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| Welcome to the Wheat and Dairy Free Supermarket |
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WHY
WHEAT FREE?
Why is
wheat causing so many health problems for so many people? Whole
wheat has traditionally been considered a high fibre, nutritious
food. It is the most widely consumed cereal in the Western world
today. More than a billion people use it as a staple in their
diet and wheat production has almost doubled since the turn
of the century. In Western society it forms part of many of
our most commons foods including bread, breakfast cereals, pasta,
pastries, biscuits, cakes and crackers. This makes excluding
wheat from your diet particularly difficult.
WHY
IS WHEAT SO POPULAR?
Wheat is easy to grow and produces an abundant harvest. It has
a long shelflife and is a very adaptable food. The wholegrain
can be made into many different types of flour, bran and wheatgerm
which, in turn, can be made into many different types of foods.
Wheat also has some nutritional advantages being wholesome and
fibre rich.
If you have tried to give up wheat you will notice that no other
grain will make the same light textured bread or pastry with
the same quality of flavour as wheat. Wheat alternatives to
bread and pastries always tend to be heavier and with a less
delicate flavour. The secret ingredient in wheat that makes
it such a wonder food is gluten. This is a protein which has
a similar consistency to rubber which enables wheat dough to
rise and to bind and wheat has a very high level of gluten.
Gluten is, however, also the reason that wheat becomes such
a problem for so many people.
WHY
IS WHEAT A PROBLEM?
True wheat allergy is extremely rare and potentially life threatening.
Other adverse reactions to wheat seem to be increasingly common.
These tend to be the result of a wheat intolerance. An intolerance
to wheat will not trigger a life-threatening immunological response
but may cause a wide variety of symptoms like fatigue, bloating,
headaches, depression, diarrhoea, constipation. The affect may
be immediate or delayed and may be the result of a single ingestion
of wheat or an accumulative ingestion over a number of days.
So why does wheat cause adverse reactions in some people? It
was first grown in the Middle East over ten thousand years ago
but the wholesome wheat products of ten thousand years ago differ
greatly from refined white flour today. With the rise of the
industrial age processing of flour increased so that generally
today only 70% of the grain is used.
However, while whole wheat is far better than refined wheat,
wheat is still far from an ideal food. It is a poor source of
protein and is not easily tolerated. Bran provides fibre but
there are far better sources of fibre and a study of irritable
bowel syndrome found 39% of patients improved after eliminating
wheat.
It is the wheat protein called gluten which is the main source
of the problems people experience with wheat. Wheat is very
high in gluten which, when wet, is a sticky glue-like substance.
Because gluten is so sticky it is difficult to digest and can
cause all sorts of problems in our digestive tract. It forms
a sticky mass which lines the stomach wall which hinders absorption
in and out of the stomach. It encourages the growth of unfriendly
bacteria in the gut which, in turn, create toxic substances
and gas which lead to bloating, indigestion, flatulence, constipation
and diarrhoea.
Add to this the fact that wheat is grown on a massive scale
worldwide so is intensively farmed and cultivated. This means
it is likely to contain a high level of pesticides which may
add to the affects caused by the gluten.
If your digestive system is in peak condition it should be able
to digest the gluten but many people’s digestive systems
are far from in peak condition. In addition, the body may, due
to genetic inheritance or poor diet while infants, have a gluten
intolerance. The introduction of cereal grains into the diet
before the body’s enzymes can digest them can lead to gluten
intolerance. In the Western world wheat is often added to the
average baby’s diet too early.
There are some people who are intolerant to wheat bran as opposed
to gluten but this is less common.
The number of people identifying a link between a wide range
of adverse symptoms and wheat is large and increasing. There
seems little doubt that introducing alternative grains into
most people’s diet would benefit their health.
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