For a little over a year, Jackie Diette didn’t eat gluten. In fact, the 30-year-old fashion director in New York City ate little more than vegetables, meats and healthy fats. “From [my health care team’s] expertise combined with my own research about the effects of food containing gluten, I was confident that removing it from my diet would help me obtain my weight loss goals,” she says.

She was right, and lost about 130 pounds. But now that Diette’s focus is weight maintenance, she realizes that some of the credit given to gluten-free eating — peddled as everything from a weight-loss method to a heart disease prevention strategy to a treatment for depression — might be misaligned. “My experience taught me that gluten itself isn’t necessarily the enemy,” says Diette, whose weight has remained stable for about five months with a healthy diet that includes some carbohydrates and gluten.

[See: 10 Unusual Weight-Loss Tips That Actually Work.]

Diette isn’t the only one who’s become disillusioned with gluten-free foods: According to Google Trends, searches for the term “gluten free” peaked in 2013 and have fluctuated below that since. The National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot” 2017 culinary forecast, meanwhile, found that 57 percent of chefs surveyed considered “gluten-free cuisine” a hot trend — less than the 61 percent who agreed with that in 2016 and the 69 percent who thought so in 2015. One-quarter of this year’s surveyed chefs considered wheat-free pasta “yesterday’s news.”

“As with all fad diets, we’re starting to see this wane,” says Kelly Toups, a registered dietitian and director of nutrition at Oldways, a consumer advice advocacy group that promotes whole grains.

That’s a good thing, she and other experts say. While the 1 to 3 percent of people who have celiac disease need to eat gluten-free as a medical treatment, for most other people, avoiding the ingredient — a group of proteins that helps many foods including breads maintain their shape — can do more harm than good. In fact, one recent study found that people who eat more gluten-free foods aren’t any less likely to get heart disease and may actually be at greater risk since the eating pattern may reduce their intake of healthy whole grains.

“Grains are a source of B vitamins, folic acid, niacin, fiber — they give us that food energy,” says Nancy Z. Farrell, a registered dietitian in Fredericksburg, Virginia, who’s a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Gluten-free eating can also be counterproductive if you’re simply swapping regular bread, pasta and cupcakes for gluten-free varieties, which tend to have more calories, sodium and sugar than their gluten-containing counterparts, Toups says. They’re usually more expensive, too.

What’s more, e liminating gluten and other food groups like dairy, nuts and legumes in an effort to solve digestive distress can perpetuate the problem more than remedy it, argues John Douillard, a chiropractor by training and author of the book “Eat Wheat: A Scientific and Clinically-Proven Approach to Safely Bringing Wheat and Dairy Back Into Your Diet.” “When we take the hard-to-digest stuff out, we become weaker digesters,” he says.

Equally significantly, cutting out gluten can mean cutting out life experiences. “Mexican food has wheat tortillas; with Italian, you have lasagna; French you have croissants — all of a sudden if you don’t have gluten or carbs, you’ve knocked out those foods and you have to make adjustments,” Farrell says. “Open your mind to eat globally — there’s so much fun food out there.”

[See: Here’s What People Eat for Breakfast in 9 Other Countries.]

Diette learned that firsthand: It was her 30 ^th birthday when she broke her gluten fast at an Italian restaurant and ordered rice balls, pizza, pasta and cheesecake. “I wanted to have some time to not have to think about exactly what type of food I was eating and just enjoy every meal,” she says.

Ready to reunite with gluten, too? Here’s how experts say to do it as healthfully and comfortably as possible:

1. Know what to expect.

Any major diet change is going to take some time for your body to adjust to. Reintroducing gluten is no exception, Farrell says. “When you start normalizing your eating and including those foods you’ve eliminated, you’re going to have gas or abdominal pain or bloating,” she says. “That’s a given, and it should be temporary.” Even better, expectations about feeling crappy usually exceed the truth, Diette found. “I anticipated my stomach feeling upset that evening or the next morning, but that was not the case,” she says.

2. Challenge food fears.

In some cases, eliminating gluten or other food groups can be a part of or lead to wider disordered eating thoughts and behaviors. In that case, it can be helpful to first reintroduce foods that make you a little anxious before building up to eating foods you once considered seriously off-limits, says Farrell, whose practice is made up of about half eating disorder patients. “The first step is being aware of your fear and … then really being willing to learn the truth,” Farrell says. A registered dietitian, psychologist or other professional who specializes in eating disorders can guide you.

3. Read labels.

Of course, not all gluten-containing foods are created equal. That’s why it’s a good idea to read labels when you’re re-entering the bread section, Douillard says. “To make bread, all you need is wheat and salt and water,” he says. Look for sourdough bread, soaked bread or sprouted bread in the refrigerated section for options that will be easiest on the digestive system and give you the biggest nutritional bang for your buck. Douillard also recommends foods including beets, apples, artichokes and leafy greens, as well as spices like ginger, cumin, coriander, cardamom and fennel, to strengthen digestive acids that will help break down wheat.

[See: The Best Spices for Your Health.]

4. Take it slowly.

To ease your body and mind into a new eating pattern, small changes win out. Farrell recommends beginning with just one gluten-containing food a day and eventually increasing your intake to one at each meal. “It’s like re-feeding a baby,” she says. Since increasing your intake of grains probably means eating more fiber, you’ll want to make sure you’re upping your water intake too, Toups adds. Eventually, your gluten-free phase may be nothing but a sour memory. “When people realize they can break bread again and enjoy it,” Douillard says, “they are so blown away.”

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How to Eat Gluten Again Without Your Body (or Mind) Going Nuts originally appeared on usnews.com