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Gluten-free baking

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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« on: June 29, 2009, 12:50:42 am »


Life without wheat

By SALLY KIDSON - The Nelson Mail | Tuesday, 23 June 2009

WHEAT OUT: Anna and Roger Wilde, pictured with their son Gabriel, try to eliminate wheat and gluten from their diets. — DANIEL ALLEN. TASTY: Red quinoa salad with pears and feta. — DANIEL ALLEN.

  WHEAT OUT: Anna and Roger Wilde, pictured with their son Gabriel, try to eliminate wheat
        and gluten from their diets (left). TASTY: Red quinoa salad with pears and feta (right).
                                                     — Photos: DANIEL ALLEN.


Wheat and gluten intolerance is an increasingly common dietary condition, but as a Nelson couple are demonstrating, you can still eat well without wheat. Sally Kidson reports.

Anna and Roger Wilde reckon eating too much wheat can make them cranky, foggy and bloated.

The Nelson couple, who run a healthy-eating website and cooking classes using whole foods, rarely eat food containing large amounts of wheat and when they do they notice its impact.

While the Wildes aren't allergic to wheat they decided to eat less of it after going through a period of eating raw food five years ago. This diet encouraged them to cut things out of their diet which didn't make them feel good, and wheat was "definitely one of those things".

They've heard of, and personally know, others who find that some health complaints get better after eliminating wheat from their diet, including migraines and back pain.

The Wildes say while wheat is not completely wrong for most people, its dominance in our food can be problematic, with many of us eating more wheat in our diet than we need to.

Roger says a typical Western diet might include toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and pasta for dinner, all of which contain wheat.

The Wildes say symptoms caused by wheat intolerance can range from mild symptoms like feeling tired, slightly bloated, "foggy" and grouchy, to more chronic conditions like depression, headaches and bowel irritation.

They believe wheat intolerance is becoming more prevalent partly due to greater awareness, but also because of "massive changes to food production over the last 40 to 50 years".

The method of growing wheat has changed in this time and wheat growers are among the highest users of chemical pesticides and herbicide sprays.

"It appears that the more hybridised strains of wheat create the most digestive problems," Roger says.

The Wildes point out the bread we eat today has also changed from previous generations, with today's mass-produced bread being vastly different in taste and texture to what earlier generations grew up on. Some modern bread is less nutritious and can contain more additives and preservatives.

They recommend people try going without wheat for six weeks (although Roger says improvements may be felt earlier) to see if they notice improvements in their energy levels, mental clarity and other health issues.

They also suggest people try eating breads made from ancient grains like spelt (or dinkel) or kamut, as they can be easier to digest.

The couple's passion for fresh food has led to publishers New Holland publishing a book using their recipes, Real Fresh Food.

Nelson photographer Daniel Allen has taken the photos for the book, which comes out in September and features recipes using locally sourced and unprocessed foods, many of which are gluten and wheat free.

They were thrilled to be approached by New Holland to write the book after the publisher came across their website, wildhealthfood.com, and felt their healthy whole food recipes were just what it was after.

Anna says while people might find it daunting cutting out wheat or gluten from their diet, it doesn't need to be.

Many gluten-free versions of products don't taste that great and can be expensive.

So she suggests people approach going wheat or gluten free as a way to expand their culinary skills and taste experiences by cooking with grains like quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) - a whole grain grown in South America - they might not usually use.

"It's an opportunity to improve your health."

One Nelson woman who has seen major improvements in her health by eliminating wheat and gluten products from her diet is Stoke woman Wendy Joyes, who was diagnosed as having coeliac disease four years ago. She says not eating gluten means she no longer suffers from a range of health and stomach issues.

She says she started feeling a lot better within six to eight weeks of eliminating gluten, with some symptoms disappearing earlier.

"It was like flicking a switch for me - that's why I'm motivated to stick to the diet."

Coeliac disease is a condition in which the body has an immune reaction to gluten.

While symptoms of the disease are unpleasant in itself, including diarrhoea and vomiting, the disease can lead to a wide range of other symptoms, many of which are caused by nutritional deficiencies, including mouth ulcers, stomach pain, depression, weak bones and susceptibility to infection.

It's estimated that as many as one in 100 people have coeliac disease, but the condition is believed to be seriously under-diagnosed.

The under-diagnosis is something Joyes can relate to. Her diagnosis led to eight members of her extended family, including two of her four children, also testing positive for the condition.

Coeliac disease can be diagnosed with a blood test - if that test comes back positive patients are referred for an endoscopy to confirm they have the disease.

"Some people will stop at the blood test and put themselves on a gluten-free diet, but they need to go through the whole process to make sure that really is what is going on," Joyes says.

Having the disease confirmed by endoscopy also allows coeliac sufferers to access subsidised gluten-free food, like flour mixes and pasta - those gluten-free products can be "hellishly expensive" otherwise.

She places orders through Oamaru-based distributor Crombie and Price every few months.

"I was very determined to be really strict right from the start, right from the day I was diagnosed I made a choice to never eat gluten."

One of the first new skills she learnt was to really read the labels of food products, something she says is getting much easier with companies increasingly listing more contents on their labels.

Joyes says it's necessary to read labels with an eagle eye. Ingredients like soy sauce, for example, contain gluten, as do various thickeners, and coeliacs can also not have malt vinegar, as it contains barley.

To be successful in eating a gluten-free diet means planning and developing your own systems, but once you have got those skills in place, eating a gluten- free diet isn't too daunting, she says.

