Training & Nutrition - My newest enemy - Wheat

Actually, we're old enemies, it's just been properly identified. I gave up sugar, fizzy drinks, caffeine, and cookies. We'll still ride our bikes to baskin Robbins though. But wheat, that's in everything! So what do you guys and girls eat, if you can't eat wheat? I'll miss pizza. Anyone have any good recipes for cookies without wheat flower?

Don't most cookie recipes just require all purpose flour...as far as i know, that doesn't contain wheat. I've never heard of cookies requiring wheat flour.

Wes

Flour comes from wheat. Bleached flour is no better. See my problem?

I did a google search for flourless cookies and found some stuff. I guess you're basically looking for gluten free recipes?
Flourless Cookies (http://www.coopfoodstore.com/html/recipes/FlourlessCookies.html)

Wes

Yeah, hopefully ones that someone else has tried already.

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2003/04/24_gundersond_gmwheat/images/wheat_large.jpg

Look at how cute they are. What did they ever do to you?

I'm a bread fanboy like you cannot believe. I make my own pizza crust from scratch. Biscotti, Italian bread, French bread, beer biscuits. Dude, wheat owns me. I'd mainline wheat if I knew how.

For me, it isn't breads or carbs or whatever the dietary evil de jour is. It's just sensible portions and to shoot for the right types of carbs. Slow burning. Oats. Whole wheat bread. Brown rice instead of bleached.

Sounds to me like you have a bigger problem with sweets. The title of the thread should read "My newest enemy - Sugar."

Are you allergic to gluten-ness foods? I know my girlfriends mom can't eat bread or certain foods high in gluten because they cause her to get migrains.

Wes

[snip]Sounds to me like you have a bigger problem with sweets. The title of the thread should read "My newest enemy - Sugar."

If only it was that simple. Apparently, about 1 in 10 Americans has a digestive problem related to wheat. And here I thought it was collateral damage caused by too much spicy sushi and Mexican dishes. Wheat, not sugar, is the problem. Feel my pain.

Are you allergic to gluten-ness foods? I know my girlfriends mom can't eat bread or certain foods high in gluten because they cause her to get migrains.

Wes

At the risk of sharing more than you may want to know, the result of wheat consumption seems to be causing problems in the gastric area and beyond.

I would go with brown rice flour, soy flour or even oat flour. Unless you are allergic to flour which i doubt. If wheat seems to be the problem then go with brown rice. They are good slow burning carbs.

I'm in the same boat with flour but rather than messing around with alternatives I just went cold turkey and to be honest I dont realy miss it. Eating out and convenience food is the hardest to deal with but you can have rice which makes it easier.

Substitute more vegetables for the bread you can't have. Cucumber slices make nice biscuit substitutes for dips.

Regards, Anthony

I'm talking about mainlining wheat, and you want me to feel your pain? :D

Oat flour is probably a good bet if wheat flour is causing problems. There are others (http://www.foodsubs.com/Flournw.html) but if they fit the bill as well as wheat flour, then you'd perhaps see them in more recipes and the like.

I'm talking about mainlining wheat, and you want me to feel your pain? :D

Oat flour is probably a good bet if wheat flour is causing problems. There are others (http://www.foodsubs.com/Flournw.html) but if they fit the bill as well as wheat flour, then you'd perhaps see them in more recipes and the like.

Oat flour is a mixed blessing. It has a different type of gluten to wheat so It works for some but to most it's still a glutenous grain and has to be avoided. Same with Kamut and Spelt which are ancient wheats.

Rice is the only sure fire safe option.

Regards, Anthony

Brown rice is pretty agreeable, and goes with a lot of stuff. I may need to add some Tabasco for variety though. I can only handle so much chicken, broccoli, and brown rice. But I feel heaps better, and nearly 4 weeks in, my KingGees are getting pretty loose.

hell don't be a wimp for almost two years I could not eat anything with any carbs. hell all I could eat was emat soem cheese eggs nuts and some veggies.
I can now handle some simple sugars and they give me a ltitle bit of extra energy. I can somewhat eat rice and corn but not often. wheat will cause me problems for a couple of days.

Expat....wot's yer problem with wheat?? Are you allergic? does it make you feel crook??

That's no good.

Apologies if someone has answered this......i just skimmed the posts.

It has a mild disagreement with my stomach and ancillary plumbing.

It has a mild disagreement with my stomach and ancillary plumbing.


No good at all. What are the symptoms?? How soon after you eat an enormous bowl of carbonara does it kick in??

