Celiac Foundation President: Stop Calling It the Gluten-Free ‘Diet’
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President of the Philly-based National Foundation for Celiac Awareness and former Be Well Philly Health Hero Challenge semifinalist, Alice Bast, wrote a really interesting piece for the Huffington Post this week, in which she argues that we should do away with the term “gluten-free diet”—specifically, the “diet” part of the equation.
She writes:
When we hear diet, we’re naturally inclined to think of weight loss. In the case of a gluten-free “diet,” the term actually just means the types of food people eat regularly, not in an effort to lose weight. I often wonder, if we started referring to our treatment as a “gluten-free prescription” or “gluten-free regimen,” would people stop equating our medicine with weight loss? While I obviously can’t say for sure, my gut tells me that could be the case.
By the way, I tend to agree, as I have written at length in the past, that the whole gluten free “diet” thing is desperate for a rebrand. This is especially true in the face of celebrity gluten-free “diet” (see what I did there?) backers like Miley Cyrus, who ignorantly reinforce the link between following a gluten-free diet and losing weight.
Anyway, go do yourself a favor, and read the full op-ed here.
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