If you wash the starch out of flour, you are left with a sticky chewing gum-like residue, which is the gluten.
This isn’t easy for our bodies to digest, and so gluten is one of the foods to which many people become intolerant, including many who don’t even realise it.
Intolerances are different to allergies as they are less obvious. We often don’t know that they are causing problems as their effects are often more subtle, undermining our health rather than producing obvious symptoms as allergies do.
When I worked as a nutritional therapist I took most clients off wheat because digesting it takes energy that could be better used for repair and healing.
Digestive issues often disappear after removing wheat, as did the mental health problems of a teenage boy I treated. After removing gluten from his diet his recovery was unbelievable but even a small cheat could leave him feeling anxious and depressed again.
It’s worth testing for intolerances as most people these days have some foods that are not working for them. People often crave the foods that they are intolerant to and even feel temporarily better for eating them (a bit like a drug addict) but long term these foods are not doing them any favours.
Any food can cause intolerances but the more common ones are gluten and dairy and those I left out in my previous book, Easy Tasty Healthy, where I also omitted yeast, soya and eggs. Only by taking gluten out of your diet will you be able to see if it is having a negative effect on your physical and mental wellbeing. Try it and see.
Read my latest book, Healing Cuisine, now.
