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bread flour
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hanadr
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Unless your husband is Coeliac or gluten intolerant, Gluten free is of no advantage; In fact it'scounter-productive, because it's difficult to get a good bread structure without it. The important thing is to go for low carb. This can only be found in specialist on-line shops. I've never found it in a "live" shop. Try Low carb megastore or Avidlite.
THe lowest carb breads that you can usually find in shops is Burgen or Nimble or Weight Watchers. You have to read the labels. Otherwise you can buy bread from the aforementioned suppliers or Pm Fergus.
Hana
THe lowest carb breads that you can usually find in shops is Burgen or Nimble or Weight Watchers. You have to read the labels. Otherwise you can buy bread from the aforementioned suppliers or Pm Fergus.
Hana
He had one small slice of grainy home made wholemeal bread, and a tin of sardines. His BS went away up to 9.8 and he's going mad. (AGAIN) but then he admitted he had an apple as well... :evil:
That's very high, should I stop all bread/apples, or should I just separate them into 2 different meals?
That's very high, should I stop all bread/apples, or should I just separate them into 2 different meals?
AliB
Well-Known Member
Hana, there is a huge advantage to dumping gluten - it can't then do you any further damage........
As a severely gluten-intolerant Diabetic myself I have done a huge amount of research on this evil stuff - excuse me for being so virulent about it, but it is. It has been so 'meddled with' in order to make it more resistant, give higher yields, and make more product out of less grain, that it has been rendered into a protein source that the body just cannot handle properly.
The very name 'gluten' is derived from the word for glue, and some of the strongest glue known to man is also made from it. It bungs up our insides and does all sorts of insidious damage as well as encouraging pathogenic microbes like Candida to proliferate.
Whereas a few hundred years ago the grain apparently contained just 2% gluten, now it contains at least 13%. It is VERY addictive and that doesn't help either. People eat it and are totally oblivious to the damage it is doing to them.
Not that either I or my husband eat a huge amount of carbs, but if we do then we eat either rice cakes or occasionally, oatcakes (they contain gluten but it is a different form and doesn't usually create a problem unless they either have been processed in a factory that also processes wheat and could be contaminated, or has had barley malt extract or wheat-based dextrose added). There are lots of hidden sources of gluten which is why we rarely eat anything processed in any form.
You do get used to not having bread and all those other insidiously damaging foods that are made with wheat, barley or rye.
I am fortunate that my symptoms eventually culminated in the collapse of my digestion and that is what led me to pick up the gluten connection, but not before years of eating the stuff had already made its mark on my body without me realising.
It can be behind just about anything you can think of - neurological problems, Ataxia, MS and mental health issues like depression, bipolar and even schizophrenia, migraines, Eczema, Psoriasis and other skin problems, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, digestive issues like gas and bloating, IBS, Crohn's, Ulcerative Colitis etc., and yes, there are even links between it and things like Cancer and Diabetes. Many people don't get the more obvious clues like digestive issues, or they just dismiss those clues, because so many people get them, as 'normal'.
Apart from the Diabetes (which I am still working on) most of the 30-odd health issues (including IBS, RLS, Neuropathy and insomnia) I had before I dropped the gluten are either much better, or have gone completely. He only joined me in my diet as an experiment but my husband's Fibromyalgia is much better and his brain-fog and awful depression is a thing of the past. Only if either of us get 'glutened' do our former symptoms rear their ugly heads.
It's not until you have been off the stuff (and I mean completely - even the tiniest amount will prevent any healing of symptoms) for a while that you suddenly realise how much better you feel.
Cutting out virtually all carbs takes gluten out of the equation anyway and the least grains and starches of any kind we consume the better we will be for it.
I know its hard, and as a Diabetic you have problems dealing with the 'why me?' and 'feeling deprived' issues, but believe me being deprived of something that is doing so much damage is no big deal. Once I realised that EVERYONE is affected by it in some way or another then it made me feel a whole lot better about losing it and the feeling deprived thing went out of the window.
Perhaps if I had been told this two or three years ago I might well have responded as you did - but now I know I whole lot different and have experienced it for myself. I don't have Coeliac Disease, but like many other people I am still affected by this evil stuff. Now I know what it can do I just can't keep that knowledge to myself.
