Why I'm no longer Wheat Free
I'm really excited to share this news with you, but I felt it was important as it could help other people finding themselves with the painful symptoms of a swollen, achy tummy that I endured for a number of years until I realised that I had a problem with my diet.
I went wheat free almost a year ago as I announced in my blog Is it time to Ditch Wheat? on May 19th 2019. I did however wonder and discuss in the article the possibility that our favourite grain was being made indigestible by a number of factors - the cooking method and more importantly the now common practice of using glyphosate as a desiccant on wheat crops to maximise yield.
Since then, I do still have the occasional Gregg's sausage roll which I always regret two days later when the painful symptoms show up. Sometimes it's worth it because they're so darned delicious...but as a general rule, I've stayed wheat free as far as possible.
A few weeks ago, I remembered the curious story told to me by a friend whose mother is a medically diagnosed coeliac. A number of years ago, she went on holiday to a remote part of Greece and found that she was able to eat the local bread with no problems at all.
I had been wondering how that was possible and it occurred to me that the locals may have been using older and more digestible grains, different cooking methods and they probably weren't dousing their crops with weed killer before harvesting!
I finally plucked up the courage to do an experiment, and bought some organic Spelt flour to see if I could tolerate it.
Spelt is an older and perhaps more digestible version of our modern wheat with fewer chromosomes, which is closer to the original wild grasses that became our favourite grain.
I made my first organic spelt loaf (which is the most delicious bread I think I've ever tasted by the way) and prepared for the worst.
My symptoms don't show until two days after eating wheat, so it was a nerve wracking wait. Two days came and went, three days, four and nothing. No bloating, no discomfort and I'd been eating the loaf that whole time!
With new found courage from my successful experiment, I moved on to a high quality organic wheat flour by Doves Farm.
To my delight, I've been able to re-incorporate organic wheat and spelt into my diet and I remain symptom free. I've made bread, cakes, pancakes and so far, no adverse side effects!
I've also tried the Waitrose Duchy Organic wholemeal loaf which I seem to tolerate just fine. (I'm currently on my third one, so if anything changes you'll hear about it!)
Whilst this is by no means a scientific experiment, it does lead me to suspect that the problem was not the grain so much as perhaps the glyphosate.
Glyphosate, which is found in Monsanto's Roundup is in my opinion a highly toxic, carcinogen that has no place in our world let alone in the food chain. Due to the greedy practice of spraying crops with this product before harvesting, glyphosate is getting into the foods we eat and traces of it have been found in non-organic wheat products.
According to research, Roundup is actually more toxic that the pure active ingredient glyphosate due to the addition of adjuvants and surfactants that make it more able to penetrate into tissues.
Prior to a few years ago, I never had any noticeable problems eating wheat and I don't really suffer from any major food allergies so to find myself suddenly unable to tolerate wheat whilst in good health was a red flag.
For as long as this filthy practice of spraying pesticides onto crops ready to harvest continues, I would strongly suggest that you consider switching to organic wheat and bread. Waitrose Duchy Organic make some very good and reasonably priced organic loaves which are available in store from Waitrose or online at Ocado. They do a number of organic wheat products including pasta which I've bought but have yet to try.
I'm sure there are others, but to be honest I've struggled to find any other brands here in England producing easy to find organic wheat bread.
I'm a keen baker though, and Doves Farm have an excellent range of organic flours that I'll be working with from now on.
I will still try to include wheat & gluten free recipes on the blog, and include options to make other recipes wheat and gluten free, because I know what a pain in the proverbial it is not being able to tolerate that grain.
When I eat out, I will still need to avoid wheat products unless they are certified organic, so I'll only be eating wheat at home for the foreseeable.
The interesting thing is that I've wanted to incorporate more organic foods into my diet for some time, and it seems that the universe has twisted my arm on this one!
Here's to your intestinal health, and hoping that this information may help others struggling with wheat to find a delicious and healthy solution to that sore and bloated tummy too.
I went wheat free almost a year ago as I announced in my blog Is it time to Ditch Wheat? on May 19th 2019. I did however wonder and discuss in the article the possibility that our favourite grain was being made indigestible by a number of factors - the cooking method and more importantly the now common practice of using glyphosate as a desiccant on wheat crops to maximise yield.
Since then, I do still have the occasional Gregg's sausage roll which I always regret two days later when the painful symptoms show up. Sometimes it's worth it because they're so darned delicious...but as a general rule, I've stayed wheat free as far as possible.
A few weeks ago, I remembered the curious story told to me by a friend whose mother is a medically diagnosed coeliac. A number of years ago, she went on holiday to a remote part of Greece and found that she was able to eat the local bread with no problems at all.
I had been wondering how that was possible and it occurred to me that the locals may have been using older and more digestible grains, different cooking methods and they probably weren't dousing their crops with weed killer before harvesting!
I finally plucked up the courage to do an experiment, and bought some organic Spelt flour to see if I could tolerate it.
Spelt is an older and perhaps more digestible version of our modern wheat with fewer chromosomes, which is closer to the original wild grasses that became our favourite grain.
I made my first organic spelt loaf (which is the most delicious bread I think I've ever tasted by the way) and prepared for the worst.
My symptoms don't show until two days after eating wheat, so it was a nerve wracking wait. Two days came and went, three days, four and nothing. No bloating, no discomfort and I'd been eating the loaf that whole time!
With new found courage from my successful experiment, I moved on to a high quality organic wheat flour by Doves Farm.
To my delight, I've been able to re-incorporate organic wheat and spelt into my diet and I remain symptom free. I've made bread, cakes, pancakes and so far, no adverse side effects!
I've also tried the Waitrose Duchy Organic wholemeal loaf which I seem to tolerate just fine. (I'm currently on my third one, so if anything changes you'll hear about it!)
Whilst this is by no means a scientific experiment, it does lead me to suspect that the problem was not the grain so much as perhaps the glyphosate.
Glyphosate, which is found in Monsanto's Roundup is in my opinion a highly toxic, carcinogen that has no place in our world let alone in the food chain. Due to the greedy practice of spraying crops with this product before harvesting, glyphosate is getting into the foods we eat and traces of it have been found in non-organic wheat products.
According to research, Roundup is actually more toxic that the pure active ingredient glyphosate due to the addition of adjuvants and surfactants that make it more able to penetrate into tissues.
Prior to a few years ago, I never had any noticeable problems eating wheat and I don't really suffer from any major food allergies so to find myself suddenly unable to tolerate wheat whilst in good health was a red flag.
For as long as this filthy practice of spraying pesticides onto crops ready to harvest continues, I would strongly suggest that you consider switching to organic wheat and bread. Waitrose Duchy Organic make some very good and reasonably priced organic loaves which are available in store from Waitrose or online at Ocado. They do a number of organic wheat products including pasta which I've bought but have yet to try.
I'm sure there are others, but to be honest I've struggled to find any other brands here in England producing easy to find organic wheat bread.
I'm a keen baker though, and Doves Farm have an excellent range of organic flours that I'll be working with from now on.
I will still try to include wheat & gluten free recipes on the blog, and include options to make other recipes wheat and gluten free, because I know what a pain in the proverbial it is not being able to tolerate that grain.
When I eat out, I will still need to avoid wheat products unless they are certified organic, so I'll only be eating wheat at home for the foreseeable.
The interesting thing is that I've wanted to incorporate more organic foods into my diet for some time, and it seems that the universe has twisted my arm on this one!
Here's to your intestinal health, and hoping that this information may help others struggling with wheat to find a delicious and healthy solution to that sore and bloated tummy too.
