Art & Culture

What Exactly Does 'Gluten-Free' Mean?

Marc Gordon
Aug 22, 2022

When it comes to health and wellness, things are constantly changing and evolving. As someone who takes your health and overall wellness seriously, these changes can be quite confusing and overwhelming. Especially if your favorite social media influencer starts talking about it and promoting it. This brings us to our point. Do you know what gluten-free means? Not sure, no problem. You aren’t the only one who doesn’t. Yes, we see all health influencers talking about being gluten-free but no one really says what it really means. But worry not, here we are going to give you a breakdown of what it means to be gluten-free.

 aerial view of freshly baked bagels topped with sesame seeds and poppy seeds, cooling on a wire rack with a wooden board beneath

Getty Images / Moment / © Ian Laker Photography

Being gluten-free has become so popular that there are now grocery stores and restaurants that specialize in food that don’t consist of gluten. Now it is very easy to simply follow the crowd and decided to have a gluten-free diet. But what is the point in that if you don’t understand what it means? It would be like deciding to go vegan but still eating fish for example. Now don’t worry, we aren’t going to get into the scientific definitions of gluten.

The first thing you need to know about being gluten-free is that this isn’t for everyone. Gluten is found in products such as wheat, barley, and rye, to mention a few. Many people are actually advised to adopt a gluten-free diet to help combat many medical conditions, such as celiac disease. People go gluten-free for different reasons, though. As you get older you may notice that your digestive system or even your skin reacts differently to products with gluten, so your doctor might suggest trying to cut it from your diet.