Healing with Food Newsletter

Gluten-Free but not Symptom-Free

Accompanying recipe: Brussels Sprouts with Mustard

Judging from the countless restaurants now offering gluten-free menus, I'm not the only person avoiding wheat, barley and rye. If you have rigorously excluded muffins, pasta and more from your diet but still suffer from allergic symptoms, then I've important news for you.

Gluten, the protein that enables bread to rise, is made up of gliadin and glutelin. While the former is specific to the wheat family, all grains contain glutelin proteins. Most sensitivities start with gliadin...but if left unchecked then glutelin in other grains can become an irritant and cause allergic reactions. Yes, rice used to be a hypoallergenic food...but that's not true for everyone today.

While dairy and gluten are the most common allergens, the runner ups include soy, nuts, fish and eggs. For many people, the list of foods-to-avoid is growing beyond these primary culprits.

If you strongly crave any food, it may be an allergen. Especially if it you eat it often and have chronic health complaints. For example, in India where chickpeas are a staple they are, therefore, a more common allergen there than in the West. Our less common allergens include:

• Grains: corn, rice, quinoa, oats, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, tef and wild rice
• Bananas and/or pineapple and tropical fruits
• Citrus fruits
• Melons
• Seeds including their butters and oils: flax, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes
• Yeast

If one of these less common allergens, like bananas, for example, is something you rarely eat and don't strongly crave, it's unlikely to be a problem food for you. But, for example, if corn is a staple, if you really love it and if you suffer from allergic symptoms, then corn is suspect; after all, corn and all the "non-gluten" grains contain glutelin.

To identify allergens, see my free article or eBook Detox and Cleanse.

May you be well nourished!

Rebecca Wood