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How much gluten is safe?
I will be shunned by all the Celiac Associations over this article, but since when was progress ever made by following the pack? I am more than happy to stand out on the ledge by myself and loudly disagree with what the government agencies are doing and make clear that I disagree with Celiac Associations that are all just endorsing the “legal limits” instead of questioning something that is really a health hazard for their members.
What amount of gluten is safe for a Celiac? Legally in most countries it is presently 10-20ppm. In Australia it used to be 20ppm, legal amount is now 5, and for a product to be labeled GF it must be less than 3. The Codex standard in the UK was 200ppm in 1981, changed to 20ppm in 2008. Finland is still at 100ppm. In America it has been lowered to 20ppm, Canada is introducing new laws in 2012 and so it goes from country to country, ranging from 3 to 500ppm. They keep modifying to lower & lower quantities… meanwhile what about the people who have been digesting the old “legal” amounts all these years? Good question, to which there is no answer – they are clearly on their own, destined to become the statistics of the coming decades.
Here are my issues with all these “legal amounts” of gluten:
1) There has been no extensive long-term research done on Celiac Disease because most research is funded by pharmaceutical companies. These companies have no interest in funding research for a condition that requires only a change in diet and that they can’t sell any drugs to, not to mention limits their cu$tomer base to 1% of the population. I am not convinced of data that is released when the topic hasn’t been exhaustively and objectively studied with double-blind tests and end outcome not pre-determined by the sponsors of the study.
How to read food labels?
The health craze of the 1980s got everyone looking at what goes into the food with eat. The government stepped in and forced food manufacturers to come clean with labels letting us know just what we’re putting on our tables. This was a great step forward and we’ve never looked back. But that doesn’t mean the food manufacturers like the idea. Turns out a lot of the food we eat regularly was full of harmful stuff, which kept the manufacturer’s production costs down. However they played along and on today’s food labels every product is good for you, or so the companies claim. And they’ve tucked a few tricks up their sleeves in the last few decades to convince you you’re getting the very best nature has to offer.
Sugar Ain’t Sweet
There are a lot of low-fat offerings these days and we turn to them when we’re trying to shed pounds. However sugar and fat are not the same thing. Sugar has no fat. That makes the label you’re studying look like the right way to go for a healthy alternative. But always check the sugar content. Sugar is high in calories and is a great source of energy. That energy has to be used or it gets stored in the body as fat. So unless you’re living a full, active lifestyle with regular exercise, you don’t need all that excess energy.
Raw Food Diet – Is it for you?
Every time I write an article or present a seminar about the raw food diet I can’t help note how we have evolved so far away from nature that we now need to take courses about eating food in its natural form. Quite astonishing when you think about it.
DEFINING RAW (also called “sun food” and “naked food”): food that is not heated above 118°F (46°C) in order to maintain nutritional integrity.
Raw Foodism is getting a whole lot of press lately and it is coming across as the newest fad diet yet there isn’t one person alive, dead, or in some world in between who can deny that raw was the first diet to ever exist and has been present all these millions of years. Isn’t it striking that most people in the developed world now need cookbooks to eat raw food? Welcome to the new millennium.