No good at all. What are the symptoms?? How soon after you eat an enormous bowl of carbonara does it kick in??

Mostly general grumblings, and a bit of discomfort. The symptoms seem to be a mild form of Coeliac disease. Nothing serious. I honestly thought it was all those tacos on fire, and spicy tuna. But since I cut out wheat and gluten products, I've felt much better. I also cut out sugar and caffeine, so I sleep much better and can control my blood sugar better too. It appears the secret to feeling good is to avoid all the foods that make you happy. Who knew?

Wheat the enemy?

Well, I am far from any nutrition expert, but I have become quite fond of a big bowl of Wheaties with two heaping spoonfuls of ground up Flax Seed every morning. Cleans out the plumbing real good.

Rice noodles are a good, so are Pao de Queijo as a snack (Brazilian cheese bread). They're made with Tapioca flour. Use corn tortillas instead of flour for your tacos. There's no real sub for wheat flour, just different options which are just as tasty.

There are gluten free flour products, SWMBO has a few bags that she does stuff with. Under the name of Healtheries. Last night some nice pancakes, with oats mixed in to give it body. You will never look back.

Why? She is trying to cure my flatulence.


<gases room>


<lorikeet falls off perch>

Expatriate.

Is this a problem with just wheat or do other
grains produce the same results?
There are Spelt flour, Oat Flour, Potato Flour. There are all sorts
of substitutes for wheat in breadmaking.
There has been alot of focus on Gluten intollerance
lately, and some of the issues you are experiencing sound
similiar.
It is probably gunna take some experimentation to
figure out what you can tolerate.
I would suggest try a bit of gluten free bread first.
No Carbonara?
What do you spread Vegemite on?

Marty

Why? She is trying to cure my flatulence.


Oh, man. Please don't tell my wife. I've convinced her it's the cats.

Cats fart? Really? I always though it was the elephants hiding under the bed... Yeah, don't tell my wife either!

Expatriate.

Is this a problem with just wheat or do other
grains produce the same results?
There are Spelt flour, Oat Flour, Potato Flour. There are all sorts
of substitutes for wheat in breadmaking.
There has been alot of focus on Gluten intollerance
lately, and some of the issues you are experiencing sound
similiar.
It is probably gunna take some experimentation to
figure out what you can tolerate.
I would suggest try a bit of gluten free bread first.
No Carbonara?
What do you spread Vegemite on?

Marty

Marty. Vegemite? Every jar we buy, it's always gone bad. I open it, and it's just this dark, thick yucky looking stuff that smells bad. :D On a more serious note, I haven't gotten to try too much else. Lots of brown rice, and rice noodles in my stir-fry, but that's about it so far. I've gotten the Princess fairly convinced that this is good for both of us, but the kids think I'm crazy.

Kuan, it's a good thing taco shells are made with corn tortillas, because you can't get corn tortillas over here. Our LGS carries exactly 2 sizes of tortillas, and 1 brand of tortilla chips. Try to imagine a world without proper Mexican food. I shudder at the thought.

Jur and Danny - Our cat would shock you. He's done a few stinkers. The dog is even worse, as he sleeps at the foot of our bed.

Mostly general grumblings, and a bit of discomfort. The symptoms seem to be a mild form of Coeliac disease. Nothing serious. I honestly thought it was all those tacos on fire, and spicy tuna. But since I cut out wheat and gluten products, I've felt much better. I also cut out sugar and caffeine, so I sleep much better and can control my blood sugar better too. It appears the secret to feeling good is to avoid all the foods that make you happy. Who knew?


Not good.

A mate of mine has that coeliac disease and there's more things he can't eat than he can...

Not good.

A mate of mine has that coeliac disease and there's more things he can't eat than he can...

Yeah, the missus and me had a discussion about that. Don't know if there's such a thing as a mild form of it, or if I've just got similar symptoms. As soon as I changed my diet, most of the symptoms went away. I'm in the worst shape of my life, so I've been looking to change that lately.

I'm in the worst shape of my life, so I've been looking to change that lately.


I hear ya...

I was more motivated when I was single. My wife deserves the young stud I was when we got married :D so I'll have to turn back the clock now.

Yeah, the missus and me had a discussion about that. Don't know if there's such a thing as a mild form of it, or if I've just got similar symptoms. As soon as I changed my diet, most of the symptoms went away. I'm in the worst shape of my life, so I've been looking to change that lately.

