We’ve eaten wheat all our lives and since the symptoms are not fatal, we never realise if we’re allergic to it. So I thought it’s a good idea to just mention the symptoms here so that you can decide if you want to check.
Bloating: You’ll find your belly area fat, at times even when you haven’t eaten much.
Constipation / Diarrhoea: Stools tends to be hard, followed by loose
Fatigue: You feel so, so tired, without having exerted yourself. May feel like sleeping all the time and it’s never enough
Abdominal pain /heaviness: Belly may feel heavy/ painful even when you haven’t eaten too much
Headaches: Another common symptom, people may also develop migraines.
Skin Problems: Acne, psoriasis, urticaria, hair fall are all common symptoms as well.
Iron Deficiency Anaemia: and also dehydration, palpitations and dizzy spells when you suddenly get up are quite common.
Joint pains: Frequent joint pains and at times heightened sensitivity to cold is also common.
Anxiety: People tend to be highly strung and easily stressed too.
Brain Fog: It’s as if your brain has shut down, you simply cannot think, at times.
What You Need to Do
If you have a lot of the problems described above, please simply avoid wheat in all forms (atta, maida, rava, barley, most soy sauce, most chocolates, possibly beer, etc)
You’ll probably see a difference in your weight and health in a couple of weeks and a drastic difference in about 6, if you really are intolerant to gluten /wheat. I’ve observed that every time I eat wheat, I get a reaction that lasts 2 weeks.
You could get an allergy test if you’re in the habit of visiting doctors. I hope this helps. My estimation is that a lot of people today are quite allergic but completely unaware.
I should mention that I’ve observed that even those who are not ‘medically’ allergic to wheat have shown similar symptoms and they have been cleared upon avoiding wheat. So a medical test can confirm if you do have the allergy, but if it doesn’t, there’s no way of really knowing if it is messing up your life, unless you actually stay off of it for 6 weeks
Wheat causes heightened reaction to sugar as well, so you’ll get a lot fatter than normal every time you eat sugar. Another common (but not in everyone) symptom of usually gluten + lactose intolerance is teeny tiny pus dots on the back of the upper arm. Not everyone is lactose intolerant, but A1 milk is certainly not very helpful to the body and many people I know have switched to vegan diets after they’ve moved out of India because they couldn’t digest the milk anymore.
So What Do I Avoid?
Grains containing gluten – wheat (including wheat varieties like spelt, kamut, farro and durum, plus products like bulgur and semolina), barley, rye, triticale and oats (pure oats themselves don’t contain gluten, but packaged oatmeal does – gluten free oats are available on bigbasket)
Other products containing gluten – Soy sauce, chocolates both contain gluten normally. (Gluten free options are sometimes available, though expensive)
Gluten free grains – corn, millet (bajra, ragi, proso, kodo, little mille), rice, sorghum (jowar).
Gluten free pseudo-cereals – amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa.
All seeds like chia, flaxseeds, sesame, etc are gluten-free
What!!! Can I Eat Anything At All?
I know the list sounds intimidating and it is appalling how many foods contain gluten today – which is probably the reason why the body is starting to reject it. In 5-star buffets I have found that I can eat barely a third of the items available, sometimes even the salads have croutons!
But if you’re going to do the cooking, actually there are plenty of options and you may
Poha is a nice option for breakfast, especially if you make it with a lot of vegetables instead of the standard, plain version. You can still eat idli, vadas, sambar, chutney etc. You can make chapatis with rice, jowar, rajgira and kuttu. I made a banana brownie the other day with kuttu ka atta and it was absolutely marvelous!
You’ll be surprised to find that within no time you’ll actually have no craving at all anymore. My go to substitute for rotis is jowar and for Western (pancakes, cupcakes, cakes) it is buckwheat (kuttu). When I feel like eating Atte ka Halwa, I just make Amaranth Halwa instead and actually find it more soothing.
People have been concerned about substituting wheat with rice because rice has such a bad rep. But really, it is unreasonably infamous. There are 40,000 different varieties of rice. The most starchy ones are actually eaten in places like Vietnam and Assam where people have much fewer health problems. The least starchy ones are probably basmati, which I have found most weight-inducing. Carbs and starches are good for health, they are a critical part of a healthy diet. Just like fats – which also we’ve tried to take out and many people have replaced it with highly toxic refined oils, of which the absolute worst is rice bran oil – nothing less than poison.
A balanced diet is one of moderation. I remember going to a South Indian household and finding that their regular lunch was pepper rasam, potato palya and white rice. No protein! And the ratios were horrible. Rice should be a part of the meal, not filling up half or more of the plate. And then it’ll work just fine. Millets are the latest in-thing but too much millets can also cause problems. So moderation is the key.