Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread – Or Perhaps Not?

 Most of us love our bread, the taste, texture, and smell drives us towards Carb heaven. It has been one of our staple foods for centuries, nothing can beat the smell of that home-baked bread hot out of the oven. Many of us have tried to  steer away from our daily loaf due to the carb content in the hope of losing a few pounds, or to try to reduce the annoyances of the daily bloating, or other digestive issues. But it may not be the only reasons to avoid the bread or other wheat products.

We eat more ‘wheat’ based foods than ever as we find it not only in our usual baked produce such as bread, crackers, cakes, cereals, biscuits, but we also find it in many manufactured foods, sauces and of course the many pasta dishes now on offer.

Wheat contains a protein called ‘gluten’ which is also found in other grains such as rye, spelt, barley. Oats unless they state gluten-free will have been crossed contaminated with gluten protein from other grains so will also be classed as a gluten product.

During our day with toast/cereal for breakfast, a biscuit with our tea at break, sandwiches for lunch and a pasta meal for dinner, we will have taken in a huge amount of the wheat protein ‘gluten’.

As we have increased our intake of gluten loaded grains so too has a rise in ‘gluten sensitivity’.

Celiac disease is a disease of the digestive system but you do NOT have to have celiac disease to have a gluten sensitivity. In fact gluten is known to trigger inflammation at any tissue in the body whether locally in the gut or systemically such as in the brain, joints, skin, nasal passages, muscles etc. 

Many health issues such as -

Joint pains, migraines, osteoporosis,  fatigue, skin diseases, muscle pains as well as digestive disorders (and others) that are unknown origin maybe linked to an unknown ”gluten sensitivity’.

Conventional tests have become unreliable with many people getting ‘false negatives’ to gluten which can cause further damage to the tissues and lead to further health issues. Generally antibodies are measured against one protein called alpha-gliadin but the wheat gluten consists of many more.

So as this new understanding of gluten sensitivity emerges, it is advisable to all of us to reduce the amount of gluten. If you are unknowingly gluten sensitive then even the smallest amount is eaten you will be setting off the inflammatory cascade which will cause further damage.

There are a number of other healthy grains including, rice, quinnoa, millet, buckwheat for example that deliver great nutrients and fibre. There are also many good gluten-free products but be cautious on what you are buying as many of them are loaded with various chemicals, salt and sugars.

There are also problems with cross linking of other foods so if you have given up gluten and still experience issues then you may need to look for other foods that can be causing your problems.

Functional tests are now available which are much more sensitive in finding gluten antibodies, along with some supporting measures that may help reduce the inflammation and support tissue healing.

For more information contact me via email kdvn9@aol.com or go to my website www.karendevine.co.uk

Karen

Advertisement