How to Create Gluten Free Recipes

As part of your detox and general healthy eating habits, we recommend limiting or avoiding foods made with flour. If this is a new concept to you, it may sound crazy. But as you read on you’ll begin to understand what flour is and the many negative effects it has on your body.

Refined grain products made from flour are the reason carbohydrates have been blamed for our current obesity and diabetes epidemics. Flour products are also the main instigators in gluten-related diseases and allergies. Our gluten free recipes and the information on this page will help you to easily transition away from your reliance on flour.

The Industrialization of the Staff of Life

But this whole story changed during the Industrial Revolution. Mechanized milling and a drive for profit significantly changed “bread” as we know it. The machines ground the grains much finer than they had been ground by hand. And in an effort to increase profits, manufacturers began to remove the parts of the grain that spoil easily, so they could store grains longer.

Grains, in their natural form, are deeply nourishing. Nature seals powerful vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids in the tiny package of these special seeds. As soon as this seal is broken and/or pieces of the package are removed they begin to lose their nourishing qualities. "Like fruits and vegetables, it's the package of nutrients that may be important," says researcher Joanne Slavin of the University of Minnesota.

Refined and stored grain flours become nutritionally devoid “empty calories” that can trigger many negative reactions in the body. Gluten free recipes use whole grains and other substitutes to enrich and nourish.

Click here to see a simple diagram showing the industrial process used to make flour.

"When you eat whole grains, you get more fiber and more micronutrients like folic acid, magnesium, and vitamin E. It may be almost impossible to isolate the pieces of the puzzle."

Dr. Walter Willett, Chair of the Nutrition Department at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The Rise of Obesity and Diabetes

The real culprits in the carb world are refined carbohydrates like flour. Refined carbs cause sudden spikes in blood sugar that trigger excessive insulin production. The insulin pulls the sugar out of the blood and stores it in fat cells. Whenever your body is producing insulin it’s in fat storage mode. Thus it’s hard to lose weight with high blood sugar! The chronic high blood sugar caused by a diet full of refined flour products is the real cause of our obesity and diabetes epidemics.

Nature intended grains to be eaten whole. Whole grains are a package that contains everything your body needs for their proper digestion. A whole grain contains three parts; the bran, the germ and the endosperm. The fiber in the bran, and the essential oils of the germ, slow down the release of the natural sugars in the endosperm. When grains are turned into flour and/or refined they lose this slow release quality.

“When grains are pulverized into flour, whether whole or not, their surface area expands dramatically, providing a huge, starchy surface area on which the enzymes can work. Consequently, the conversion to sugar happens very quickly. I recommend cutting down on all products made with flour and increasing consumption of grains in their more natural state.”

Dr. Andrew Weil

Wheat Flour: the Ubiquitous Powder

When you start paying attention to ingredients you quickly see that wheat flour is in almost everything!!! Bread, pasta, crackers, and cakes, are all made from wheat flour. It’s also used as a thickener and filler in everything from soups and sauces to veggie burgers and chicken fingers. Unless you’ve made a conscious effort to avoid wheat it is likely that you’ve eaten it every day of your life (maybe even every meal!)

Excessive consumption of wheat flour can easily overload your body and cause allergic reactions. When your body has to deal with too much of any substance, without a break, it will try to protect itself by sending out the immune troops. This immune response is what causes allergic symptoms. Your detox diet, with gluten free recipes, is a great opportunity to give your body a little break from the daily onslaught of wheat flour.

Gluten is glue for your gut

Gluten acts like glue inside your body too. The accumulation of this gluey substance in your intestines blocks nutrient absorption and can cause many uncomfortable symptoms. Gluten sensitivity in some form affects approximately 15% of the US population. Symptoms include gas and bloating, fatigue, depression, eczema, aching joints, anemia, and infertility. Undiagnosed for long periods of time, gluten intolerances have been found to contribute to diabetes, bowel cancer, anemia and osteoporosis.

The most severe form of gluten intolerance is called Celiac disease. When a person with celiac disease eats foods containing gluten, an immune response is triggered that damages the villi -- tiny, fingerlike projections in the small intestine that absorb the nutrients from food. This is why it’s considered an autoimmune disease. Untreated, Celiac disease can be fatal.

Wheat is the grain with the highest gluten content. Rye, barley, spelt and kamut also contain gluten. Non glutinous grains include rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, and amaranth. Oats and teff don’t actually contain gluten, but because of modern processing practices, they are often contaminated by gluten. Gluten free oats and other gluten free products can be purchased at Bob’s Redmill.

Creating Gluten Free Recipes…

It may take a little effort to get out of “bread mentality.” If breakfast to you means a bagel you may have to retrain yourself to eat fresh fruit, homemade granola, green smoothies or buckwheat pancakes in the morning. If a sandwich is your definition of lunch you can experiment with soups, salads or bread free wraps. For a delicious adventure, wrap whatever you would put in your sandwich in a moistened nori seaweed sheet.

Use our gluten free recipes to make healthy breakfasts, satisfying meals and scrumptious desserts. Many of our recipes call for wheat flour substitutes using non-glutinous whole grains. Grind your own flour to assure optimal freshness and guarantee the whole grain quality of the flour you use. A Vita-Mix blender is the very best tool for grinding your own whole grains into flour.

What to use in gluten free recipes …

• Rice Flour*
• Millet Flour*
• Amaranth Flour*
• Gluten Free Oat Flour*
• Quinoa Flour*
• Buckwheat Flour*
• Corn Masa
• Teff Flour
• Nut Meal*
• Seed Meal*
• