Start Your Day with a Healthy Breakfast

Studies prove it: those who skip breakfast tend to overeat later in the day – often resulting in weight gain. So fuel your body with a healthy breakfast such as: a gluten-free cold cereal made with a nutritious grains like amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, quinoa or teff and topped with fresh fruit. Compare cereal nutrient levels in the comprehensive chart I created for Allergic Living magazine. (Canadians, see this version.)

For a hot cereal, make a tasty bowl of oatmeal from pure, uncontaminated oats with raisins and slivered almonds. Try a smoothie with low fat yogurt, fresh or frozen fruit, ground flax, dash of vanilla and honey. Or bake and freeze muffins from a healthy gluten-free mix.

Next: Portion sizes

In a 2006 study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, a whopping 81 percent of celiacs on the gluten-free diet gained weight within two years after diagnosis. A key issue is that a person with celiac disease wasn’t able to properly absorb nutrients before diagnosis. But once on a gluten-free diet, the gut heals, and that’s when the now-diagnosed individual finally starts absorbing protein, calories and fat.

The result: those with celiac disease who eat the exact same amount of calories, protein and fat as they always did can suddenly begin to gain weight.

Allergic Living offers 5 great tips to keep off the extra pounds while living a healthy gluten-free lifestyle.

1. Become label literate
Be mindful of the serving sizes on packaged gluten-free products. They are often smaller than their gluten-containing counterparts – meaning that, for example, if you used to eat three-quarters of a cup of regular cold cereal for breakfast, you might need to reduce that to two-thirds of a cup of gluten-free cereal.

2. Stave off hunger with veggies and lean protein
“A common complaint from those on gluten-free diets is ‘I’m always hungry,’” says registered dietitian Alexandra Anca. Solution: drink more fluids and eat more lean protein, fruits and vegetables. Anca recommends gluten-free whole grains like quinoa or buckwheat: “They fill you up more and better – and they take a long time to digest.” Also boost your intake of chickpeas, beans and lentils.

3. Recognize that it’s partly psychological
When you’re gluten-free, it’s common to become obsessed with having satisfying starchy food, like bread, pasta and cookies. That’s because you suddenly can’t have what you’ve had – and loved – your whole life. Being aware of cravings and why they’re occurring is the first step to managing them.

4. Seek support
Find an in-person or online support group – especially if you cannot find a registered dietitian in your area who specializes in celiac disease. “Finding support should be your Number 1 priority,” says a Pennsylvania mother who struggled with post-celiac diagnosis weight gain. “With support you find resources, and you don’t feel so alone. You find people who will say, ‘I had the same problem, and this is what worked for me.’”

5. Get moving!
Put simply, losing weight requires expending more energy than you consume. On top of living a moderately active lifestyle (taking the stairs, walking), try to add 30 minutes of vigorous activity to your day at least a few days per week. (Speak to your doctor before starting any new exercise regimen.)

Related Reading: Gluten-Free Diet and Your Weight

“I was passed around from doctor to doctor,” recalls the Doylestown, Pennsylvania mother of two. “Nobody could diagnose me.” Like other patients with puzzling symptoms, she was even advised to see a psychiatrist.

Swollen joints in her hands and feet eventually led her to a rheumatologist, who diagnosed her with celiac disease in 2006 and referred back to her family physician. But that wasn’t the end of Auman’s woes, since the doctor was only superficially informed about her condition. “They gave me a piece of paper that just said: ‘No barley, no wheat, no rye,’” she recalls.

Confused and seeking to educate herself, Auman turned to Dr. Google – the Internet, that is – to learn more. The result? “I became afraid to eat,” she says. Although her symptoms improved on her new gluten-free diet, she found herself “starving” and quickly dropped 15 pounds. In some ways, it was a welcome loss for Auman, who had been moderately overweight. But feeling famished wasn’t sustainable.

Driven by constant hunger and a burgeoning depression, Auman headed to comfort foods found in the gluten-free aisle of the grocery store. “Because I felt like I couldn’t eat anything, I overate the foods that I could eat,” she says. It wasn’t long before she gained back the 15 pounds – “and then some.” Now, she had a life-changing autoimmune disease and a weight problem to worry about.

It turns out Auman’s case isn’t unusual. In a 2006 study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, a whopping 81 percent of celiacs on the gluten-free diet gained weight within two years after diagnosis, and the dietitians Allergic Living spoke to say they see this all the time.

That’s what makes the gluten-free diet’s recent rise in popularity among those who have not been diagnosed with celiac disease so peculiar.

Gluten-free is today is what low-carb was 10 years ago: the “It” diet. Inspired by non-celiac celebrities who tout gluten-free as a way to slim down (we’re looking at you, Gwyneth Paltrow and Russell Crowe), North Americans are turning to the diet in droves. According to a study conducted by consumer market researchers the NPD Group, one-quarter of Americans are trying to reduce or completely avoid gluten in their diets. But if they are doing so to lose weight, they are terribly misguided.

Next: Feeling better – and the weight creep