Gluten Free Fad No More: Meet FODMAPs

I don't often post blogs about fad diet rants, but today I am putting on my science nutrition hat to share this nutrition news with you:

The gluten free diet crazy has been going on for years at this point. A study a few years ago and then the G Free Diet book by a "celebrity" basically sparked this idea that omitting gluten from your diet would result in easy, automatic weight loss. But the reality is, eating a gluten free pastry is still eating a pastry and to me, that's a major health halo red flag. Those who did lose weight  by eating gluten free likely did it by cutting out the majority of snack foods they were ingesting (many of which were gluten based starches...think pop tarts or cookies). Luckily the closer look at gluten and digestive health did help many Americans get diagnosed with Celiac disease who may not have known to look for it a decade earlier. And it also helped people be more in tune with their digestion to realize that something they were eating may have been the reason they just feel 'meh' all the time. In fact, some of these people may have been living with IBS or other chronic digestive disorder without knowing it! As a dietitian I'm basically on the obsessed level with digestion. It's a major health indicator and so many of my clients have been dealing with things that are uncomfortable and frankly, not healthy or irregular for too long before we chat! 

Because I absolutely detest fad diets or cutting entire groups of food out of your eating without a good reason, I really wanted to put on my dietitian nutritionist hat and share this clip from Good Morning America with you. The bottom line is the doctor who originally demonized gluten is coming out and admitting his study was off. It is not, as previously preached, gluten that's the cause of all things evil (unless you have Celiac disease or truly are gluten intolerant/sensitive)! Now researchers are taking a closer look at indigestible sugars (an example of one would be those sugar alcohols I can't digest!) as the possible cause for digestive discomfort. The key word you'll be hearing about now is FODMAPs (Fermentable, Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides, and Polyols). 

I'm calling it now that even though low FODMAP diets are used in hospitals and with clients to help with digestive problems, you'll be seeing low FODMAP foods as the next craze (I can see it now in the grocery store: "FODMAP free!"). On one hand I'm really excited people will be taking an even closer look at what they're eating and how they feel after to be able to eliminate some of the foods giving them issues. The only issue I have with this is people who may not be sensitive to some of the foods containing FODMAPs will begin to refuse foods on the list like apples, avocado, watermelon, asparagus or lentils. And that's something I don't want to see. 

There are pros and cons to every 'latest diet' or bit of research. More than anything, I'm happy people are getting more in tune with their bodies and paying attention to food.

This video is definitely worth a watch! What do you think?