| Answer: | Wheat in itself is no bad thing; it has, after all, proved a staple food for thousands of years. The main reason people need to cut down on wheat is that many people are sensitive to it and overconsumption is making matters worse. Consider a typical day' s meals of toast, a sandwich and pasta. That' s a lot of wheat.
Why is it problematic? Gluten, the protein in wheat, is sticky and hard to digest. It can clog the gut and trigger reactions - from constipation and bloating to grogginess and depression. What' s more, much wheat is now hybridised to contain more gluten because high-gluten flour produces a larger loaf with less flour. About 1 in 100 people are sensitive to gluten, a condition called coeliac disease, although this frequently goes undiagnosed.
Gluten is also in rye, barley and oats. However, there is a sub-fraction of gluten, called gliadin, which seems to be the major allergic culprit for many people, and which is not in oats.
Another down side is wheat fibre, which contains phytates that attach themselves to minerals such as calcium and prevent them from being absorbed. So I
recommend you don' t have wheat every day instead, eat rye bread, oat or rice cakes, corn or oatbased cereals, less pasta and more rice. |
