The oft persecuted Gluten....

This weeks kitchen workshop focussed on relatively common food protein allergies and intolerances - gluten, egg, nuts and cows milk.  One of the most common and frustrating things that I encounter is people blaming their dodgy bowels or weight problems on poor little gluten.  Now, for people with coeliac disease, gluten really is a problem- they have a true systemic immunological response to dietary exposure to gluten which is suggested by a blood test (coeliac screen) and confirmed by an intestinal biopsy taken during an endoscopy procedure.  People with medically confirmed coeliac disease must stick to a strictly gluten free diet for life as the gluten proteins (present in wheat, barley, rye and oats) cause damage to their intestines, which can lead to poor absorption of nutrients and ultimately to osteoporosis and some forms of cancer.  If you suspect that your guts don't work that well, have a family member with coeliac disease, have trouble keeping weight on, have frequent diarrhoea or have been told that you have anaemia -please talk to your GP so that they can organise the blood test for you.  If the blood test is positive, you go and have the endoscopy and biopsy done so that you know for sure that lifelong gluten restriction is warranted.

This gluten free recipe is one of my favourites and it got polished off very quickly in the kitchen lab this week!  Chicken or beef strips could be added to the mushroom mix to make it a more well-rounded meal.

Polenta with parsley and mushrooms

Ingredients

Method

5 cups of water 1 cup of polenta ½ teaspoon of salt 1 tablespoon of butter/margarine Olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 3 cloves of garlic, minced 500g chopped mushrooms ¾ cup chopped parsley Grated parmesan and cracked pepper to serve

Bring water to the boil and add polenta, stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the polenta starts to thicken enough to come away from the sides of the saucepan.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. While polenta is cooking, fry the mushrooms, garlic and onion with butter/margarine and olive oil.  Turn down the heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.  Add parsley to the mushroom mixture and season with pepper.  Stir.  Place mushroom sauce on top of polenta with grated parmesan on top.  Serve immediately.

For those who feel urgh when they eat wheat products, particularly if they suffer with stomach cramps and bloating associated with flatulence - the culprit is not gluten, it is a type of fibre present in wheat, barley and rye known as fructans.  Fructans are chains of fructose molecules (yes, the same fructose that is in fruit) that are joined together by bonds that our small intestines don't have any enzymes to break down.  So what happens is that those fructan chains arrive in the large intestine (which is a lovely, big, bucket of fermentation) and the bacteria in there break those bonds and gobble up the fructose molecules, producing both gas AND lots more bacteria.  In people who have sensitive bowels (this is called visceral hypersensitivity) this manifests as bloating, gas and sometimes diarrhoea.  The more bran, the more gas.  We are able to absorb some of the fructose in fruit but if you have a lot of fruit all at once (like a fruit salad, dried fruit or fresh fruit juice) this will have a similar effect.  If you feel this way, choose oats, rice, polenta and quinoa over wheat products when you can, and try to limit foods which have wheat as a charactarising ingredient (eg bread, pasta, cous cous) to one meal a day.  If wheat is ingredient number five or more on an ingredients list, it is likely to not cause too much of a problem. 

Part of a dietitians core business is to try to ensure that peoples dietary intakes are as broad as possible within any legitimate dietary restrictions.  If you don't have coeliac disease then don't drive yourself crazy or into a malnourished state (it is more difficult to get exposure to some vitamins and minerals on a gluten free diet) by restricting gluten unnecesarily.  Now that I've had my little rant.... here are some lovely gluten free choc chip cookies :-)

Choc Chip Cookies
(picture has our gluten free ones at the front and wheat containing but egg free ones at the back)

Ingredients	Method
2 cups commercial gluten free self-raising flour mix (Orgran/White Wings) 120g margarine/butter ½ cup castor sugar ½ cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons of vanilla 2 eggs (or use No Egg egg substitute) 1 bag Cadburys small milk choc chips	Cream the margarine/butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and eggs and beat until smooth.  Using a wooden spoon or spatula fold in the flour and choc chips until mixture is just combined and choc chips are evenly spread throughout.  Using two teaspoons, spoon small balls of mixture onto a large baking paper lined tray.  Bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees C.

I hope you have an awesome weekend,

Fiona xx