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I've come to the conclusion I have some kind low-level allergic reaction to wheat. I was on a wheat-free diet some years ago and decided it didn't make any difference. For awhile, it didn't. Then recently I started having significant problems with digestion, especially at night. After praying I decided to simply back off wheat. Immediately the symptoms improved. So I just stopped it altogether and now a lot of little nagging issues have improved. My joints feel better, the floaters in my eyes are gone now, and of course, my stomach doesn't bother me so much. The energy level has come up just a little and I think the effect is somewhat ketogenic because I've already lost a couple of pounds.
Here's hoping I can keep it up this time.
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12-03-2018, 09:43 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-03-2018, 09:43 PM by Ed Hurst.)
Yeah, it's funny how I can still eat all I want of rye, corn, rice, oatmeal, and even spelt (the ancient cousin of wheat) without any symptoms. It's not about gluten. Some so-called "gluten free" foods do okay, but most of them are unpalatable. I make whole rye pancakes with cinnamon and a little brown sugar and they don't taste like rye at all.
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My recipe:
1 cup whole rye flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1.5 cups milk; 1 egg; optional 2 tbsp sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.
Mix dry ingredients with a fork or whisk; mix milk and egg in a separate container. I use an old hand-crank egg beater to give the milk and egg a froth. Then I use the same egg beater to mix the two containers. Unlike wheat, wherein you want the batter a little lumpy, rye batter needs a good beating. Then it needs to set 10-15 as it absorbs the liquid slowly. It gives you chance to adjust the wet/dry balance to suit you. Then cook as usual, though I believe it takes just a tad longer than wheat cakes. They refrigerate or freeze nicely if you end up eating them alone, but I recommend some stretch film between the cakes because they stick together.
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These days, most gluten-free breads are made with rice flour and teff. Neither of those are very good at doing what wheat does chemically, and both tend to be flavorless. However, they are generally harmless and those breads seldom have half the mass-produced bakery junk in wheat bread. So the real drawback is that they are generally expensive. Frankly, if I want sliced loaf bread, I'll buy Rudi's Spelt or Ancient Grains bread -- comes in around $5 per loaf in my area. They are the one brand most readily available in my area. Spelt works very nearly like wheat flour, but has a nutty taste that you will notice. When I crave biscuits, spelt is the easiest substitute and doesn't trigger the allergy symptoms. I've made tons of biscuits from scratch over my lifetime.