As a severely gluten-intolerant Diabetic myself I have done a huge amount of research on this evil stuff - excuse me for being so virulent about it, but it is. It has been so 'meddled with' in order to make it more resistant, give higher yields, and make more product out of less grain, that it has been rendered into a protein source that the body just cannot handle properly.
The very name 'gluten' is derived from the word for glue, and some of the strongest glue known to man is also made from it. It bungs up our insides and does all sorts of insidious damage as well as encouraging pathogenic microbes like Candida to proliferate.
Whereas a few hundred years ago the grain apparently contained just 2% gluten, now it contains at least 13%. It is VERY addictive and that doesn't help either. People eat it and are totally oblivious to the damage it is doing to them.
Not that either I or my husband eat a huge amount of carbs, but if we do then we eat either rice cakes or occasionally, oatcakes (they contain gluten but it is a different form and doesn't usually create a problem unless they either have been processed in a factory that also processes wheat and could be contaminated, or has had barley malt extract or wheat-based dextrose added). There are lots of hidden sources of gluten which is why we rarely eat anything processed in any form.
You do get used to not having bread and all those other insidiously damaging foods that are made with wheat, barley or rye.
I am fortunate that my symptoms eventually culminated in the collapse of my digestion and that is what led me to pick up the gluten connection, but not before years of eating the stuff had already made its mark on my body without me realising.
It can be behind just about anything you can think of - neurological problems, Ataxia, MS and mental health issues like depression, bipolar and even schizophrenia, migraines, Eczema, Psoriasis and other skin problems, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, digestive issues like gas and bloating, IBS, Crohn's, Ulcerative Colitis etc., and yes, there are even links between it and things like Cancer and Diabetes. Many people don't get the more obvious clues like digestive issues, or they just dismiss those clues, because so many people get them, as 'normal'.
Apart from the Diabetes (which I am still working on) most of the 30-odd health issues (including IBS, RLS, Neuropathy and insomnia) I had before I dropped the gluten are either much better, or have gone completely. He only joined me in my diet as an experiment but my husband's Fibromyalgia is much better and his brain-fog and awful depression is a thing of the past. Only if either of us get 'glutened' do our former symptoms rear their ugly heads.
It's not until you have been off the stuff (and I mean completely - even the tiniest amount will prevent any healing of symptoms) for a while that you suddenly realise how much better you feel.
Cutting out virtually all carbs takes gluten out of the equation anyway and the least grains and starches of any kind we consume the better we will be for it.
I know its hard, and as a Diabetic you have problems dealing with the 'why me?' and 'feeling deprived' issues, but believe me being deprived of something that is doing so much damage is no big deal. Once I realised that EVERYONE is affected by it in some way or another then it made me feel a whole lot better about losing it and the feeling deprived thing went out of the window.
Perhaps if I had been told this two or three years ago I might well have responded as you did - but now I know I whole lot different and have experienced it for myself. I don't have Coeliac Disease, but like many other people I am still affected by this evil stuff. Now I know what it can do I just can't keep that knowledge to myself.
hanadr
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AliB
I don't eat bread myself. I used to bake the Fergus loaf regulaly, but just don't seem to have lately. I like the Finn Crisp crispbread. It has amost satisfactory crunch and I allow myself one with blue cheese every now and then.
Hana
I don't eat bread myself. I used to bake the Fergus loaf regulaly, but just don't seem to have lately. I like the Finn Crisp crispbread. It has amost satisfactory crunch and I allow myself one with blue cheese every now and then.
Hana
We haven't bought any bread for at least 2 years, we make our own. I was only diagnosed T2 in Feb, and I immediately stopped putting sugar and salt (1teaspoon salt, one & a half teaspoons of sugar, for a 2lb loaf), in the mix). Result seemed to be that my bread wasn't rising as it used to. So I figured it had to be the absence of sugar effecting the yeast.
So I decided to re-introduce sugar into the process & have found one teaspoonful is sufficient to guarantee a good second proving.
By the way, I have always used good olive oil, instead of marg/butter/fat in my bread making. And if you like what supermarkets call "Tiger Bread", just substitute the olive oil for toasted sesame oil, 'cause that's all it is.
So I decided to re-introduce sugar into the process & have found one teaspoonful is sufficient to guarantee a good second proving.
