Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed that she avoids feeding her children carbohydrates, including pasta, bread and rice, because she believes it is bad for them.
The 40-year-old mother of Apple, 8, and Moses, 6, who has just launched her low-carb gluten-free cookbook It’s All Good, says, “Every single nutritionist, doctor and health-conscious person I have ever come across … seems to concur that [gluten] is tough on the system and many of us are at best intolerant of it and at worst allergic to it.”
While the health-conscience star devotes a whole chapter of her new book to grains, and admits her family misses carbs, she remains extremely skeptical about their value.
“Sometimes when my family is not eating pasta, bread or processed grains like white rice, we’re left with that specific hunger that comes with avoiding carbs,” she reveals.
Gwyneth says everyone in her household, including her husband Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, is intolerant to “many other surprising foods”.
In the book, she also describes the moment she thought she was having a stroke.
“I had just served lunch in the garden at home … I had a vague feeling that I was going to faint, and I wasn’t forming thoughts correctly … I got a searing pain in my head, I couldn’t speak and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was having a stroke,” she said.
She was found to be severely anaemic and vitamin D deficient, so had to overhaul her diet, cutting out coffee, eggs, sugar, shellfish, potatoes, wheat and meat.
Accredited practising dietitian Melanie McGrice tells Woman’s Day that Gwyneth’s comments aren’t necessarily true.
“There is no harm in following a gluten-free diet as long as you are meeting all of your nutrient requirements,” she says. “However, her comments about gluten being ‘tough on the system’ are blatantly incorrect.”
Melanie says while it is safe to eat gluten-free, many are doing it unnecessarily.
“Eating a gluten-free diet seems to be becoming a fad with people, who are doing it because celebrities do it rather than because they need to for health,” she says.
“It is safe to eat a gluten-free diet, however there is no need for it unless you are diagnosed with coeliac disease by your doctor.
“It is recommended that people see an accredited practising dietitian for individual assessment and dietary advice if you are confused about your diet.”
Melanie says there is no need to completely cut carbs, even if you are gluten intolerant or allergic.
“Gluten is a protein predominantly found in wheat, barley, oats and rye, although people with coeliac disease have to read labels carefully as gluten can also be found in a wide range of processed foods,” she explains.
“There are plenty of other foods in the wholegrain food group that you can eat, such as rice, legumes and corn.”
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