I don't touch wheat anymore although I wouldn't consider myself a coeliac. I don't realy like the name coeliac because it's just an arbitary threashold anyway which doesn't mean much. I refer to coeliac as advanced gluten intolerence. Just becaues you haven't been diagnosed as a coeliac doens't mean you don't have a serious problem with wheat and even if you are diagnosed as a coeliac there isn't actually anything you can do that you shouldn't do as a gluten intolerent person anyway.

Gluten, like dairy is VERY hard to digest so if you have comprimised digestive function in anyway then it will cause you problems. I have read somewhere that many people, those of European background especialy can have a genetic inability to digest wheat and I beleive that I'm one of those. An ancient European who couldn't tolerate wheat could find enough other foods to survive so they would still pass their genes on. Now if you have a Middle Eastern background then no WAY would you survive as a gluten intolerent because wheat is just such a dominant staple that a coeliac would never survive out of childhood therefore gluten intolerence has been removed from the population.

Regards, Anthony

I haven't given it too much thought, but I think this all started about the time I tore my knee up twice. I was on all sorts of painkillers/anti-inflammatories for months, and I think that damaged my stomach. Or it could just be coincidence that it may have started around then.

I haven't given it too much thought, but I think this all started about the time I tore my knee up twice. I was on all sorts of painkillers/anti-inflammatories for months, and I think that damaged my stomach. Or it could just be coincidence that it may have started around then.
it was the vegemite, yah that or the spatchcock chicken.

it was the vegemite, yah that or the spatchcock chicken.

I tried vegemite once, that was enough. We've got a great seafood place nearby, with sashimi grade tuna and salmon. Nothing like a big slab of tuna, a few scoops of chili, and 2 cups of rice for the perfect spicy tuna roll. I think I know what I need now.

I've got celiac sprue disease and can't eat glutens (which are from wheat, rye, oats, and barley). There are screening tests whose validity is apparently questionable. The only certain diagnosis is a biopsy of the upper small intestine. If I understand right, since it is an auto-immune disease, exposure ups the likelihood of other auto-immune diseases. No, I don't understand that, I can merely repeat it.

Living in Colorado I don't miss breads since our breads are crap. We have wonderful beers that I do miss. Here in the states we (unfortunately) have lots of processed foods with mystery ingredients that might contain glutens. Instead of cooks we seem to like chemists. Fortunately we have lots of support groups which do a good job of helping one to learn what has or doesn't have glutens. Perhaps you have one available.

If you suspect it I would strongly recommend going to your doc instead of listening to people on discussion boards who (like me) may or may not know what they are talking about.

Thanks for the advice. If it was any more serious than just some discomfort, I would have seen a doctor about it a long time ago. My wife has an astounding amount of medical knowledge, and she looks after me quite well.

My reason for starting this thread was not to discuss my medical problems, but to get some nutritional advice from others that have gone wheat/gluten free. I'm also trying to avoid processed foods and preservatives. I'll be 36 next week and I figure it's time to break bad habits and start some new good ones. I'll miss breads, but beer is another story. I've had 2 this year, so it's not like I'm a big drinker, but I certainly enjoyed the last one.

Care to offer up some favorite meals or snacks?

It's not that hard to cook or make meals without wheat.

I'll start most dishes, meat or vegetable with some onions +garlic/ginger gently pan fried in butter or coconut oil. Substitute with extra virgin olive oil if you must. I usualy put some mushrooms in everything at the moment as well. Salt to taste.

If it's a meat dish I will then just add whatever meat after the onions ect have a little colour and gently cook. I like meat rare.
I will then serve it on a bed of fresh sauerkraut and some goat curd on top is nice.

If I'm doing vegetables I will usually do it as a soup with homemade chicken stock so I will add whatever vegetables, usually cauliflower, broccilli, zuchinni, beans, snowpea's ect and brown a little. Then add the chicken stock and simmer for a while untill the vegetables are just turning soft. Salt to taste.

Add whatever herbs or spices you like. I like Dill, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary or whatever.

Dairy's good, yoghurt is a great snack and I LOVE sour cream with some fresh berries as a desert.

Chicken liver pate on cucumber circles or carrot and celery sticks is a nice snack.

Coconut milk makes a nice base for dishes for a change paticuarly if you want to go for an asian influence.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot salads of course. Mixed salad greens, fresh sauerkraut, olives, avocado and dress with extra virgin olive oil. A splash of apple cider vinegar or wine vinegar can be nice to.

