08-18-2013, 02:00 AM
My wife just stumbled onto some low gluten ideas, not as a serious food project, but casually, out of curiosity. I'm curious if any folks here know more about it.
My wife and I have success with (and advocate) low carb principles, to reduce and maintain a healthy weight. It's worked well for us. My wife introduced her 80-year-old father to this thinking, and it helped him step back from diabetic symptoms and elevated blood pressure, resulting in him also trimming down, and benefiting from taken less medication. Plus, it's not that hard to avoid potatoes, rice, breads, sweets, etc., or to consume them in smaller portions. It feels healthier in general.
So I'm more open to ideas about the role of sugars and starches and wheat, and now curious about folks who are following the gluten thing. Which I know not very much about.
I will make this observation. We've done two or three recipes where we replaced ordinary flour with a blend of gluten-free flour (whatever the popular brand is) mixed with a bit of xanthan gum, which was recommended, and works well (more about that later if anyone's interested, or has more to offer about it)
and got good results!
One was for salt-and-pepper pork chops. Cooked southern style, in a skillet. Even with normal flour, the amount used is negligible. Replacing it with this other kind of flour, worked quite well. Not much difference, delicious both ways.
The other one--more fun--was a bag of donut mix I got at Whole Foods. They had samples, tasted great, so I got a bag of it on impulse. Took it home. Following directions, we made some. Yes, fried donut balls. Spectacular! It tasted more wholesome than plain donut type ingredients, but it still was decadent, delicious, not to be confused with any sort of 'health' food. Just a treat that's made with marginally more beneficial ingredients. I expected it to taste okay, but I was really impressed.
The real measure was after eating a dozen of these things (not donuts, but little spheres, like donut holes) normally I'd hit the couch and go into a mild carb-gluten-sugar coma. I'm exaggerating, but you know what I mean. After eating something really rich, an elevated heart rate, a sugar buzz. It isn't that pleasant, when you're not used to eating refined sweet things. A kind of sugar shock.
Uncharacteristically, these expected side effects didn't occur. Or if they did, it was so mild I didn't notice.
I was aware of having eaten something sweet, but otherwise, felt pretty good, no different than if I'd eaten a peanut butter sandwich. Not what I'd expect from a generous serving of donuts. One factor: this donut mix wasn't heavily sweetened. But still. It seemed like something that merits more attention.
So what are the pros and cons of gluten? I understand some people have to avoid it for special medical or health reasons. Other healthy-food advocates say gluten is a source of a lot of problems, illnesses, disorders, and is a key factor in obesity. Again, this is pretty new to me.
Anyone involved in this? I'd like to hear some subjective reports, not just stuff people here have read about it. Though I welcome that, too. Gluten people! Let's hear your report!
My wife and I have success with (and advocate) low carb principles, to reduce and maintain a healthy weight. It's worked well for us. My wife introduced her 80-year-old father to this thinking, and it helped him step back from diabetic symptoms and elevated blood pressure, resulting in him also trimming down, and benefiting from taken less medication. Plus, it's not that hard to avoid potatoes, rice, breads, sweets, etc., or to consume them in smaller portions. It feels healthier in general.
So I'm more open to ideas about the role of sugars and starches and wheat, and now curious about folks who are following the gluten thing. Which I know not very much about.
I will make this observation. We've done two or three recipes where we replaced ordinary flour with a blend of gluten-free flour (whatever the popular brand is) mixed with a bit of xanthan gum, which was recommended, and works well (more about that later if anyone's interested, or has more to offer about it)
and got good results!
One was for salt-and-pepper pork chops. Cooked southern style, in a skillet. Even with normal flour, the amount used is negligible. Replacing it with this other kind of flour, worked quite well. Not much difference, delicious both ways.
The other one--more fun--was a bag of donut mix I got at Whole Foods. They had samples, tasted great, so I got a bag of it on impulse. Took it home. Following directions, we made some. Yes, fried donut balls. Spectacular! It tasted more wholesome than plain donut type ingredients, but it still was decadent, delicious, not to be confused with any sort of 'health' food. Just a treat that's made with marginally more beneficial ingredients. I expected it to taste okay, but I was really impressed.
The real measure was after eating a dozen of these things (not donuts, but little spheres, like donut holes) normally I'd hit the couch and go into a mild carb-gluten-sugar coma. I'm exaggerating, but you know what I mean. After eating something really rich, an elevated heart rate, a sugar buzz. It isn't that pleasant, when you're not used to eating refined sweet things. A kind of sugar shock.
Uncharacteristically, these expected side effects didn't occur. Or if they did, it was so mild I didn't notice.
I was aware of having eaten something sweet, but otherwise, felt pretty good, no different than if I'd eaten a peanut butter sandwich. Not what I'd expect from a generous serving of donuts. One factor: this donut mix wasn't heavily sweetened. But still. It seemed like something that merits more attention.
So what are the pros and cons of gluten? I understand some people have to avoid it for special medical or health reasons. Other healthy-food advocates say gluten is a source of a lot of problems, illnesses, disorders, and is a key factor in obesity. Again, this is pretty new to me.
Anyone involved in this? I'd like to hear some subjective reports, not just stuff people here have read about it. Though I welcome that, too. Gluten people! Let's hear your report!