Wheat free diets are on the rise in popularity these days. Some take on the diet out of the discovery that they are wheat intolerant, while others just want to eat healthier. A wheat free diet is a good choice for either reason. But where to start? Does this mean you have to give up wheat and foods containing wheat completely? Not necessarily. In fact, you can usually get away with a few tweaks to your favorite recipes, and you will still be able to have many if not most of those foods you love.
The first thing to look out for in your recipes is flour. With so many flour substitutes available, you should have no problem removing flour from all your recipes. In fact, most of these substitutes are actually even better for you nutritionally anyway. Of all the viable flour options, the least allergenic and easiest to digest is millet. Millet is also a great source of silica and protein. Other options are amaranth (high in silica also, as well as calcium and magnesium), and sorghum flour. But watch out for flour substitutes that contain wheat. A few of these flours containing wheat to note: cake, graham flour, wholemeal flour, bulgar, kamut, granary, spelt, semolina, brown, triticale, durum, sauce flour, plain, and self rising flours.
Most of these flour substitutes can be found at your local health food store. Asian food stores sometimes carry these items as well. If you have trouble finding these items in health food or Asian stores, you can also try finding them online as well. But with the recent rising popularity of health food and dieting, it is becoming more and more common to find all these things in your ordinary everyday supermarket also. The downside to these ingredient swaps is that you may experience the unfortunate change in taste and possibly texture in the foods.
We should take time to note that there is a difference between being wheat intolerant and gluten intolerant. Gluten intolerant people are not only intolerant to wheat like wheat intolerant people, but also to barley and rye, which is fine for the wheat intolerant. Intolerances to foods have a tendency to run in the family, so to speak, and unfortunately also tend to get worse the older you get. They can also complicate conditions associated with the liver, lungs and kidneys, as well as heat disease.
Allan Clearpool is an expert on yeast free and wheat free diets. For more great information on wheat free cake, visit YeastFreeDietFoods.com.
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