By the way, I have always used good olive oil, instead of marg/butter/fat in my bread making. And if you like what supermarkets call "Tiger Bread", just substitute the olive oil for toasted sesame oil, 'cause that's all it is.
AliB
Well-Known Member
Ming, we have this fixation with being 'filled up'. Unfortunately that is what gets us into trouble in the first place.
You know those extremely obese people who can't stop eating? Well, if you analyze their diet, all they eat is 'filling' stuff. What their bodies are gasping for is not 'filling' but nutrition.
What I and my husband have learned is that the more nutritious the food, the less you actually need. As long as the body is getting all the nutrients it needs, it no longer demands food.
I suppose you could liken it to the difference between a big thirsty unefficient car that only does 10 miles to the gallon to a light economical efficient motor doing 75 to the gallon. Get my drift? You can either eat lots of food with very little nutrition or less food with lots of nutrition. Big difference.
It can take a short while to adjust to lower carbs - usually 3 or 4 days, and initially the craving can be pretty difficult to deal with, but it does pass.
We have a strange anomaly in our Western Diet that for all the food we eat many are actually suffering from malnutrition. They are eating way too much food, which is contributing to obesity and diabetes, but are not getting enough actual nutrition from it.
We have just developed this palate that demands that everything we put into our mouth has to be what we like. There used to be a saying that 'a little of what you fancy does you good'. Unfortunately it has developed into 'only eating everything you fancy does you absolutely no good at all.......'
You know those extremely obese people who can't stop eating? Well, if you analyze their diet, all they eat is 'filling' stuff. What their bodies are gasping for is not 'filling' but nutrition.
What I and my husband have learned is that the more nutritious the food, the less you actually need. As long as the body is getting all the nutrients it needs, it no longer demands food.
I suppose you could liken it to the difference between a big thirsty unefficient car that only does 10 miles to the gallon to a light economical efficient motor doing 75 to the gallon. Get my drift? You can either eat lots of food with very little nutrition or less food with lots of nutrition. Big difference.
It can take a short while to adjust to lower carbs - usually 3 or 4 days, and initially the craving can be pretty difficult to deal with, but it does pass.
We have a strange anomaly in our Western Diet that for all the food we eat many are actually suffering from malnutrition. They are eating way too much food, which is contributing to obesity and diabetes, but are not getting enough actual nutrition from it.
We have just developed this palate that demands that everything we put into our mouth has to be what we like. There used to be a saying that 'a little of what you fancy does you good'. Unfortunately it has developed into 'only eating everything you fancy does you absolutely no good at all.......'
AliB
Well-Known Member
I have to say that I battled with the 'why me' and the 'feeling deprived' thing for years until I did all this research and realised that everyone would benefit from dropping the gluten and carbs, and why eating a very good nutritious diet is really so very important.
I have to say that the Diabetes paled in to insignificance when my digestion collapsed. When you can't eat anything without being in the most awful pain and with running diarrhoea then issues like diabetes gets put into perspective.
From the moment I dropped the gluten and the pain stopped, I started on the road to rebuilding my digestion and ultimately my health. 18 months later, I still have a way to go but I am radically improved to how I was back then, and have managed to get my Diabetes fairly well controlled with diet - so much so that I have been able to reduce my medication.
My goal is to get off it completely if I can.
My husband is also 'borderline' with a slow insulin response and he too is resisting the issue even though he knows that he would need to deal with it. I think it is just a normal part of the process. He still has to have a few gluten-free bikkies with his tea in the morning or will sneak one or two before bed, but he is not doing himself any favours.
Gluten-free products are usually higher in carbs than gluten stuff which doesn't help. He complains that he already can't eat bread and cake, etc. so what else is he to eat? I tell you, I used to be a choccie-bikkie-holic. If I can do without them anyone can!
The biggest hurdle is breaking the habits. Eating biscuits with tea is habitual. So I don't drink tea. I don't drink coffee either, but I do have an occasional hot choc but I have managed to wean myself off having bikkies with a drink. i also don't have cereal for breakfast. Another habit.
We both now have fruit for breakfast. I usually find that an apple is quite enough to tide me over till lunch. If I am more hungry I will have another one a bit later. Ok, so a bit higher in carbs, but very cleansing and detoxing to the system and I need that with my sluggish digestion. Terry will have a pear and sometimes a banana.