It is relatively easy to avoid gluten in evening meals; it is mainly lunches and snacks that present hurdles.

She has home-made gluten-free muffins on hand and supermarkets stock gluten-free products with items like gluten-free pita bread a "really wonderful" substitute for sandwiches. Gluten- free muesli bars are also helpful for snacks.

She says eating out is where eating a gluten-free diet can get tricky.

However, restaurants are getting better at including gluten-free choices and marking those on their menus.

Overseas travel presents another challenge that the family is yet to tackle, with feedback from members of the Nelson Coeliac support group who've travelled saying it was difficult.

She agrees some people see eating gluten-free as a bit of a fad and says this can send mixed messages to the community about people who genuinely can't eat gluten.

"Some people choose to put themselves on a gluten-free diet because they see it as a healthy choice, but gluten is not unhealthy unless you are allergic to it."

Joyes says good support exists for people diagnosed with coeliac disease. The Coeliac Society of New Zealand publishes a good magazine, and she has read a lot on the topic. "Because it was a pathway to good health, I don't look at food and think, ‘I wish I could have that’."

The recipes on the next page, courtesy of Anna and Roger Wilde, show that whatever its limitations, a wheat-free diet doesn't need to be restricted in its taste offerings.

Gluten

This is a type of protein found predominantly in wheat, but which also occurs in other grains such as barley, rye and oats. It is the gluten in wheat that becomes malleable when mixed with water allowing breads, pastries, pies and other products to be made.

Coeliac disease
 
A condition in which the body has an immune reaction to gluten. This causes inflammation of the intestine and incomplete digestion. While uncomfortable in itself, this digestive difficulty may lead to a wide range of other symptoms, many caused by nutritional deficiencies. Coeliac disease is estimated to affect 1 per cent of the population and is diagnosable with a blood test and endoscopy.


—————————————————————————

TOMATO AND COCONUT SOUP WITH FISH DUMPLINGS

A colourful, nourishing soup. Add calamari, scallops or prawns if available.

Serves 4-6.


Soup Ingredients:

  • 3 Tbsp peanut or rice bran oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 Tbsp red curry paste
  • cup long-grain rice
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 2 cups water
  • 400ml can coconut cream
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • Chopped fresh coriander for garnish

Dumplings Ingredients:

  • 400g fresh, boneless, white-fleshed fish
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds, toasted (or 1 tsp ground cumin)
  • Small bunch coriander, chopped
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Method:

  • Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat.
  • Saute onion until softened slightly.
  • Add red curry paste and rice.
  • Cook for several more minutes.
  • Add tomato, turmeric and water.
  • Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, make the fish dumplings.
  • Cut fish into small chunks and place in a food processor fitted with an “S” blade.
  • Add remaining ingredients and process for 20 to 30 seconds until well combined.
  • When the rice in the soup is well cooked, add coconut cream.
  • Bring to a low boil again.
  • Using a dessertspoon, scoop some of the fish mixture, squeeze it gently in the hand to form a dumpling and add to the soup.
  • They can be any shape but a consistent size is best.
  • Continue making dumplings, adding to the soup as you go, until all the fish mixture is used up.
  • Add lemon juice and sea salt.
  • Simmer for about 5 minutes until dumplings are just cooked.
  • Serve in individual bowls, garnished with coriander.

—————————————————————————

RED QUINOA SALAD WITH PEARS AND FETA

Red quinoa - although more maroon than red - has all the wonderful nutritional properties of regular quinoa and a dramatic bright colour. If preferred, use cow's feta or blue cheese instead of goat's feta.

Serves 6.


Ingredients:

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 2 cups water
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 2 Tbsp sliced almonds
  • 2-3 firm but ripe pears
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • Lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp fresh chives or spring onions, finely sliced
  • 110g goat's feta

Method:

  • Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in a fine-mesh strainer under cold running water and drain.
  • Place in a large saucepan, add water and salt and bring to boil.
  • Cover and leave to simmer for about 15 minutes until all the water has been absorbed.
  • Use while warm, or allow to cool.
  • Toast the sliced almonds on a low heat until just starting to colour.
  • Slice pears into quarters, remove core and slice into long thin strips.
  • Place quinoa, pears, almonds, olive oil, lemon juice and chives in a bowl and toss to combine.
  • To serve, crumble feta on top and gently mix everything together.

—————————————————————————

CHOCOLATE MINT SQUARES

This is a delicious wheat, dairy and sugar-free alternative to chocolate fudge. Serve these squares with fresh strawberries, all piled up together for dramatic effect.

Makes about 18 squares.


Ingredients:

  • ½ cup almonds
  • ½ cup sesame seeds
  • cup dried coconut
  • cup cocoa powder
  • 8 large dried figs (150g), sliced
  • ½ cup dates, chopped
  • 2 drops of peppermint essential oil
  • 2 Tbsp water

Method:

  • Soak almonds in water overnight and drain.
  • Line a 10cm x 20cm loaf tin with cling film.
  • Grind the sesame seeds in a spice grinder or coffee mill until fine.
  • Put all ingredients in a food processor and process on high speed until the mixture has a fine, crumbly texture.
  • Squeeze some of the mixture in your fingers — it should be just moist enough to hold together.
  • Add a little bit more water if necessary.
  • Press mixture into the bottom of prepared loaf tin and refrigerate for 30 minutes until firm.

To serve, remove from the pan and slice into squares.

• For more recipes, see wildhealthfood.com.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/features/fresh/2526503/Life-without-wheat
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