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Wheat Intolerance and Weight Loss

By WLR Dietitian, Juliette Kellow BSc RD

With so much written about the weight-loss benefits of wheat-free diets, it’s easy to think intolerance to wheat may be the reason you’re finding it difficult to lose weight.

However, experts suggest that fewer than one in a thousand people suffer from wheat intolerance.

Support for the idea that weight gain – or difficulty in losing weight – is caused by a wheat intolerance stems mainly from people who’ve followed a wheat-free diet and found they’ve lost weight as a result.

Unsurprisingly though, most experts believe the weight loss that occurs is due to a reduction in calories and fat, thanks to cutting out not just bread and pasta, but also biscuits, cakes, pastries, pizza, puddings and processed foods such as battered fish or breaded chicken.

In other words, if you stop eating wheat, you often end up de-junking your diet and filling up on healthier and lower-calorie alternatives such as fruit, veg, lean meat, fish and low-fat dairy products.

Finally, if you genuinely believe you may be intolerant to wheat, keep a food and symptoms diary to see if there’s any connection with what you eat and the symptoms you suffer with – then see your GP for a proper diagnosis.

More on Food and Weight Loss

Fruit and Vegetables in a Weight Loss Diet

Rice, Bread and Pasta in a Weight Loss Diet

Milk, Cheese and Dairy in a Weight Loss Diet

Soup in a Weight Loss Diet

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