We rarely have dessert these days, but again it will just be a little fruit and cream (or yogurt for me). Occasionally i will do us a couple of scrambled eggs or an omelette.
We do actually eat far too much food than we need these days. Our bodiesoften have difficulty dealing with it all. Those who fall asleep or struggle to stay awake after eating are actually having digestive issues. As the digestion takes so much energy from the body, the bigger the meal the harder it has to work and will often shut down the rest of the body so that it can deal with digesting the meal. We eat a lot lighter these days and benefit from doing that - as long as it is full of nutrition.
I have to say that the Diabetes paled in to insignificance when my digestion collapsed. When you can't eat anything without being in the most awful pain and with running diarrhoea then issues like diabetes gets put into perspective.
From the moment I dropped the gluten and the pain stopped, I started on the road to rebuilding my digestion and ultimately my health. 18 months later, I still have a way to go but I am radically improved to how I was back then, and have managed to get my Diabetes fairly well controlled with diet - so much so that I have been able to reduce my medication.
My goal is to get off it completely if I can.
My husband is also 'borderline' with a slow insulin response and he too is resisting the issue even though he knows that he would need to deal with it. I think it is just a normal part of the process. He still has to have a few gluten-free bikkies with his tea in the morning or will sneak one or two before bed, but he is not doing himself any favours.
Gluten-free products are usually higher in carbs than gluten stuff which doesn't help. He complains that he already can't eat bread and cake, etc. so what else is he to eat? I tell you, I used to be a choccie-bikkie-holic. If I can do without them anyone can!
The biggest hurdle is breaking the habits. Eating biscuits with tea is habitual. So I don't drink tea. I don't drink coffee either, but I do have an occasional hot choc but I have managed to wean myself off having bikkies with a drink. i also don't have cereal for breakfast. Another habit.
We both now have fruit for breakfast. I usually find that an apple is quite enough to tide me over till lunch. If I am more hungry I will have another one a bit later. Ok, so a bit higher in carbs, but very cleansing and detoxing to the system and I need that with my sluggish digestion. Terry will have a pear and sometimes a banana.
We rarely have dessert these days, but again it will just be a little fruit and cream (or yogurt for me). Occasionally i will do us a couple of scrambled eggs or an omelette.
We do actually eat far too much food than we need these days. Our bodiesoften have difficulty dealing with it all. Those who fall asleep or struggle to stay awake after eating are actually having digestive issues. As the digestion takes so much energy from the body, the bigger the meal the harder it has to work and will often shut down the rest of the body so that it can deal with digesting the meal. We eat a lot lighter these days and benefit from doing that - as long as it is full of nutrition.
I think I would look on the whole thing as a free choice to improve my health, but he's a gloomy sod at the best of times :twisted: However I'm working on him Ali !
Re choccie biccies yes he was bad for that with tea - whereas I drink tea a lot, but dont take sugar or biscuits with it. My downfall is PUDDING :mrgreen: I dono if I could cope with life without sweeties & pavlovas & crumbles & & & :cry: :cry: :cry:
Re choccie biccies yes he was bad for that with tea - whereas I drink tea a lot, but dont take sugar or biscuits with it. My downfall is PUDDING :mrgreen: I dono if I could cope with life without sweeties & pavlovas & crumbles & & & :cry: :cry: :cry:
AliB
Well-Known Member
My husband was a gloomy ... most of our married life until I got him off gluten. Now I have a new husband! No more brain fog, no more depression, no more angry and frustrated, much less pain and happier all round.........
It does work. Honest.
Why don't you do it with him and see what benefit you get from it? It only took my husband two or three 'glutenings' with all his old symptoms flooding back for him to finally acknowledge the connection.
It does work. Honest.
Why don't you do it with him and see what benefit you get from it? It only took my husband two or three 'glutenings' with all his old symptoms flooding back for him to finally acknowledge the connection.
It's the cost, Ali . I couldn't afford gluten-free stuff, I look at the prices and go into shock ! We live on Pension Credit - and live remote - so petrol & coal take quite a chunk out of our money . We have to manage on what's left :mrgreen:
edited to add-- if this is going OT then I'm happy to move it ! And Ali, if there's a cheap way to try gluten free then I'm happy to try it :mrgreen:
edited to add-- if this is going OT then I'm happy to move it ! And Ali, if there's a cheap way to try gluten free then I'm happy to try it :mrgreen:
AliB
Well-Known Member
When I first went gluten-free I went out and bought a load of stuff. Half of it went in the bin. To be quite honest most of it is revolting. The only thing I buy now and only for my hub is one or two packs of GF bikkies a week which aren't brilliant but appease his sweeter tooth.
