Many people lose weight when they begin eating a gluten-free diet. If you have a gluten intolerance, you may lose weight because your body can process the food better, but you may also lose weight even without the intolerance. Along with weight-loss, this can also help to reduce inflammation throughout the body and ease stress on muscles and joints that may be in pain.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye grains. It’s also found in breads, cereals and most bakery products. Incidentally, these are often the products that tend to have a lot of calories, sugars, and fat.

If you have a gluten intolerance, you’ll find that removing gluten from your diet may help you to lose weight. It will also help you to get rid of digestive problems such as gas, abdominal bloating, diarrhea or constipation.

Reversing your abdominal irritation can also do wonders for your energy levels you have and can help facilitate weight loss.

Removing gluten from your diet leaves you with fruits, vegetables, proteins, and some grains that are healthier alternative such as quinoa and wild rice. Oats don’t contain gluten unless they’ve been contaminated during processing. It’s important to keep in mind that other grains that don’t have gluten such as corn and rice can still trigger an immune response and cause inflammation, especially if you have a leaky gut, so you may consider also eliminating all grains for a period of time and then systematically reintroducing.

If you’re sensitive to gluten but can eat oats, make sure you get oats that are labeled as gluten-free. If you’re not sensitive, it probably is such a negligible amount that it won’t harm your attempts to lose weight and feel better.

Gluten is also found in other products not often associated with grains such as salad dressings, soy sauce and other sauces, soups, processed meats, french fries, energy bars. If you’re sensitive to gluten and eating at a restaurant, it’s important to tell your server so they make sure no gluten-containing ingredients are used.

When removing gluten from your diet in order to lose weight, you still need to be mindful of what you’re eating even if it doesn’t contain gluten. For example, make sure that you don’t replace products containing gluten with other highly processed foods, gluten-free products that contain a lot of sugar, and artificial colors and flavors. These foods will impede your weight loss progress and keep you from attaining your goals.

If you’re dealing with celiac disease, chances are you’ve lost a lot of weight unintentionally. You may be worried that gluten-free diet will cause you to lose even more weight. But in this case, it can be just the opposite. When you get rid of gluten and allow your gut to heal, your body will able to absorb nutrients again. This can help you to regain the weight you lost.

A gluten-free diet can contribute to reducing your risk of developing some serious conditions such as thyroid disease and brain degeneration. A gluten-free diet can also be part of a healthy weight loss program.