Until quite recently only a few of us knew what gluten was or why gluten free bread should be available. Unless you were gluten intolerant yourself, or knew someone who was, you would not even realize that wheat intolerance could make life a misery and that it would become very difficult to find foods that you could eat. In recent years, however, a new awareness has swept through the community and now eating a diet that is gluten-free is commonplace, to the extent that many ready meals and restaurants now cater for it.
What is gluten?
Gluten is a protein found in wheat and other cereal crops like rye and barley. There are people who cannot eat food containing it, however, and estimates show that around 1% of the UK population has a gluten intolerance. This means eating food containing gluten can result in stomach cramps, severe indigestion, and in extreme cases, celiac disease.
This is an intestinal condition that prevents the body from absorbing nutrients from food, and is serious enough to cause extreme weight loss which in turn can cause a host of other problems including heart attacks and strokes. Other symptoms of gluten-intolerance include eczema and muscular aches especially in the joints.
Why other people are choosing a Gluten free bread recipe
People without celiac disease or gluten intolerance are choosing to eat a gluten-free diet. Some people preach a gluten-free life, saying that it leads to weight-loss, can improve cholesterol levels, and help assist digestive health. Dr. Peter HR Green, MD, the director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, says that unless people are very careful, eating a gluten-free diet can lead to the person missing much of their daily nutrients. Whole grains are rich in necessary vitamins and nutrients, like iron and fiber.
For those with a gluten intolerance, gluten-free is really the best option to have optimal health. When many people find out about their gluten intolerance, they usually think that they will be subjected to a diet of just meat, fruit, and veggies and won’t be able to indulge in some of their favorite foods. With the growing trend of the gluten-free diet, more and more recipes are in circulation that take classic recipes and make them gluten-free.
A few years ago, very few people even knew what gluten was and even fewer even thought about eating or not eating it. In the past year or so a new trend has swept through the diet and health community, the gluten-free diet. Gluten is in most breads. One of those is a huge void in the bread category, one that our gluten-free gals can use for sandwiches.