As your hub shouldn't be eating them anyway (and I wish I could get mine to dump them as he really doesn't need them), it is a case of breaking the habits.
I bought some GF flour a while back, but hadn't used it for quite a while and ended up throwing that away too. I do occasionally make a cake with ground almonds which is nice (when you make it yourself you have control over how much sugar (I use honey) is in things) and which he enjoys, and our daughter insists on making yummy GF things sometimes (sweet of her but they are usually way too sweet for me - see my tastebuds have changed!). It really is about what you get used to. I sometimes make blueberry pancakes which make a nice treat and are very quick to mix up with ground almonds, honey, eggs, a little bicarb and blueberries (our grandson loves them and will eat the plateful given the chance!).
Instead of spending loads on the old previous rubbish - the bread, cakes, biscuits, yummies, or the GF equally rubbish stuff, I now spend the money on good wholesome fruit, veggies (organic where poss), eggs, some cheese, nuts, fish, poultry and occasionally some meat (although I avoid a lot of that because of all the additives and drugs and grain-feeding).
We actually eat half the amount of food we used to, and less than half the amount of meat - we get plenty enough protein from eggs, fish and poultry. If you can get enough nutrition from the food you eat, you don't need to eat any more - too much food is as bad for you as having too little. It puts tremendous strain on the body to deal with it, encourages weight gain, and to be quite frank more than we need probably ends up in the toilet without actually benefitting us at all!
We too are on Pension Credit but we manage ok. I don't think we are spending any more on food - sometimes even less because we don't waste as much. Getting our health back together is my priority now - Hippocrates said 'let medicine be thy food' and he was a very, very wise man.
The type of food you eat is everything. We can make good choices and we can make bad ones. The bad ones are out there in our faces constantly, tempting, cajoling, hooking us, getting us under its spell, insidiously damaging us without our knowledge. It takes strength to resist it but understanding what it is doing to us is half the battle. The people who make it (and sell it) are only in it for one thing - the filthy lucre. If it damages us do they know, or even care?
As your hub shouldn't be eating them anyway (and I wish I could get mine to dump them as he really doesn't need them), it is a case of breaking the habits.
I bought some GF flour a while back, but hadn't used it for quite a while and ended up throwing that away too. I do occasionally make a cake with ground almonds which is nice (when you make it yourself you have control over how much sugar (I use honey) is in things) and which he enjoys, and our daughter insists on making yummy GF things sometimes (sweet of her but they are usually way too sweet for me - see my tastebuds have changed!). It really is about what you get used to. I sometimes make blueberry pancakes which make a nice treat and are very quick to mix up with ground almonds, honey, eggs, a little bicarb and blueberries (our grandson loves them and will eat the plateful given the chance!).
Instead of spending loads on the old previous rubbish - the bread, cakes, biscuits, yummies, or the GF equally rubbish stuff, I now spend the money on good wholesome fruit, veggies (organic where poss), eggs, some cheese, nuts, fish, poultry and occasionally some meat (although I avoid a lot of that because of all the additives and drugs and grain-feeding).
We actually eat half the amount of food we used to, and less than half the amount of meat - we get plenty enough protein from eggs, fish and poultry. If you can get enough nutrition from the food you eat, you don't need to eat any more - too much food is as bad for you as having too little. It puts tremendous strain on the body to deal with it, encourages weight gain, and to be quite frank more than we need probably ends up in the toilet without actually benefitting us at all!
We too are on Pension Credit but we manage ok. I don't think we are spending any more on food - sometimes even less because we don't waste as much. Getting our health back together is my priority now - Hippocrates said 'let medicine be thy food' and he was a very, very wise man.
The type of food you eat is everything. We can make good choices and we can make bad ones. The bad ones are out there in our faces constantly, tempting, cajoling, hooking us, getting us under its spell, insidiously damaging us without our knowledge. It takes strength to resist it but understanding what it is doing to us is half the battle. The people who make it (and sell it) are only in it for one thing - the filthy lucre. If it damages us do they know, or even care?
