The gluten-free foods industry is a multi-BILLION dollar industry. Marketing execs have sold the American public the line of BS that eating highly refined starches that contribute to Type II diabetes, chronic inflammation, and other issues with the body are actually better for you than any form of wheat. As a chef and nutritional consultant, this enrages me because it is clearly NOT about YOUR health but about THEIR profits.
If you are unfortunate enough to have Celiac disease, a disease where gluten destroys the fine hairs that line the small intestines and absorb nutrients, then you have no option but to eat gluten-free. But for the rest of us, eating the RIGHT FORM of gluten and not the highly refined forms commonly sold to us is actually far better for you than 99% of the gluten-free products being sold to you today.
In this week’s Living UnRefined, I want to give celiacs hope of having delicious goods that won’t make them sicker, and teach the rest of you what is forms of gluten are healthy and what forms to avoid.
First, let’s start with the healthier options for those who must eat gluten-free, and those who still chose to.
When it comes to grains, there are many healthy grains out there that contain no gluten. One of my favorites is buckwheat, which is truly a nutrient-packed powerhouse. Whole buckwheat can be sprouted and eaten like a cold cereal, boiled and eaten as a hot cereal, or boiled in water or broth and served as a side dish. Buckwheat flour can be used in a myriad of baked goods, and you can make pancakes with it as well. No other flour is needed.
Then there’s oats. Always use old-fashioned, Irish, or whole oats. Quick cook oats are refined and not healthy. You can also find a load of recipes on the internet using oat flour. You can soak oats overnight for muesli (these days called “overnight oats”) for a delicious and easy breakfast. My favorites are apple cinnamon and banana nut. Just take raw old-fashioned oats, add whatever fruit, spices, nuts, etc. that you want in them, then pour enough milk (whatever kind you like) over everything until it is covered, then cover and refrigerate overnight. That easy! I was introduced to muesli by a Swiss friend of mine about 20 years ago and it is still a favorite of mine.
If you have been baking gluten-free and using xanthan gum, be aware that you are using bacteria poop from rotting corn (usually GMO unless it is organic) in your baked goods, which has been isolated in a lab. If you would prefer something more natural, use powdered organic psyllium husk instead. Anthony’s has a great one that works really well as a binder.
If you want to invest some money in your gluten-free arsenal of tools, buy yourself a Mockmill. I don’t get paid for recommending them, but their stone mills work really well and you can mill your whole grains as fine as you like. You will get the best flour doing it this way. And yes, you do need a kitchen scale. Using measuring cups is never accurate and your baked goods will not be consistent.
- 400 grams cassava flour
- 300 grams oat flour
- 100 grams sorghum flour
- 50 grams buckwheat flour
- 15 grams psyllium husk
This is a good all-purpose flour that I have used in things like cookies. Additionally I developed an amazing bread, but I have to find the recipe as I buried it during my move. I will share that with all of you when I do.
The rule of thumb when it comes to buying gluten-free, if the ingredients label says any of the following, DON’T buy it: anything that has starch in the name, tapioca in any form (refined starch from the cassava root), potato granules (refined), arrowroot flour (still just refined starch), sweet rice flour (again, just starch), or maltodextrin. And if you don’t know what something is, you probably shouldn’t eat it.
Now, as far as gluten goes, if you are going to eat it, you don’t eat white flour. White flour has been highly refined and lacks the parts of the wheat that make it more digestible. All of the fiber is removed, and that fiber is the prebiotic that feeds your gut biome and keeps it healthy and happy. Additionally, there are other nutrients, like healthy fat and vitamins in that fibrous part of the grain. It is the most beneficial part of eating it. When you remove it you are just eating starch, and NO refined starch is good for you. You need the whole grain, the whole food.
Secondly, ONLY eat organic grains. Non-organic grains contain highly toxic chemicals that will only cause digestive issues and can cause things like cancer. That pretty much goes for any grains, but particularly wheat. And while GMO wheat has yet to be approved for commercial production in the United States, the tests that have been performed by the companies developing it has conveniently contaminated the wheat grown here through cross-pollination, so just avoid it. You can find out more about it at nongmoproject.org
People ask me where I get my grains. Mostly I buy them from Grand Teton and Great River. They just happen to be brands that I like and support. I often use Amazon, but sometimes order direct because that is the only way I can get a particular grain, or because it is less expensive.
If you need help with recipes and things like sprouting your grains, remember you can always reach out to me.