The most common ingredients used to replace wheat flour in
gluten-free products–rice starch, tapioca starch, cornstarch, and potato
starch–are chosen because they provide a reasonable facsimile of wheat flour in
baked products. But these are among the few foods that have a glycemic index
higher than even that of wheat! So, sure, gluten-free multigrain bread or pasta
does not cause appetite stimulation like the gliadin protein of wheat, nor do
they cause intestinal destruction like the wheat germ agglutinin in wheat, nor
do they trigger allergies like the alpha amylase inhibitors in wheat–they
“only” cause sky-high blood sugar and, with it, formation of extravagant
quantities of small LDL particles.
In short - there's "no free lunch." You can't eat fake foods and expect abundant health.
How do you "get off" the bread, wheat, sugar train to illness, poor mood, poor appearance and higher risk of early terminal illness following years of degraded mobility and wellbeing?
Short answer: First, you have to want to change, and then you have to stay with it over time. I know of few folks that ditch their food indulgences and never regress. Most succeed because they start over, many times, and eventually break their negative food habits and associations. Eventually, feeling better becomes its own reward, and there's a lower need to use food treats to feel better in the short term at the expense of health. These changes are not easy, but it's also not easy to be overweight, in poor health, with poor moods, physical pain and little hope to escape serious illness. It's also not easy to take meds every day and hope they stave off the symptoms of one's illness. It's also not easy to think you should change, to know you want to change, but be unable to change.
Everyone has their time. When you are ready, call me and I'll give you all the shortcuts you need for sustainable lifestyle change following the paleolithic model of nutrition.
just to be clear, is there a difference between rice flour & rice starch? Many of the products that I buy use non-gluten flour (rice, buckwheat) and very little starch (potatoes, corn)
ReplyDeleteIs this any better?
Leone, that's a good question. There's a way to know the answer, but it requires that you obtain a glucometer. These are pretty cheap at any drugstore. If what you are eating makes your blood sugar spike, "it's not good."
DeleteMy guess is that the rice flour will be as much a problem as any of the other flour subs, but perhaps it will not be. If you like to eat that way and the glucometer indicates at 1 and 2 hour intervals after your meal that blood sugar levels are good, you can eat with confidence that there's no health impact.
I hope that helps!