Is Paleo Gluten Free (Coeliac) Friendly?

One of the reasons many people go on diets is to lose weight. But there’s a far more important factor at work in undertaking a diet than just eating less, and that is eating “right.” It’s true that there’s some basic mathematics at work in weight loss, and the simplest equation is, you should eat fewer calories than you burn. As long as you can do that, you are guaranteed to lose weight.

But the calories you acquire can come from many different sources, and trying to go gluten free can actually make a big difference to your health. So what is gluten? Does a Paleo diet help in your quest go gluten free? Let’s find out!

Filling, But Not Necessarily Healthy

Gluten is a protein that is most commonly found in grain-based foods, especially those using wheat or barley, which we use in everything from bread to the breakfast cereals kids eat in the morning. There are two proteins in gluten, glutenin, and gliadin. Gliadin is responsible for causing adverse reactions in people who are gluten intolerant. Even without an intolerance to gluten, gluten has some inflammatory properties that may increase digestive irritation, and affect energy levels in people.

The Paleo Difference

A Paleo diet, is, by its very nature, gluten free. Because Paleo diets emphasise only eating “cave man” food, that would have only been acquired through our ancestors hunting and/or gathering, agricultural products like dairy and grain-based foods are eliminated from the diet.

This means that a Paleo diet is not only free fof gluten but often free from the processing that occurs in so-called gluten free products that may still use artificial compounds and techniques during food preparation. With a Paleo diet, people that are looking for a gluten free solution are getting just that, and a whole lot more!