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Delicious RECIPES & FOOD without dairy, wheat or gluten

'There is no reason why people with food intolerance should not enjoy their meals as much as anyone else - providing they follow the advice of people like Antoinette Savill'

- Sir Charles Jessell Chairman of Governors, The Institute For Optimun Nutrition (London)

Could you be intolerant to wheat?

For many years, the UK government has required bakers to add synthetic vitamins and minerals to bread. These supliments include vitamins B and C, calcium and iron. Synthetic nutrients are less easilly absorbed by the body than those which occour naturally

In many countries, including America, althought fortunately not those within the European community, Potassium Bromate is used to help bread rise in the oven and to create a good texture in the finished product (source: The American Society of Bakery Engineers). In 1991 Potassium Bromate was listed as a carcinogen in California under the state's proposition 65 (source: The Centre for Science in the Public Interest, USA)

Most white bread has about 25% of the grain extracted during manufacture, therefor much of the wheat germ and bran - which provides necessary fibre and naturally occurring nutrients - are lost. !5% of the grain is removed from brown flour, but none is removed from wholemeal flour. Some artificial preservates are sprayed over finished long-life, foil wrapped loaves to prevent mould growth (the use of such preservatives should be clearly shown on product lables)

Allergies and intolerance are currently to the forefront of the healthy lifestyle debate, and there has been much discussion about whether all of them are genuien. Researchers a Nottingham University believe that allergies to gluten, from wheat flour in bread, pasta and pizza, might be far more common than previously thought; 'Blood tests performed on 7,500 people suggested that upto 100 of them shown signs of the disease' (source: Sunday Times Style Magazine)

Allergies can produce a host of dangerous reactions and should be diagnosed by a doctor or qualified practitioner. Food intolerance, however, is often difficult to define and gives milder symptons that can take longer to manifest themselves

Sometimes, foods which we eat too much of, and find difficult to digest, can cause an intolerance. It can take a few days for the symptoms to emerge, or less than an hour. Often, an intolerance can be cured by removing the culprit from your diet for a few months and then reintroducing small amounts of it back into the diet, keeping the quantities to a permanently sensible level

A good way of finding out if you do have an intolerance to wheat, is to remove any product from your diet which contains wheat (wheat is used in many processed foods) for at least three weeks and drink at least 1.5 lts of water each day. If some of the symptoms are noticabley reduced, you may be intolerant to wheat

If you think that you are intolerant, or allergic, to any foods or liquids, you should consult a qualified medical practitioner or nutritionalist

Frequently asked questions

Dairy-free, wheat-free, gluten-free and egg-free recipes, information & food products from AllergyWatchers
AllergyWatchers.com is an educational and promotional site. We are not qualified medical practitioners and this site must not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis or medical treatment
There are important differences between food intolerance and food allergies
AllergyWatchers.com is primarily for people who are intolerant to dairy, wheat and gluten. Some, but not all of the information may also be relevant to Coeliacs