Posted on 03/25/2012 5:36:09 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
“I had no sense of well being till I went gluten free.” “I don't use my inhaler anymore.” “My skin rashes disappeared.” The testimonials are startlingly earnest. Although food fads come and go with wearying regularity, perhaps it's time we investigated wheat. Why are a small but steadily increasing number of people going gluten-free, and saying it's changed their lives.
Perceived as a ‘Western disease,' gluten sensitivity has never really been taken seriously in India. Its most extreme form is Celiac disease, caused by acute allergy to gluten, present in wheat and related grains such as barley and rye. A lack of awareness has meant it remains highly under-diagnosed. Last year Dr. B.S. Ramakrishna, Professor and Head, Department of Gastroenterology, CMC Vellore, wrote an editorial in the Indian Journal of Medical Research calling Celiac disease an “impending epidemic,” and stating that “what we see clinically is the tip of an iceberg that threatens to grow bigger”.
Meanwhile, fitness professionals and nutritionists are noticing that many people have non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Unlike traditional allergies, which cause immediate reactions, gluten sensitivity is harder to pin down since it's gradual and comes in various forms: headaches, stomach cramps, bloating, anxiety, depression… This is why Chennai-based NCCA-accredited fitness trainers Raj Ganpath and Arvind Ashok, who run The Quad, advise all their clients to go completely gluten-free for six weeks as an experiment, to understand their allergies and heal their guts.
“Hippocrates said ‘all disease begins in the gut,' and gluten can gradually erode the villi in your small intestine, prohibiting your body from absorbing nutrients from food,” says Arvind, adding that almost “everyone suffers from some gluten sensitivity”. Yet, he adds, people resist giving up their chappatis, bread, pizza and pasta. ‘Our grandparents ate this' doesn't hold good any more since we're now consuming new strains of wheat. Dr. B.S. Ramakrishna concurs, stating that unlike ancient diploid wheat varieties, “modern hexaploid wheat has highly antigenic glutens, more capable of inducing celiac disease”.
Raj and Arvind don't stop with restrictions on wheat — they recommend drastically cutting down on grains, replacing them with ‘Real Food,' that is, organic fruits and vegetables, lean meats, wild caught seafood, country eggs, milk and milk products. Raj says he gave up wheat when he discovered it triggered his asthma. Now he advises clients to do the same. Before you cry into your aloo-parathas, here's the kicker. “The key is to heal your gut. To make it stronger.” Once you do that, even if you are gluten sensitive, you can eat pasta occasionally. You'll be fine, as long as wheat doesn't go back to being a diet staple.
Unless of course you're a Celiac. Jeeva George-Abraham was forced to completely give up gluten when diagnosed with Celiac a few years ago. “I've always had a sensitive stomach. Then in 2009, I had a spate of infections, swollen ankles, rashes...” She was consistently misdiagnosed, a result of a lack of awareness of the condition. Next came depression and anxiety so debilitating, she found herself unable to work. “I finally decided to quit my job and find out what was wrong.” She was eventually tested for wheat allergy. “It changed my life.”
Going gluten-free means more than giving up bread and chappatis. “Soya sauce has wheat. Sambar has asafoetida. Cornflakes have malt extract. There was so little information available, so I figured out a lot of things on my own,” says Jeeva. Today, she runs the Facebook page ‘Gluten Free Living in India,' offering advice and recipes. Like others, she says that the Indian diet, particularly the rice-dependent South Indian one, offers more options for a diet low in gluten.
Meanwhile, gluten-free businesses are slowly germinating. In Bangalore Shwetha Muthanna runs the Gluten Free Bread Boutique using a range of approved ingredients to make bread, bagels, pizza dough and cookies: sorghum, rice, millet, tapioca, corn flour, guar gum, flaxmeal, honey and fruit pulp.
Dr. Ramakrisha says more Indians are being diagnosed with celiac disease. He cautions that since “wheat has higher protein content than other cereals we should not restrict it in someone who does not have a problem with it.” While millets are substitutes, he says they do not contain as much protein as wheat.
If you suspect you are gluten sensitive but giving it up for ever seems too hard, try Raj and Arvind's six-week experiment. “Try it honestly. In the end, at the very worst, you've not eaten chappatis for six weeks,” says Raj, adding, “If you want to go somewhere you have never been, you have to do something you have never done.”
Does meat have glutton? If not, I’m glutton free.
“Give us thus day our daily bread...”
