Gluten is a hot topic, and this is a great article (“Should We All Go Gluten-Free,” by W. Balistreri, MD, see link below). My quick summary is that 1% of the population has celiac disease, and these folks absolutely need to be gluten-free all the time.

For the rest of us, you need to understand that processed foods are the greatest evil, so if you switch from wheat-flour cookies to gluten-free rice flour cookies, you are still just eating processed food cookies. Gluten-containing foods also tend to be high in sugar, and easily converted to more sugar once you eat them, spiking your insulin and leading to food coma and other negative effects.

The best approach would be to strive for a diet rich in plants that still look like plants (organic vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, grains that look like grain, NOT FLOUR – think quinoa). No matter how many vegetables you eat daily, you could benefit from eating MORE VEGETABLES in place of what ever other food you are eating.

Does this mean you have to avoid all gluten all the time? Not necessarily. It means to minimize all flour-based products, even gluten-free ones, to the margins of your diet.

If you have gastrointestinal problems, then you should test for celiac antibodies before you go gluten-free, and then do a 1-month food elimination diet (including eliminating gluten), to see if you improve. Food sensitivity blood tests can guide your elimination diet. After a month, you can see how your symptoms have responded to the elimination and re-introduction of foods.

I love to guide people through this process at the Akasha Center for Integrative Medicine in Santa Monica.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/857971?nlid=99603_491