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What is so bad about wheat? The Gluten Story.
It sadens me to see the hurt caused by sickness. In the US we have so many health problems, especially compared to other nations, and no wonder why, our main staple is glue. Glue? Well, add a ten to the end of it, and it brings us to glueten, or in Latin, glūten... which means "glue". Gluten is a protein found in most grains, though the forms of gluten people are most often intolerant to are in: wheat, oats, barley and rye.
Nutrition in Wheat Flour
Wheat has very little nutritional value, actually to the point that to even get wheat classified as a food is a few B-vitamins are added to it, "enhanced wheat flower". The problem is that wheat doesn't make a good food until it's processed. And the processing destroys a great deal of the nutrients.
We can only eat so much, so let's make sure that the foods we do eat are the most nutrient dense foods we can find!
Intolerance to Gluten
The protein in wheat is called gluten. There is no real number on how many people are intolerant to gluten, some say 1 in 300 others 1 in 100. In some areas of Scandinavia it is estimated as high as 30% of the population is intolerant to gluten. It is this gluten protein that does the biggest damage to the body, every time you eat wheat these gluten proteins are not broken down and leak through and inflamed gut lining into the body as whole proteins instead of amino acids. The body sees these foreign proteins as a threat to the body and quickly build antibodies to attack a gluten shaped protein, the problem is that these gluten proteins in a partially broken down form can have structures that are identical to proteins that make up our bodies, big problem. These anti-bodies eventually find their way to other parts of the body and attack these like structures, this can cause autoimmune disorders such as arthritis and asthma. And explains the relationship between people with celiac (gluten intolerance) and many of these autoimmune diseases.