has developed a theory ~ he believes gluten-free qualifies as the new fad, the current rage, the "it" diet of the moment.  Sort of like low-fat, high-carb was in the the '70's (for those of you who remember) and low-carb, high-fat was in the '90's.  At the risk of sounding sacrilegious in the GF community, I tend to agree with Dad.  I know, I know how could I possibly think gluten-free eating is a fad, especially when I'm feeding a family where 3 out of the 4 people and the dog all have issues with gluten?  Please bear with me in this thinking: our culture does tend to be fad eaters, jumping on the current newest and coolest eating phenomena, and as gluten-free has gained traction in the last couple of years, it tends to fall into the "newest eating craze" category for a lot of people.  And all I can say is, THANK GOD!  As GF living has stepped into the lime-light it's resulted in more eating options for people who, for the sake of their health, HAVE to eat gluten-free.  It's also caused more people to really examine their diets to see if their health issues might be related to something they are ingesting.  And it's resulted in more knowledge about the very real problem of gluten-sensitivity in all it's forms which has led to the beginning of more tolerance and understanding.

In my humble opinion gluten-free eating is good for everyone even if you don't deal with a gluten-sensitivity, intolerance or Celiac's Disease.  Eating gluten-free forces you to be more intentional about your food choices, to consider the ingredients in the food you consume.  Out of necessity, you tend to eat a more whole-foods diet and less empty calories when you're gluten-free.  Can't really see the bad in any of that.

We've been a gluten-free family for almost six years.  Not by choice, no.  Heck, six years ago we were clueless about gluten-free living and were fairly uneducated about food allergies and intolerances.  Oh, we'd heard of them, of course, but they were something that happened to OTHER people, not something we grappled with on a daily basis.  But when our youngest son started having health and behavioral issues after being introduced to solid foods, the search for a possible food culprit began.  Thankfully our amazing nautropathic doctor zeroed in on gluten being the possible cause, and after several weeks of an elimination diet, we confirmed youngest had a severe sensitivity to gluten (possibly Celiac's). As we made the transition to GF living we discovered my husband and oldest son had sensitivity as well.  In fact, I strongly suspect my husband's 20+ year old Crohn's Disease diagnosis is potentially incorrect and instead he's Celiac.  Personally, I do not have issues with gluten but choose to eat gluten-free because it's easier than preparing a separate, gluten-filled meal, makes it less likely to cross-contaminate my guys' gluten-free food, and frankly, I just feel a whole lot better when I stay away from the stuff.

Whatever your reason for eating gluten-free or for investigating the gluten-free lifestyle, welcome to the journey.