Regards, Anthony

That's what I'm talking about! I try to only have one serving of red meat a week, and limit my dairy, but that sounds pretty good. I've never added salt to food either, I'm more of a pepper guy.

My kids love it when I make burritos, but I can't get anything other than flour tortillas. Same for fajitas. I'm going to try and whip up an Asian dish this weekend, so I'll see if I can find coconut milk. I guess I need to spend more time looking around at our LGS, and see what I can come up with.

I had a female aquaintance years ago that didn't eat wheat or gluten products. Her solution was simple: She had someone shop and cook for her, or went out to dinner and had a talk with the chef about what she wanted. If only it was that easy for all of us.

if your problem is gluten intolerance (celiac) then my suggestion is as follows:
go to celiac websites where you will find info and recipes galor.
flour subsititutes for wheat (not containing gluten) include: buckwheat, chickpea, rice, soy, corn, sorghum, millet, etc. Oats do have gluten and they may cause similar problems.
The above flours can be used to make some very good cakes, hotcakes, waffles, bread, etc. It is a problem however to make yeast dough (used for most breads) without wheat. Apparently the gluten aids the rising process.
If you are highly intolerant you'll want to stay away from ready made soup mixes, certain soy sauces and a lot of other products containing stabilizers which do have gluten.

Look at some of the low carb cookbooks. Almond Meal/Flour and Soy Powder by NOW are good substitutes for wheat. Some soy flours are made of raw soybeans and have a terrible aftertaste, the beans have to be roasted before their ground. My mother is a diabetic and wheat products like bread, cake, pancakes, waffles etc made with wheat flour spike her blood sugar. We use soy powder for pancakes, waffles, and some bread products. We use almond flour, pecan meal, hazelnut meal for desserts, cakes, and cookies.

These websites have some good recipes to get you started.

http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/lowcarb-breads.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ll

I have available mass produced gluten-free breads and the tapioca based one is tolerable. The rice based ones are awuful. I've wanted something durable like bagels to stuff into my pockets for lunch while skiing and haven't found anything. There are two hard problems to solve. For lunch at work I carry a mason jar of cooked brown rice and a package of GF (gluten free) Indian food. You may have more of that available than I do. The other problem is eating out. Ethnic foods are more likely to be GF than chain restaurants. I am not stopped by this but other celiacs are: rice noodles cooked in the same water as wheat noodles can be a problem; GF samosas deep fried can have glutens from previously cooked foods (and this has effected me).

To try to directly answer your question I cook 5 cups (raw) brown rice at a time and it lasts my wife & I about 3 days worth of meals. (She eats normal quantities while I...) Dump on top some sauteyed vegetables, maybe some meat and you are done.

(((my spell checker hasn't corrected awuful or sauteyed)))

best,,,,,

if your problem is gluten intolerance (celiac) then my suggestion is as follows:
go to celiac websites where you will find info and recipes galor.
flour subsititutes for wheat (not containing gluten) include: buckwheat, chickpea, rice, soy, corn, sorghum, millet, etc. Oats do have gluten and they may cause similar problems.
The above flours can be used to make some very good cakes, hotcakes, waffles, bread, etc. It is a problem however to make yeast dough (used for most breads) without wheat. Apparently the gluten aids the rising process.
If you are highly intolerant you'll want to stay away from ready made soup mixes, certain soy sauces and a lot of other products containing stabilizers which do have gluten.

Excellent advice from Berts. I have a food allergic kid for whom I bake cookies, pancakes, muffins--all without wheat or yeast. What people think of as 'bread' is difficult, as stated, due to the low protein (gluten) content of the above flours. I'd throw in quinoa and amaranth flour to the above mix--use as a small ratio of your total flour mix (like 1/4) as the taste can be....noticeable. You'll get your best results mixing flours--like sorghum with potato starch and quinoa, rice with amaranth, buckwheat makes good pancakes on its own--no wheat in it, contrary to the name. Garbanzo (chickpea) is high in protein--I usually mix with a little soy flour and make some killer applesauce muffins and molasses cookies. Many of the recipes I use were developed by trial and error, but I am totally willing to share. My molasses cookie recipe is just a Betty Crocker ginger cream cookie recipe with garbanzo bean flour instead of wheat. That's the way I'd start--try replacing the wheat flour in a recipe with one flour or a combo of the above flours.

These days you can even get pasta without wheat. Rice pasta by Tinkayada (sp) is a staple for my ds. Also, seems to me there is a quinoa, soy, corn one--he's off corn, so I don't know for sure about that one. Fortunately, he seems to be outgrowing his allergies (almost 3) so we are rotating some wheat into his diet occasionally.

