The gluten-free market is worth over two billion dollars. But how many of those shoppers actually need to avoid gluten?

Heidi Wells has a unique vantage point on that question. She’s a registered dietitian with a BS in nutrition, exercise science, and dietetics from Kansas State University and an MS in health and human science from Fort Hays State University. She’s also a dairy farmer, a mother of five, and co-owner of Lucky W Dairy in south central Kansas – where she and her husband Byron grow the wheat that ends up in the very products some of her clients are afraid to eat.

In this episode of the Food Bullying Podcast, Heidi and Byron break down gluten myths, conventional wheat farming practices, the organic versus conventional debate, and how food misinformation creates ripple effects that reach all the way from the farm to the mental health of the farmers who grow our food.

The gluten fear – where it came from and why it’s fading

Heidi traces the surge in gluten avoidance back to diet books that gained traction around 2014, which convinced a generation of consumers – and some clinicians – that gluten was causing widespread harm. Her assessment a decade later: the science never supported the panic, and the tide is turning.

Celiac disease affects roughly one percent of the U.S. population and requires strict gluten avoidance. For everyone else, Heidi argues the evidence for avoiding gluten is thin – and the costs are real. Gluten-free products have become a multi-billion-dollar industry built largely on fear, not medical necessity.

What gets lost when families cut wheat unnecessarily

For dietitians working with families, Heidi flags a concern she saw repeatedly in private practice: parents eliminating wheat from children’s diets based on perceived sensitivities that, on closer examination, were caused by something else entirely. The nutritional cost of removing wheat during critical developmental years – folate, iron, zinc, fiber – can affect brain development, physical growth, and long-term health in ways that a supplement won’t fully compensate for.

Her bottom line, delivered plainly: if you don’t have celiac disease or a confirmed sensitivity, eat the bread.

How Byron actually grows wheat – and what he doesn’t use

Byron farms conventional tillage wheat in one of Kansas’s highest-producing wheat counties, and he walks through the full growing cycle in plain terms. Wheat goes in the ground around October. A nitrogen top-dress goes on in spring. Weed pressure is managed with a suppressant called finesse if needed. Insects are monitored as temperatures rise. A fungicide may be applied to protect plant health if disease pressure warrants it – with a required withholding period before harvest.

Roundup on wheat fields? Byron addresses that directly: every input costs money, nothing gets applied without a reason, and the economics of farming make waste impossible to justify. The seed itself is protected within the plant and isn’t in direct contact with what’s sprayed on the crop.

Organic versus conventional: a dietitian-farmer’s honest answer

Heidi grew up in northeast Kansas where her family farmed no-till in rich Iowa-quality soil. She now farms in south central Kansas with heavier clay soils that require a different approach. That experience gives her a practical perspective on the organic versus conventional debate that’s worth hearing.

Her conclusion: organic and conventional farming differ in their inputs and methods, not in the nutritional quality of what they produce. Studies attempting to show nutritional superiority in organic produce have found differences so small – in some cases 0.05 – as to be clinically meaningless. Organic is a farming choice, not a nutrition claim, and health professionals who imply otherwise aren’t following the data.

When food myths hit the farm – the mental health cost

Heidi and Byron hosted a farm tour for social media influencers a few years ago. One arrived convinced that dairy cows were being pumped with hormones that passed directly into milk. By the end of the tour – after seeing the cows, the operation, and the regulations Byron operates under – her perspective had shifted. She wrote about it. That’s the ROI of direct farmer-consumer connection.

But not every farmer gets that opportunity. Most absorb the skepticism without being able to respond to it – through falling milk sales, supply chain disruptions, and the grinding stress of having their practices constantly questioned by people who’ve never set foot on a farm. Heidi is direct about the consequences: that stress contributes meaningfully to the mental health crisis in agriculture, and the best thing the dietitian community can do to help is stop amplifying misconceptions.

How a farmer-dietitian shops for her own family

Five kids, a tight budget, and a label-reading habit she can’t turn off. Heidi shops the perimeter first – produce, dairy, meat – and works inward. She’s raised her kids on the principle that all food is good food in moderation, and they’ve grown up reading labels themselves. Their beef comes from their own farm. Their dairy case loyalty is obvious. Their grocery cart, in her words, comes down to budget and whole foods first.

Connect with Heidi and Byron Wells: Find Heidi on Facebook and Instagram under Heidi Wells, and watch for Lucky W Dairy on TikTok and social media as the next generation gets involved.

Want an expert who understands both the farm and the nutrition science? Michele Payn speaks to agricultural organizations, agribusinesses, and dietitian associations on food bullying, consumer trust, and the science behind modern farming. Book Michele to speak →