It’s all about what your friends and family put on (season) the food with and/or stuff and/or mix it with. Again, no wheat, rye or barley. It is necessary that you cook with naturally gluten-free foods (meats, fish, eggs, poultry, fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and some grains). GF cooking will get easier as you go along; skills learned and techniques adopted over time will ensure this.
When cooking with natural foods, having a basic knowledge of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is critical to our complete recovery. We can’t just remove said protein from our diet and expect all to be well. The damage inflicted by your immune system inflammatory response is not to be taken lightly. Your body is in need of repair.
It’s going to need a diet free of ultra-processed and fast food. A diet packed with macro and micro nutrients. This will help it to undo the ills that a gluten-filled diet had years to place in motion. Our bodies are amazingly resilient. When given enough time and care, the human body has demonstrated time and time again, that it can and will heal itself.
So, if a person with an immune reaction to said protein, takes the time to prepare and cook his or her meals with naturally GF food – he or she can still have a diverse diet. Let family and friends know, avoid UPFs and use only minimally processed food (MPF) and natural foods in what they cook for themselves and others.
Try to eliminate any possibility of cross contamination when preparing to eat foods outside your home. If unlikely, simply avoid it. Here are several gluten-free grains you may not be aware of: amaranth, quinoa, bean flour, rice, corn meal, potato flour and oats. If any of these grains are not labeled as GF, please avoid them; cross-contamination is probably the reason why.
Gluten’s Secret Identity
Popular emulsion stabilizers that are used commercially include mono- and diglycerides, xanthan gum, carrageenan, lecithin, guar gum and cellulose to name a few. They give food a uniform look, texture and an extended shelf life. And are added to all ultra-processed foods.
Research has come to a disturbing prediction – emulsion stabilizers may be altering the microbiota (bacterial ecosystem) in our gut. Consequence – the bacterial species in our gut may develop the capacity to digest and penetrate the mucous membrane that lines our intestinal wall. A damaged mucous membrane results in a leaky gut.
If this was to happen, harmful bacteria, undigested food particles and toxic waste will be able to move through the gut wall and into your bloodstream. Our immune system will naturally launch an attack on all foreign invaders by first producing an inflammatory response. At this point, inflammation in your gut and throughout your body will be going off like fireworks at the start of the new year.
The above reading should seem somewhat familiar, that’s because – wait for it – gluten is classified as an emulsion stabilizer. Gluten also impacts our intestinal wall because it too can initiate changes in our gut microbiome along with inflammation resulting from an immune response. These two causes/effects are separate but interconnected.
Since these food additives can be responsible for triggering an immune response and altering the microbiota in the gut. It should be no surprise why certain emulsion stabilizers may cause your intestinal problems to worsen even in the absence of gluten.
Therefore, it would be prudent for anyone with existing gut-related inflammation to avoid them. Cook with only natural and minimally processed food (MPF). All MPFs are free of emulsion stabilizers.
FODMAPs
Fructans can imitate gluten because they are carbohydrates found in many gluten-containing foods (like wheat, barley, rye). They can cause similar digestive symptoms like bloating, gas and pain. As a result, leading many to mistakenly blame gluten when it’s actually a fructan problem caused by consuming foods high in FODMAPs.