Tortillas--tough one. I've heard of some folks using rice wraps in place of tortillas. I've even heard of some folks making them--sort of a really thin pancake--if you can have corn--try it with corn flour. No yeast involved--probably just corn flour/meal, salt, oil, water to desire consistency. There is an online allergen grocer Miss Robens that has TONS of stuff. Here's the site: http://www.missroben.com/ Try searches on google for gluten free recipes, wheat free, etc. You should get a number of hits.

I totally feel your pain--when his allergies were first diagnosed at a week old and then added to at a year it was devastating. I was still nursing him because he was allergic to the components in the formulas available. I continued to nurse him until he was 18 months old. During that time I could eat NONE of the foods he reacted to because they would pass through my milk. I quickly dropped weight... a lot. Once I learned how to make baked goods with the above flours my weight stabilized. After he was weaned I went on a three month binge :eek: and gained like 20 lbs :eek: :eek: To have wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, soy, several fruits, etc again after so long was .....wonderful. But I paid the price--still am--trying to work off the weight I gained last summer. I know...more than you wanted to know. But I understand having to avoid certain foods. Give the above a try.... you should get some decent results.

Gluten intolerance seems to run in my family. I've had to eliminate wheat, oats, barley, and rye. Especially miss sandwiches and pizza. On the plus side I recently acquired a bread machine and have been having rice and/or corn flour bread and sandwiches. Also found a recipe for gluten free pizza. The whole business is tolerable, but not much fun.

The answer is AMARANTH!

Thank you everyone for the excellent suggestions and advice. Good to know I'm not alone. I have a lot of Googling to do now. Please continue to add to this thread anything else you'd like.

Thanks for the advice. If it was any more serious than just some discomfort, I would have seen a doctor about it a long time ago. My wife has an astounding amount of medical knowledge, and she looks after me quite well.

My reason for starting this thread was not to discuss my medical problems, but to get some nutritional advice from others that have gone wheat/gluten free. I'm also trying to avoid processed foods and preservatives. I'll be 36 next week and I figure it's time to break bad habits and start some new good ones. I'll miss breads, but beer is another story. I've had 2 this year, so it's not like I'm a big drinker, but I certainly enjoyed the last one.

Care to offer up some favorite meals or snacks?


Expatriate,

My suggestion would be to try to find a large asian grocery store (if you have any sizable asian community near you). There, you may find, rice noodles in many variations, bean thread noodles, rice wrappers skins (like tacos), rice cakes, rice flour, frozen breads made from rice flour (either plain or filled with bean or meat), soy beans, bean curd either dried, fresh or smoked. Asians are very creative with rice, you just need to look hard enough for the products.

Of course this depends heavily on whether you have these type of grocery stores by you or not. Good luck.

Ratdog, good point. There's a Uni nearby, so of course there's plenty of Asian students, and they do have a little grocery in our closest shopping centre. I've only ever been there for Reeses and Hershey bars, and even at that, haven't been there in a while.

OK, more recipe's.

To start with salt is just another of the foodstuffs that's been demonised for no good reason. Salt in moderation is good for you so start using a little as it provides some tasty interest to your cooking.

When I said "meat" in my previous post I mean't ANY meat that you care to use incluiding seafood. I usually use meat sliced, diced or minced and not great slabs of it.

Another great base for any sort of dish is a tomato base. Start with onions, garlic, oregano gently panfried in butter and when soft add your meat or vegetables to brown and then add chopped fresh or tinned tomato's. Tomato's can be a bit tart so you can add a "little" sugar it it's too tart. Mint is also a herb that goes well with a tomato base. EDIT: actually the herbs are best put in towards the end of the cooking proccess not at the start.

Chicken stock is also nice to add stew type dishes for a great flavor.

Personally I think that spagetti or mexican sauces can be served on rice no problems. While brown rice is more nutritious mix it up with some white long grain rice for variety. Basmati long grain rice is my favorite.

Regards, Anthony

isnt there a test for celiac disease? I know there is a lot of information about it.. i was recently worried that I had it but i don't. I'm able to eat pasta and bread...apparently it's inherited, if someone in your family had celiac you're likely to get it as well.

I have a friend who used to make his own tortillas. I believe he used corn flour or corn meal, butter and water. I remember him saying how easy they were to make. Sorry I don't have a real recipe, but I'm sure that you could find one with a search engine.