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Research Paper On Gluten

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To Gluten, or not to Gluten? In today’s world of fad diets one has to wonder whether Gluten-Free diets are legit or the next big thing. Gluten is a protein found in wheat which in someone sensitive to it can cause a multitude of health problems. It binds on the cilia of the Small Intestine and causes the body to attack the cilia, which results in irritation and malnutrition. My Mother was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease. This causes sensitivity to Gluten and requires a special diet in order to control the symptoms. The road to this discovery was not an easy one. There were many doctors and expensive tests, yet, no one could figure out what was causing my Mother’s chronic digestion and diarrhea problems. Finally, one doctor was able …show more content…

Figuring out how to cook Gluten-Free is completely different than cooking with Gluten. You will no longer be able to just use that same old flour in that kitchen cabinet. All of it will have to be disposed of and cleaned thoroughly to prevent cross contamination. You can make all the necessary changes and prepare your meal in the same place as that a Gluten meal was prepared and lose all your hard work. I will agree that switching the whole house over is easiest, but I will promise that there are die-hard Gluten eaters out there that will refuse profusely. Now comes the fun part, experimentation! Carefully read all your labels, wheat can be hidden in many forms. I began my trial and error (yes, there were errors) on making pie crusts. Seems simple enough right? Well, that would be a big fat negative. The dough was not binding and came out more like warmed powdery flour. The key was not to give up because, that is where Xanthum Gum comes in. Losing Gluten in your baking means that you lose the binding ingredient that makes your dough stretch and hold together, therefore, it has to be replaced with something. Xanthum Gum does just that, however, I did find that my cookie pie crust turned out better than my oat pie crust because it had an egg in it. Switching over to Gluten-Free isn’t as plain Jane and boring as good ole’ Gluten cooking either. I now know of thirty-one different flours that can be used for all kinds of yummy

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