On Mother’s Day, I deviated slightly from my usual diet, and then things went wrong. The indigestion and gassy feeling I’d forgotten returned, revealing that my gluten sensitivity hadn’t decreased at all; in fact, it had worsened.

My diet is 90% gluten-free. I switched to a gluten-free diet after realizing the discomfort it caused me, in addition to the damage it did to my intestines. Until about 1.5 years ago, I had unbearable digestive problems. Everything I ate would swell my stomach, and I felt like I was going to explode from gas. Starting a grain-free diet around that time helped alleviate these problems. I felt so much relief that I realized my body was reacting to gluten.

Gluten is the protein found in wheat, and some people cannot digest it. I explained the details of this in my article “Gluten Sensitivity Is Not an Urban Legend.” Today, I wanted to discuss a different aspect of the issue.

Gluten is a hot topic on social media, in newspapers, and on television channels these days. Therefore, everyone is inclined to explore gluten-free diets. This is wonderful, but our people, whose culture includes bread and pastries, are not entirely sure how to eat without flour. Because of this, while searching for gluten-free flour, they often stray from the main idea and gravitate towards the wrong products. To avoid making things worse while trying to improve them, I wanted to prepare this article.

We all love eating cakes, pastries, and bread, and I see many people buying products from supermarket shelves that say “gluten-free flour” on the packaging. As you know, regular flour is obtained by grinding wheat. Since wheat cannot be used, manufacturers combine different ingredients to create a flour-like product. The content of these flours is generally corn starch, potato starch, rice flour, and dextrose (starch sugar). They also contain thickeners such as xanthan gum and guar. In short, these flours are entirely man-made, not natural. These are flours that are not made of sugar. They consist almost entirely of starch. Excess starch, just like sugar, is stored in the body and causes many health problems.

Buying gluten-free flour and making bread at home with it does more harm than good.

What are natural gluten-free flours?

If we want to follow a gluten-free diet, our preference should always be to use foods that naturally do not contain gluten. These include non-grain legumes (such as lentils, chickpeas, and dried beans), corn, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, carob, and coconut flour. Recently, amaranth and teff flour have also become available in our country. Teff flour is even being produced locally. In addition, almond flour is a good alternative for use in cakes.

While we’re on the subject, I’d also like to share a very quick, easy, and nutritious savory cake recipe with dried beans. It easily satisfies your bread craving and makes a wonderful accompaniment to afternoon tea.

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked dried beans

2 eggs

Plenty of cottage cheese

Plenty of parsley

Salt, pepper

Half a packet of baking powder

3 tablespoons olive oil

Sesame seeds for garnish

I mixed all ingredients except the sesame seeds in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you can mash the beans with a fork and then mix in the other ingredients. I baked it at 175 degrees Celsius for about 35 minutes. You can test if it’s done by inserting a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out dry, your cake is done.

Another point I want to emphasize is the use of these flours. As I always say, nutrition is about balance. If we overindulge in legume flours just because they’re gluten-free, we’ll end up consuming too much phytic acid. If we overindulge in almond flour, we’ll end up consuming too much fat. Consuming everything in moderation and balance is crucial. We shouldn’t focus on a single food or product; instead, we should nourish our bodies by incorporating natural ingredients into our diet.

I wish everyone healthy, happy, and sugar-free days.

Note: This article was published on www.hthayat.com on May 26, 2017.