Are you on the trendy diet? If you were alive in the 1860s, being on the trendy diet would mean you wouldn’t be eating carbs. If you were alive in the 1980s, you would be eating carbs. And, if you were alive in the early 2000s, you wouldn’t be eating them again. Carbs are bad, carbs are good, and carbs are bad. The same fate was shared by fat. It was good, then it was bad, and now it is good again (the good fats). Soy too. Soy was a nutrition darling for a while and then it got blacklisted. In the current day, wheat seems to be the latest nutrition enemy.

Gary Taubes in Good Calories, Bad Calories gives a detailed historical account of the diet phenomenon, underscoring the fickleness of it all. The first popular diet craze came in 1863 when William Banting, an obese man who tried a diet mostly of protein, wrote a 16 page document describing how he lost weight. He avoided foods that had sugar or starch and subsequently lost 50 pounds. This led to the first diet frenzy—carbs are bad, fat is good.

"All food which is not flesh—all food rich in carbon and hydrogen—must have a tendency to produce fat. Carnivores are never fat; herbivores, living exclusively on plants, often are. The hippopotamus, for example, so uncouth in form from its immense amount of fat, feeds wholly upon vegetable matter—rice, millet, and sugar-cane." -- Dancel, physician, mid 1800s

Carbs as the enemy lasted for over a century. And then, in 1985, the tide began to change. At this point, carbs became heart-healthy food. We were told that it was now the butter rather than the bread that was the enemy. In the 1980s, the American Heart Association identified dietary fat as a probable cause of heart disease. Low fat diets were now being advocated as the means of prevention. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Guide Pyramid at this time recommended eating six to eleven servings per day of pasta, potatoes, rice, and bread. Fats and oils were to be eaten sparingly. The no-fat craze was born and suddenly carbs are good, fat is bad. No-fat items still line the shelves of supermarkets today. Never mind that the no-fat foods are typically stripped of their nutrients and thus not healthful foods.

"We need to eat more carbohydrates. Not only is eating pasta at the height of fashion...It can help you lose weight." Brody, food author, 1985

"Americans ate too much of everything—particularly fat—because we can afford to, and because we could not or would not say no. Since fat contains more than twice as many calories per gram as either protein or carbohydrates, people who cut down on fat usually lose weight." Washington Post, 1985

In the early 2000s, diets such as The Zone and Atkins became widely popular. These diets returned us to the trend that fat is good, (simple) carbs are bad.

And then there was soy. Soy was good, then it was bad. For a while, soy was the end-all, be-all—especially as a benefit for breast cancer prevention. People were loading up on tofu and edamame. A few years later, we were cautioned that too much soy could, in fact, be harmful. Women concerned about breast cancer were told to eat soy in moderation.

These examples point out that the changing tide of nutrition is the reality of our culture. New "research" comes to light, suggesting new ideas which become the latest craze. Product companies make their money jumping on the latest bandwagon and fueling the (our) frenzy.

So here we are in 2011 and the latest enemy appears to be wheat. Supermarket shelves are now lined with gluten-free foods. Restaurants are promoting their wheat-free items. It is important to remember that just because a food is “gluten-free” does not mean it is a healthy food (just like we saw with the no-fat craze). Many gluten-free products are made of refined carbs and added fats. They also typically lack key nutrients and fiber that are found in their fortified wheat counterparts.

So, why is wheat getting a bad rap? Wheat in the U.S. tends to be overly processed and stripped of its nutrients. Some believe it can be inflammatory because we are not built to digest it. Proponents of the Paleo diet point out that our ancestors did not eat wheat.

Many people are now scared to eat wheat. Some people certainly should not be eating wheat. If you have been diagnosed with celiac disease, you should absolutely be avoiding wheat. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease in which a person can’t tolerate gluten, a protein found in spelt, wheat, rye, and barley. Celiac disease can be diagnosed with genetic testing. Even if you do not have the celiac gene, you may still be sensitive to wheat. Those that are gluten-sensitive may experience symptoms of gastrointestinal distress, skin irritations, difficulty breathing during exercise, fatigue, and headaches from eating wheat. The best way to know if you are gluten-sensitive is to avoid eating wheat and see if you feel better.

I think we can all benefit from reducing wheat in our diet because it is so prevalent. Most people know that wheat is found in bread and pasta, but it can also be found in deli meats, salad dressings, beer, condiments, soy sauce, and energy bars. To reduce my consumption of wheat, I have substituted my morning wheat toast with gluten-free bread. I most often choose brown rice and quinoa over wheat bread and pasta. And, I look to get my fiber from fruits and vegetables rather than from whole grains. But, I love wheat (particularly in the form of fresh baked bread and New York pizza) and I have no plans to cut it out of my diet entirely. I've tried going without, and I feel fine. And when I eat it, I feel fine. I don't have celiac disease and I don't have gluten-sensitivity. If I did, I would cut out wheat from my diet entirely.

The bottom line is, rather than following the trendy diet, how about just eating the variety of foods in moderation—whether it be carbs, fat, soy, wheat, or the next blacklisted food. If you follow the healthy eating tips at Eat This Way, you won't have to worry about the latest fad in nutrition.

I plan to do my own research and make my own decisions about what I should eat. How about you?