As we have already discussed, it is a proven fact that many people feel better - and not only just for their digestion – without gluten (no wheat, rye, barley, oat, not even spelt or kamut).
Consequently, these individuals select “gluten free” products, but this choice can give rise to unsuspected complications… arising from the exceptional characteristics – one must admit – of the conglomerate of cereal proteins that we refer to as gluten.
Firstly, it is the gluten that allows children to make these little balls of dough that they then willingly stick under a table, for example! The characteristic of strong cohesion that typifies gluten-containing products helps explain why gluten free breads are so hard to chew but also extremely crumbly. If one wanted to address this issue what would we use to improve the adhesion of gluten free breads? Egg white, of course, is one of the most utilized binding agents in the kitchen.
You may say that's fine, but there are many people who suffer from one form or another of allergy to eggs. In fact, eggs are probably the most allergenic foods after gluten and dairy products. We will soon review some “tricks” to lessen this problem. Furthermore, if there is one thing in the food industry nowadays that is detrimental to the public's health, it is this cursed habit of “putting anything in everything”. This leads us to consume the same proteins at every meal, including the most problematic: dairy, gluten, and eggs… egg proteins for example are hiding under numerous names on food labels: see the “LIST EGG” available to download (PDF) from my website: www.gmouton.com.
The lack of rotation of foods constitutes one major handicap of our modern diet and a factor contributing to this situation is the unhelpful habit of including a long list of the same ingredients in all prepared meals. Another is that there is little respect for the seasons or the geographical origin of food products. We will further develop these fundamental themes later.
The second characteristic from which gluten benefits, which is difficult to ignore, is its taste: bread or pasta without gluten just do not give the expected sense of flavor, which means that consumers protest! The solution to improve the flavor of gluten free products is not a mystery: lots of sugar is added, and with that the sale of these products, profoundly altered from their original form, increases dramatically! Some industrial gluten free breads contain up to 3 grams of sugar per slice: here we go again with hidden fructose…
In addition, especially as far as cereal crackers are concerned, ingredients are compressed and heated to a high temperature, inflicting irreparable damage to the unsaturated vegetable oils utilized in their manufacture, resulting in a high level of trans fatty acids. Another consequence: their glycemic index can be astronomical, provoking a glycemic peak and ensuing blood sugar oscillations…
No, you really shouldn’t aspire to eat "gluten free" foods; a 'real' dietary change is preferable which aims to replace gluten with something else other than heavily altered cereal products. It should be remembered that cereals were not part of the Paleolithic diet, nor were dairy products. According to the pace of genetic evolution, cereals – even without gluten – and animal milks will remain a major stumbling block for our digestive system for another one hundred thousand years to come.
Tubers, roots, legumes, so-called cereals (quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat)…we have multiple choices to replace the gluten cereals! We need to be creative: personally, I just love Jerusalem artichokes. They are also called earth pears, the latter name alluding to their shape and by analogy also to the potato. They are locally grown, seasonal, and a virtually forgotten vegetable, but best of all, their flavor is delicious. The icing on the cake (oh no, not the right expression here!) is that it is a very hardy plant and easy to grow, so do not hesitate!