Gluten

Naya wrote: I just thought I'd share a tidbit about what I've learned about gluten over the years. It was suggested to me that I go on a gluten free diet at one point because of my Hashimoto's. It didn't work for me, but there were other issues involved for me as well, so that could be why.

Throughout the process, though, I learned something interesting about gluten and the bread we eat today as opposed to about 50 years ago and why gluten is such a problem for us now when it wasn't then. Apparently back then, the wheat was fermented before it was milled, which inadvertently broke down the gluten. They stopped doing that for whatever reason (probably because they didn't find it cost effective), but our bodies are not equipped to break down gluten. So most of us get sick from it, or even develop other food allergies as a result (notice the rise in nut allergies?).

Just thought I'd share. There are a lot of foods that are prepared differently now than they were years and years ago, that are now causing us health issues when they didn't before. Maybe it's a clue that some things should be left unchanged?

I make bread every weekend. Rising bread dough is fermenting from the yeast and it doesn't affect the gluten. Gluten is a natural substance in wheat, it's high in low fat protean and makes bread dough stretch. Pure gluten is chewy like gum and tasts bland, it is an easy to digest protein and takes on flavors for those that CAN digest it. I have no problem with it but can't digest soy beans very well.

Why more people are gluten intolerent may have to do with modern medicine more than anything else? People in the past that couldn't eat gluten proabably died, died young, were weak and didn't reproduce. Because modern medicine is so advanced people with genetic weaknesses now breed more freely.

Same thing can be said for peanuts.

All our gluten sources are processed foods. pasta, bread etc. We were never meant to have this stuff. So it's not modern medicine that weakens us (besides, modern medicine is too recent to already have an impact that big on the gene pool), however our brains are very much to blame for us poisoning ourselves.


Do you know what the most potent poison known to man is?





Botulinum toxin.

Also known as BoTox.

I give you this, processed foods are a problem. We are not ment to digest them.

Modern medicine has reduced birth death rate and death due to infectious disease. Who knows what kind of DNA in our gene pool is surviving and getting passed on that wasn't before?.......Well we'll know soon.

Rickie The Grey wrote: I make bread every weekend. Rising bread dough is fermenting from the yeast and it doesn't affect the gluten.

Making sourdough is a slow fermentation process. It takes days to make it and it does break down (not get rid of) the gluten when it's done right from everything I've read about it. In other words, the bacteria starts the process of digesting the gluten for you. A lot of people with sensitivities to gluten can have sourdough bread (but not all... depends on the level of sensitivity).

The other fermentation process I was referring to was when they used to ferment the wheat before it was even milled. This took several months and broke down nearly all, if not all, of the gluten. Apparently you can still buy fermented wheat in some places, but I have no idea where. I've tried finding it and couldn't.

We eat very little processed food (and really anything that is not in its natural form is processed), but to never have it at all in today's society is well, a bit hard. So we just limit it. Our main diet is meat, veggies, nuts and fruit. Well my husband isn't big on veggies, but I torture him with them. The nutritionist I used to see always told me, whole foods are best, everything else in moderation and that's how I've tried to live. We eat very little bread and pasta and I cook for all three meals so that we're not depending on the boxed stuff (although my husband and daughter often prefer cereal for breakfast... meh.)

I use to grow my own food and I will say that I felt great. I never completely gave up bread and pasta but I didn’t eat as much of it as most.

I used to grow my own as well. It is sooooo much nicer. I want to start a garden this year, but it's hard living in a rented house with bad, bad soil (mostly sand). So I plan to start a potted garden, been learning more about it over the last couple of years and I might start it this year. Have you considered growing some of your more favorite veggies in pots? You can even grow some of them indoors if you have a window that brings in enough sunlight. The best part about a potted garden too is you can take it with you when you move.

While it might not matter if one is not sensitive or allergic to gluten.... in my experience of gluten free it is more products then one might think!!

Its not just the obvious bread and pasta. A problem is gluten is used in a lot of processed foods for thickening agents so its required to read the ingredients and avoid if containing wheat, wheat flour, wheat starch, barley, rye, yeast extract, and beer!!!! It turns out to be basically everything LOL, well not everything but most everything on the shelves.

Any transgression defeats the whole process if one is sensitive or allergic, as any amount is seemingly enough to initiate a immune over-reaction. So if it makes you sick, then it's complete abstinence or it might not work.

Since it was for health reasons for us, we preferred to play it safe and over-avoid things. We did though try to eat oats and rice, but found these even had to be excluded. I am not saying these contain gluten, but seemed to create the same response over time when used as a substitute.

In effect, its avoid everything except a handful of things which work. It's not easy but it is easier to list what we cdo eat, then everything else we don't. For us we use millet flour as our substitute for flour and works well to crumb chicken or make breakfast pancake/biscuit type things. Eggs, meats and fresh bought fruit/veg is the rest. Quinoa seemed ok but has its own problems with the husk being a bit toxic. Tomato's and potato's aggravate me because of the some of the alkaloids designed to protect them from herbivores (like solanine). I'm hopeless, you just cannot take me out to eat anywhere
:lol:

For each individual its up to their own bodies though so please don't take this as me preaching dietry advice

Yeah, some people are sensitive to grains in general and not just gluten. I'm glad I'm not like that. Rice and oats don't bother me. I can have certain types of wheat as well. Bulgar wheat doesn't bother me and neither does semolina, which is why I'm okay with pasta. I can have white flour products in moderation without a reaction, which means no more than one or two slices a day for me. Everything else wheat related is a no go for me.

I found a site that has some decent grain free recipes if you want the link. They even have baked goods made from ground nuts and beans if your able to have those.

I haven't tried millet flour yet. It's super expensive here, but I've heard it's really good.

It was scientifically proven recently that the occurrence of allergies/food intolerances increases with income levels, it's been theorized that this is due to "over sterilization" of environment...higher income, cleaner home, weaker immune/digestive systems....most 3rd world kids don't have food allergies....I grew up poor (still am) and have 0 allergies, and an unbeatable immune system and the only food that disagrees with me is improperly cooked pork....

I grew up poor and had all kinds of medical problems and sensitivities as a kid. But my mom was also a clean freak. You could eat off her floors. So there may be something to that. Maybe it's more the environment you grow up in rather than income levels. It just happens people with higher incomes generally have cleaner houses cause they can afford to pay people to clean them.

we have diseases because of the cleaning products we use. Because of the shape of our toilets. Because we use a car instead of walking. The list goes on.... By shaping our environment to make our lives easier, we've actually made them more complicated.

I find it strange that gluten be toxic to people. I make my groceries very often at kim phat an asian food store near my place and gluten is sold as raw pure gluten that is used in some recopies in asian cooking. So I am wondering why use gluten if it is so toxic? Personally I have no trouble eating any thing even raw meats like beaf or chicken, any bred types or noodles. the only thing that is hard for me is burger king as it is so fat that I just fall a sleep after eating it.