Special Diets

If you have a unique dietary plan, we can help

We Have Information on Gluten-Free and Several Other Unique Diets Available For Your Family.

Gluten Free

What does following a gluten-free diet mean? That you're embarking on an easy diet with a wide range of health-promoting effects. Instead of dwelling on what you’re giving up, consider that you’re going to enjoy a whole new world of delicious food options to meet your special dietary needs. You’ll be eating seasonally, choosing more fresh fruits and vegetables, focusing on meats, seafood, poultry, legumes, lentils, corn, and rice, and discovering fascinating ancient grains such as quinoa, amaranth, and millet. You’ll be able to eat potatoes, eggs, most cheeses, even chocolate (!)—and enjoy them without guilt because you’ll be taking good care of your body. In fact, you’ll probably end up eating—and feeling—better than ever!

Visit this page for more information about living Gluten Free

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We carry a large variety of gluten free items, the brands listed below represent just some of the offerings we carry

Raw Foods

“Raw” is all the rage these days, but what does it mean to eat raw? And is it possible to get enough protein and other nutrients while following a raw diet?

Raw foods are those that have not been heated above 108°F to 118°F

Raw, defined

Most raw foodists eat only plant-based (vegan) foods, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, and seaweed. Raw foods are those that have not been heated above 108°F to 118°F, depending on who you talk to. The logic behind this is that many of the nutrients in foods are extremely sensitive to heat. This is especially true of the water-soluble vitamins, like the B-vitamins, folate, and vitamin C. As Katie McDonald, a raw food chef and certified Holistic Health Coach in Rhode Island puts it, “The more you do to a food, the less it does for you.”

Raw food advocates also look to the enzyme content of raw foods, saying that cooking destroys delicate enzymes that could otherwise go toward improving the digestion of the foods you’re eating.

Read up on Raw here

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In addition to our always fresh produce, we carry many more raw foods throughout our stores. Look for these brands and our Raw Foods section for more.

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Glycemic Index

Glycemic Index: Main Image

Related Topics

  1. Cardiovascular Disease Overview
  2. High-Fiber Recipes
  3. Recipe Center

Why Do People Follow This Diet?

People most often use the glycemic index to choose carbohydrate-containing foods that will only minimally raise their blood sugar levels, with the intent of preventing health problems associated with either high blood sugar or the body’s reaction to rising blood sugar. These health problems may include weight gain, diabetes, the insulin resistance syndrome, hypoglycemia, and heart disease. Foods with a glycemic index of 55 and below are considered ideal for those trying to consume low-glycemic-index foods.

Athletes may choose high-glycemic-index foods after intense exercise, in order to rapidly replenish depleted carbohydrate stores.

What Do the Advocates Say?

The underlying premise for advocating eating low-glycemic-index foods is that high-glycemic-index foods cause a rapid elevation in blood sugar that the body attempts to balance by producing a large amount of insulin. Advocates claim that human physiology is not designed to tolerate these rapid and prolonged elevations in blood sugar and insulin caused by the prevalence of modern, high-glycemic-index foods in the diet. As human civilization has evolved, primitive stone-age diets that featured naturally occurring, low-carbohydrate foods have been replaced, first by unprocessed but higher-carbohydrate agricultural foods such as whole grains and legumes, and more recently by highly processed, low-fiber flours and other starchy foods, plus an increasing amount of sweets. This trend towards higher-glycemic-index foods in the diet is therefore deemed unnatural and hazardous to the healthy functioning of the body.

Research suggests that repeated overproduction of insulin could lead to insulin resistance, in which cells that normally respond to insulin become less sensitive to its effects. Excessive high-glycemic-index foods, high insulin levels, and insulin resistance have been associated with many health concerns, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Changing to a low-glycemic-index diet has been shown in most studies to reduce insulin resistance, help control appetite, improve weight loss results, enhance blood sugar control in diabetics, lower blood levels of total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol, and raise blood levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol.

What Do the Critics Say?

Critics say that the way the glycemic index is measured (one food at a time in quantities that contain a standard amount of carbohydrate) does not resemble the way people usually eat (many items are eaten together in varying portion sizes, often mixing high-carbohydrate with low-carbohydrate foods). They also criticize the complexity of the glycemic index concept and the fact that eating large amounts of some low-glycemic-index foods, such as ice cream, would be unhealthful due to the detrimental effects of other components of these foods, such as animal fats. In the case of type 2 diabetes, critics point out that the glycemic index only measures the short-term effects of foods on blood sugar, whereas studies measuring longer-term effects of high-glycemic-index foods in people with diabetes have found inconsistent results.

In answer to these criticisms, advocates point to the many studies linking diets containing high-glycemic-index foods to common and serious health problems. They insist that the diet can be made more healthful by integrating the glycemic index with other health concepts, such as lowering animal fat consumption, to achieve the best results.

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The information presented by TraceGains is for informational purposes only. It is based on scientific studies (human, animal, or in vitro), clinical experience, or traditional usage as cited in each article. The results reported may not necessarily occur in all individuals. Self-treatment is not recommended for life-threatening conditions that require medical treatment under a doctor's care. For many of the conditions discussed, treatment with prescription or over the counter medication is also available. Consult your doctor, practitioner, and/or pharmacist for any health problem and before using any supplements or before making any changes in prescribed medications. Information expires December 2025.