It’s a pretty old prayer with worldwide application
Thus=this,
Darned autocomplete
Today's wheat is nowhere near the same as the original product. It's an INVASIVE species.
OK...what “kind” of rashes (I’ve started getting weird bumps that itch) and can’t figure out what they are....and, what is the purpose of the “clay?” As a filter?
It’s a delicious “ invasive species” that I and most folks digest just fine thanks. If you want a near version 1.1, try spelt. It’s very good too and makes a fine bread.
Interesting. I’ve read a lot of these “eliminate all grains from your diet” things - but all the way through the bible, grains and working with them were staples. Hard to understand. Anyone???
Don’t use it!!! Be in control.
The intolerance business runs the continuum from intermittent problems to 'Oh my GAWD almighty' ~ vast numbers of human beings simply don't eat any of the three (Preferring, instead to eat rice, corn, tapioca, yams and other sources of starch).
The greater part of the research over the centuries has focused on Europeans.
The Australians have narrowed it down to some very specific peptides. Might even be possible to breed the problem out of wheat ~ but I bet that'd ruin the crust on bread. A small sacrifice I say.
It's becoming a great "sympathy" lifestyle.
Took the "flour" (bread, pasta, etc) out of my diet and I now no longer suffer from acid reflux. I don't know if it was the gluten or just the wheat that I was having the reaction to; but, since I've stopped eating those things, I feel much better. I have also lost weight.
"Kosher For Passover" means NO WHEAT or BARLEY or RYE. Hence the need to invent La Choy soy sauce. Else observant Jewish people would be at a loss with their sushi during Passover. (Serious business this).
Right after PASSOVER I purchase certain otherwise very costly prepared foods at the grocery store that are marked "KOSHER FOR PASSOVER". They are all gluten free, and are usually marked way down.
Somebody wanted a BIblical reference on this ~ and there it is. HARD CORE TOO! MOSAIC!
There is a type of Clematus that likes to grow in wheat fields ~ they love it in fact ~ but they have a poison that can contaminate wheat ~ and if it's passed along to humans it will kill your liver, and I believe your kidneys.
There's an injunction in the Bible to the Hebrews (early users and developers of wheat) to BURN OVER THE STUBBLE At the end of the season.
That usually kills any Clematus starts or seeds as well and makes the wheat grown in a burned field safe for human consumption the next year.
That's another obscure Biblical reference ~ not at all on the order of the PASSOVER PROHIBITIONS ~ but still, it's in there ~ ancient wisdom earned the hard way.
The day I realized Kosher For Passover had a special meaning for the three plants I can never eat in any quantity a chill ran down my back.
You learn to avoid spending a large part of your life on the pot eventually. That wheat will punish a man.
I am in control. I’ve been eating it for over six decades. I feel fine and am in better shape rhan most 40 year-olds. My digestion is fine, my weight and BP are both great. I enjoy bread and pasta without any difficulties. I prefer whole grains to white flour but neither gives me any trouble.
It’s not just the wheat that takes someone with Celiac disease out it is anything that has gluten in it including a lot of antibiotics. My husband very nearly died as well, caused him to hemorrhage and had to have 6 units of blood. He never i intentionally went off the diet and was well for three years until Melanoma got him. If he by some chance he was exposed to gluten, he was sick for three days without fail.
After my heart surgery last year somebody told me to follow the Al Sharpton rule, which is,
“White is not right.”
It really means avoid or limit bread, pasta, potatoes, & rice. Good advice, I’ve always had success with the Atkins route.
I’m having the same problem. Itchy bumps. Nothing seems to help. Maybe I’ll try eliminating wheat for a while and see what happens.
gluten INsensitive?
Definition of INSENSITIVE
1a : not responsive or susceptible -insensitive to the demands of the public-
b : lacking feeling or tact -so insensitive as to laugh at someone in pain-
2: not physically or chemically sensitive
Would you please provide the specific Scripture that bans WHEAT BARLEY RYE from Passover?
And could you also provide more information upon the 'type of Clematus' you say contaminates wheat? I cannot find any association with the zewan or Bearded Darnel that looks like wheat until it goes to seed and it is the seed that is poisonous. Apparently from what I can find out the zewan's seed darkens as it ripens and is much lighter in weight than the wheat that turns golden. And because of the lite weight of the zewan the majority get blown out with the chaff. And what does not get blown out is then sorted by machinery due to the difference in size.
Interesting. My teenaged son is exactly the same. He has Celiacs and if he gets contaminated with gluten he is out of commission for three days.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.