Tuesday 6 March 2012

The war on gluten...

You've heard all about it, and have read countless opinions on the matter...and just in case you haven't, here's a good update:



"...yeah, thanks Caolan - now I'm more confused than ever..."

...apologies, let me make my point...hopefully by now you have heard of Coeliac disease (if not click here) - and you know that there is a section of the community that is actually allergic to gluten...the symptoms can range from unpleasant to completely debilitating...and understandably, these people do their utmost to ensure that they exclude gluten from their diet...

...now there is a movement, within the alternative and conservative health communities, for all of us to exclude gluten from their diet...

"...awesome, something else I have to exclude from my diet - is there anything I can eat??"

...hold on a second, I didn't say I agreed completely with that point of view...

...it is an accepted fact that wheat in Australia has been selectively bred to have a higher gluten content, to make it more palatable (essentially, to make it taste better)...and the honest question is: is this a good thing??



...I always have a problem with food being modified in any manner, and when it means increasing a known irritant in food, I really have to question if this is in the best interest of those of us eating it...

...my honest answer is that I don't avoid gluten completely...but I do heavily limit the amount of gluten I intake, and I really try to not intake large amounts of gluten in a single sitting...

...now, the amount of gluten you do or do not eat will greatly depend on your tolerance levels and to help in your attempts to avoid large amounts of gluten, I suggest referring to these two webpages (although there are a million out there that will provide you with similar information):