In recent years, eating a "gluten-free diet" has become more and more popular, and there are more and more "gluten-free" foods on the Internet and in supermarkets. Patients with thyroid disease, people who lose weight, people with intestinal discomfort, inflammation People with high reactions, people with eczema, and people with gluten allergies or intolerances are advised to avoid gluten.

Some people found that after avoiding gluten, they really lost weight; some people found that after changing their diet, the level of thyroid antibodies did drop; Or the body becomes more energetic.

There are also many people who find it difficult to persevere, with food restrictions, high prices, and stress... So should you eat a "gluten-free diet"?

how to eat?

  Knowledge point 1

  What is gluten?

What to eat that contains a lot of gluten

  The so-called gluten is gluten protein, which is the most important protein component in wheat food.

After the gluten protein is compatible with water, a huge continuous gluten network can be formed, with a unique viscoelastic structure, which endows pasta with ever-changing and charming taste.

The reason why bread can maintain a puffy porous structure, why noodles can be stretched into filaments, and why dumpling wrappers can be stretched without breaking is all due to the viscoelasticity brought by gluten.

In short, the stronger the gluten of flour products, the less suitable for people who are sensitive to "gluten".

  Many friends think that avoiding gluten means eating less whole grains and avoiding bran ingredients, which is a big mistake.

"Gluten" has nothing to do with concepts such as bran and whole grains.

White flour has more gluten than whole wheat flour.

  Wheat is the main source of gluten protein (gluten) in food. At the same time, barley, rye, highland barley, etc. can also form gluten structure.

  Rice, millet, corn, buckwheat, quinoa, and other grains have proteins that cannot form the gluten structure, so they are not sources of gluten.

  Knowledge point 2

  Why Gluten Can Cause Trouble

  A small number of people have allergic reactions to gluten, the most serious of which is "celiac disease", the gluten-sensitive enteropathy.

After this kind of patient eats food containing gluten protein, it will cause small intestinal mucosal damage and diarrhea, resulting in severe malnutrition.

  For some people with weak digestion ability, it is difficult to completely destroy the huge network of gluten protein.

After the incompletely degraded gluten protein fragments enter the blood from the damaged intestinal mucosa, it may trigger an immune response, cause an increase in the inflammatory response, and lead to a series of adverse reactions.

This condition is often classified as a "food intolerance" reaction.

  At the same time, IgG antibodies to gluten can be detected in the blood of some people, also known as wheat chronic allergy, which manifests as various discomforts caused by various forms of low-grade inflammatory reactions in the body.

Such as inexplicable weight gain, brain fog, skin and mucous membrane inflammation, eczema, headache, irritability, bloating, fatigue, indigestion and so on.

Because such adverse reactions do not necessarily occur immediately after eating, but appear successively in the next two or three days, and are not specific, these intolerance reactions are often ignored by people.

  In addition, food intolerance reactions are often accompanied by fatigue, stress after meals, and significantly faster heartbeat after meals.

  Knowledge point 3

  How to know if you have gluten intolerance

  If you suspect that you have this situation, you can temporarily stop eating all pasta within a month, and feel whether various discomforts and biochemical indicators have improved significantly.

If there is no improvement, it means that your condition is not caused by eating foods containing gluten.

If yes, continue without eating.

  Wait six months before trying to reintroduce these foods in small amounts.

If there are no adverse reactions after several trials, you can continue to eat.

If adverse effects persist, then continue to avoid these foods.

  In addition, you can go to the allergy department and nutrition department of a tertiary hospital for medical treatment, do relevant tests, ask the doctor to help confirm your condition, and give advice on whether you need to stop eating gluten-containing foods.

  Knowledge point 4

  What gluten-free ingredients can replace pasta

  Staple ingredients that do not contain gluten include:

  1. All kinds of rice (including white, red, purple and black varieties);

  2. Millet and millet (the sticky variety is rhubarb rice), including sticky and non-sticky varieties;

  3. Various colors of corn;

  4. Quinoa, buckwheat;

  5. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, taro and other potatoes;

  6. Red beans, mung beans, kidney beans of various colors, dried peas, chickpeas, lupines and other miscellaneous beans.

  They can all replace pasta as part of a staple meal.

When you want to eat noodles, you can use rice noodles, rice noodles, etc.; when you want to eat snacks, you can use gluten-free alternative flour to make baked goods, or use rice cakes, yam cakes, kidney bean rolls, mashed potatoes, etc. instead .

  Knowledge point 5

  Which gluten-containing foods can be eaten in small amounts

  For people who do not have severe gluten allergies and are simply choosing a gluten-free diet to improve their health, food options include:

  1. Soy sauce, yellow sauce, sweet noodle sauce, etc.

Although their raw materials contain wheat flour, the protein content in the finished product is low, and after microbial degradation, the macromolecular network structure has been lost.

  2. Oatmeal porridge.

The gluten protein content of oatmeal itself is lower than that of wheat and barley, and after being pressed into tablets and cooked into porridge, the natural structure of the grain has also been destroyed due to excessive moisture, making it difficult to form a continuous gluten protein network.

Therefore, under the premise of confirming that there are no adverse reactions, oatmeal porridge can still be eaten.

  3. Stuffed skin.

Most of the protein is separated and removed during the making of the stuffed skin, so the gluten content is low.

But the extra gluten cuts cannot be eaten.

However, after washing away the protein, not only the protein content is greatly reduced, but also vitamins and minerals are lost, so the nutritional value of this type of food is low.

  4. Shrimp dumplings and other snacks.

They have clear skins and are made not from flour but from chengfen, which is wheat flour from which the protein has been removed.

It is also low in vitamins and minerals.

  5. Cakes, biscuits and pastries.

They are made with low-gluten flour, which has a lower gluten protein content than ordinary pasta, and adds a lot of fat, which hinders the formation of the gluten network.

The main problem is that it has low nutritional value and high calories, so it is not recommended to eat it frequently.

  Except for oatmeal, these other foods have low nutritional value and cannot be eaten regularly because of their low gluten content, but can only be used for occasional changes.

  However, people with severe allergic reactions, especially those with celiac disease, should still avoid the above foods as much as possible. After trying a few times in a small amount, wait for at least three days to prove that there is no adverse reaction before eating.

  Perhaps it is because of the inability to eat pasta that we can discover that human beings are so overly dependent on various delicacies made of wheat. In fact, without them, the variety of ingredients we eat every day can be more abundant.

Mixed rice with rice and millet can also be delicious with fish, egg, milk and various vegetables.

  Text/Fan Zhihong (Director of the Chinese Nutrition Society, chief expert of science communication hired by the China Association for Science and Technology)

  (Beijing Youth Daily)

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