A look from the inside; put down the bread and pick up a vegetable

So your flipping through some web pages (as though they are a book, apparently, according to me) and you begin to see a trend. This specific trend I'm speaking of, is websites, news stations, "experts" and nutritionists telling you NOT to go gluten-free. Some of you may not even care, or simply find it annoying that people want to stop eating grain, wheat or gluten. And this my dear friends, is exactly what the media wants you to think.

"Oh, what a bunch of a**holes, asking for a gluten free menu"
"what is this? a gluten free section in the grocery store? how annoying."

I am not ashamed or upset that these thoughts consistently cross your mind, and I am not surprised. The fighters and  advocates for gluten free and grain free living are constantly being pushed down, being told things like, "Well my friend has a cousin who knows a nutritionist who says we shouldn't stop eating bread. We'll all become malnourished". And here we are, like a swarm of health super-hero's, telling people to eat mainly vegetables and protein, spreading our word across the globe, being put down instantly by so called "experts" and "nutritionists". We as a gluten and grain free people, are being being portrayed as the skinny frail women at a restaurant asking for a gluten free menu, in a snobby voice.Well let me tell you one thing (or maybe 10).

First of all we are not skinny and frail, we are strong and thin. Second of all, we don't usually eat "gluten free" bread products, they defeat the purpose of becoming healthy. We are that guy benching at the gym, drinking a protein drink, we are that girl at the bar with the flat stomach having a cider with friends. We are the women staying home and cooking REAL food, that takes some time to prepare. We are adding spices and experimenting with sauces to make chicken breast taste amazing. We are marathon runners, early birds, students, chefs, power lifter's, health enthusiasts  but most of all, we are always quick to tell you we feel amazing. That going gluten free is not a diet but a lifestyle change, a new chapter to our lives. We didn't just "lose weight", we gained our ENTIRE life back, for the rest of our lives.

Wheat and grain, sugar and corn. You might love it, it might be all you eat on a daily basis, and if so, you are either a genetic anomaly, or your obese and/or consistently unhealthy. You get headaches and you don't know why, so you drink coffee and take aspirin. You get fat but you don't understand, because you really don't eat a whole lot. You thought that fat people only got fat from excess, so what is going on? Your itchy. In weird places, all the time. You break out for no reason, you have reoccurring hives, yeast infections, acne. You don't sleep well, your tired in the morning, you wake up feeling sick all the time. Your hungry, you crave candy, pasta, bread, beer. You think about it a lot, but you assume no more than the average person.

Here is the truth folks, in plain english. Your body sees a piece of bread (whole grain, no less!) no different than 5 teaspoons of sugar. It processes it the same, uses it the same. You wouldn't spend your day downing spoonfuls of sugar, would you? No! of course not, we were all taught (rightfully) from a young age that sweets are to be eaten in moderation, because they are NOT healthy for you! And wouldn't you know, they are at the top of the "traditional" food pyramid, to be eaten in MODERATION. But your body sees the bottom and top of this pyramid as one in the same.

So lets think about the average person, except he or she is downing teaspoons of sugar all day. This person will probably develop diabetes, their teeth will rot out of their head, they will consistently get sugar rushes, which cause headaches! They might develop candida, (which is a real thing, thank you "experts" and "media", once again for knocking it), which causes reoccurring yeast infections, headaches and skin problems.

Okay so you might still not believe me. Why would nutritionists lie to me? Why would the news lie to me? Don't they have my BEST INTERESTS in mind?

Lets take a billion dollar company like Kellogg  who has made their entire fortune off the misfortune of unhealthy people eating "whole grains". If it got out that wheat is in fact, causing the obesity epidemic in america, and nutritionists and the news channel told you to stop eating it, they would crash. Very rich people would loose a lot of money, very fast. They are already losing money off of people like me, convincing friends and family to but down the bread and pick up a vegetable. But this is on a small scale. The FDA purely runs on profit and money, they really REALLY don't care whether you live or die.

So maybe I've inspired you to do more research, maybe you want to stop eating wheat. Or maybe, today when you drop by the grocery store, you'll buy broccoli and squash and skip the bread isle. Whatever it is, as small as it is, I'm glad.