When is gluten an issue?
Gluten appears in the wheat-based foods where you'd expect it (pizza, pasta, bagels, breads) and, less obviously, in products like beer, non-dairy coffee creamer, some prepared pasta sauces, toothpaste, lipstick, and even vitamins and medications. For most people, gluten is a non-issue. Others can benefit from reducing their intake or even eliminating it from their diet.

One of the more commonly missed diseases in modern medicine is celiac disease. People with celiac disease produce inflammation-causing antibodies in response to gluten and to gluten-like proteins found in relatives of wheat such as rye, spelt and barley. Although roughly 1 out of 130 people are estimated to have celiac disease, most don't realize it -- not surprising, given there are 200 recognized symptoms, some of which are similar to other diseases like chronic iron-deficient anemia, weight loss, constipation or diarrhea, and fatigue. The cure is to permanently eliminate trigger foods from the diet.

Dr. Peter Bongiorno, a naturopath at Inner Source Health in Manhattan, says people with autoimmune diseases, ulcerative colitis or irritable bowel syndrome can also experience great relief when they eliminate gluten from their diet. For such people, gluten can trigger inflammation in the digestive system.

The low-wheat diet: healthy side effects
"Many people don't have true wheat problems, but still experience symptoms of sensitivities because of extenuating circumstances," says Bongiorno. "What I found is that if people get enough sleep, eat well, don't stress out as much, and do what they love, many of them can eventually go back to eating the foods that previously bothered them, as long as they eat them in moderation."

In other words, eliminating wheat may make things better not because the body has a problem with wheat itself, but because avoiding wheat changes the nature of one's diet for the better; since most processed foods contain wheat, eliminating wheat generally means eating a healthier diet richer in whole foods. That's where gluten-free whole grains come in.

The human body has thrived on gluten-free grains for centuries. Brown rice, buckwheat and corn are the most familiar examples and can easily become staples of a gluten-free or low-wheat diet.

As for more unusual options like quinoa, millet and amaranth -- all of them easy and versatile to cook with --discovering their new tastes and textures is a culinary adventure well worth undertaking. Look for them in your natural foods store, along with an array of new gluten-free products like quinoa-based pasta and corn-and-rice-based baked goods.

A programmable rice-cooker -- an appliance as essential to Asian kitchens as the coffeemaker is to Western ones -- is a great way to make whole-grains a fixture of your daily diet. It will cook them to perfection at the touch of a button.