99% of people do NOT have celiac disease.

“Just because a product says it’s gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Gluten-free products have as many calories as those with gluten, because a gram of sorghum, corn or rice flour is metabolically similar to a gram of wheat flour,” according to Mark Haub, associate professor and interim head of Kansas State University’s department of human nutrition in the College of Human Ecology. Haub studies whole grains and dietary fiber.

“Gluten isn’t bad for the average person. People have been eating wheat, rye and barley for thousands of years, and there are people who live to be 100 who eat wheat products and don’t seem to exhibit any types of health issues,” he said.

Grains were the basis of civilization, and still are.  Grains are where most people in the world get most of their calories.  99% of us are adapted to eating wheat — unless your ancestors were hunter-gatherers, you can probably eat it too.

If you’ve quit eating anything with “wheat” and feel better, it may be because you’ve quit white flour, which is unhealthy and ought to be illegal.  When you stop buying industrial food products and make your own whole grain recipes, you get off the “sugar rollercoaster” white flour causes when it quickly converts to sugar, leaving you hungry again soon.  Over many years, this can lead to diabetes.

Gluten-free is trendy.  It’s profitable.  But it is not based on reality.  If you’re doing it to avoid carbohydrates, keep in mind our survival depends on them, that’s nuts — we can’t function without them.  Our brains are fueled by carbs  (maybe not a good argument –who needs to think anymore with google and the concentrated media ownership, politicians in the pocket of the 1%, and hate-talk radio filling our unquestioning minds with propaganda).

Since agriculture was invented 10,000 years ago, we have evolved triple the amylase to digest carbohydrates.  This just in: so did dogs! According to E. Axelsson et al.,  in “The genomic signature of dog domestication reveals adaptation to a starch-rich diet,” Nature, 2013, dogs carry extra copies of the gene for amylase—an intestinal enzyme that cuts starch into maltose.

Agriculture forced us (and dogs) to adapt to a new diet, like being able to drink milk, which happened 3 times in different regions of the world.

In fact, the genetic changes the past 10,000 years to adapt to an agricultural diet have resulted in more genetic change than the previous 6 million years –the most dramatic and fastest adaptation in human history.

The February 2012 issue of Consumer reports on health recommends anyone who thinks they may be gluten intolerant to get tested, because celiac disease can be life-threatening.  You must find out if you have it.   Make a doctor’s appointment today if you think it’s a possibility.

Another few percent of you may be NCGI – nonceliac gluten intolerant.  This is unpleasant, but not harmful to your health.  Eat less wheat and more of other grains.  Another good reason to mill your own mix of multi-grain flour, since each kind of grain has its own unique set of vitamins and minerals.

As the economy continues to crash from resources, especially energy, declining, making growth is no longer possible, (which our financial system depends on), more and more of your calories will need to come from grains rather not meat or dairy, because they’re cheap and don’t need refrigeration.