One of the best ways to effectively lose weight is to adopt a gluten-free diet. Now, you don’t need to have the Celiac disease in order to eat gluten-free. There are many people who have gluten sensitivities that would greatly benefit from eating a mainly gluten-free diet.
There are also people who are completely gluten intolerant that have to stick to a gluten-free diet in order to avoid negative health effects.
In this article, we will be taking a closer look at the gluten-free weight loss diet so that you can understand how easy it is to go gluten-free and how it will positively impact your waistline.
All About Gluten
Gluten is basically a particular protein that is found in various grains such as rye, barley, and spelt flour. It is what makes flour feel sticky when you’re creating a dough. Gluten actually helps the bread to rise and gives it a very chewy and delicious feel.
There are many foods that contain gluten besides bread such as beer, candies, pastries, cookies, pies, cereal, pasta, imitation seafood, hot dogs, salad dressings, croutons, sauces, and more. As you can also tell, these foods also happen to be high in calories, which also accounts for weight gain.
Starting A Gluten-Free Diet
Eliminating all sources of gluten from your diet is quite challenging. This is due to the fact that gluten is found in so many popular foods that most people eat every day. Some of the main sources of gluten that are added to various foods include:
– Malt
– Barley
– Wheat flour, Semolina, Durum, Wheat bran, Kamut, Spelt
– Brewer’s yeast
– Rye
– Triticale
So, in order to start a weight loss diet gluten-free, you need to make sure and thoroughly check all of the food labels while grocery shopping. If you are eating out, make sure, and ask for gluten-free options as well.
The easiest way to make sure that you’re only eating gluten free foods is to only consume fresh one ingredient foods such as fruits, vegetables, and meats.
Best Gluten-Free Foods
Eating gluten-free is not only extremely healthy but will help you to shed those excess pounds. Some of the very best gluten-free foods that you should eat include:
- Eggs
- Spices and various herbs
- Particular types of flour: Coconut flour, potato flour, soy flour, almond flour, etc.
- Fish
- Meat: Chicken, turkey, beef, shrimp, etc. However, make sure you don’t prepare the meat with a batter or various coatings
- Seeds
- Nuts
- All fruits and vegetables: Broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, bananas, apples, etc
- Certain types of dairy: You should stick to plain dairy products such as cheese, plain milk, plain yogurt, etc. This is because the flavored types usually contain gluten.
- Gluten free grains: There are certain types of gluten free grains that you can eat such as corn, rice, arrowroot, quinoa, millet, etc. There are also certain types of oats that are gluten-free, so make sure and check the label.
- Various oils and butter
As you can see, a gluten-free diet is far from being as overly restrictive as you may have thought. You can have a delicious and varied diet that you’ll surely enjoy.
Why Should You Eat A Gluten-Free Diet?
There are numerous benefits of going gluten-free and these benefits are not just for people who have gluten sensitivities or those who suffer from Celiac disease. The very first benefit that we will look at is weight loss.
Now, the main reason why you will easily lose weight on a gluten-free diet is that you’ll be eating mostly fresh and unprocessed foods that are naturally lower in calories.
Weight loss is all about eating fewer calories than your body burns. The gluten-free diet makes this very easy due to the fact that you’ll naturally have to avoid snack foods such as cake, pastries, candies, etc. These foods are small but very calorie-dense which causes weight gain.
With that said, there are many gluten-free cakes, candies, and other treats available in the supermarket. However, in order for you to lose weight as quickly as possible, you should avoid these treats or at least heavily limit them. Instead, focus your gluten free diet on lots of fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and meats.
The other benefits of going gluten free include increased energy, relief with any digestive problems you may have, reduction in inflammation, etc.
Weight Loss Diet Gluten-Free Meals
As mentioned previously, losing weight on a gluten-free diet is very easy and effective, once you pay attention to your caloric intake.
Thankfully, this is very easy to do since there are numerous apps that you can use that will help you to calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) as well as track your meals on a daily basis to ensure that you maintain a caloric deficit.
For example, if your TDEE is 2,500 then you may want to set a goal of only consuming between 2,000 – 2,200 calories per day. This will put you in a deficit of 300 to 500 calories per day which can help you to lose as much as 1 pound per week which is 3,500 calories.
So, an example meal plan for one day can potentially be an omelet for breakfast, steak and vegetables for lunch, and a chicken/lentil soup for dinner. Another day you can try oatmeal with fruits for breakfast, Quinoa salad with grilled chicken for lunch, and grilled lamb with vegetables for dinner.
Conclusion
To wrap things up, we have just covered exactly how a gluten-free diet can help you lose weight along with guidelines to make sure that you can effectively implement this diet. So, once you maintain this diet and remain in a caloric deficit, you will be able to get rid of excess body fat in no time.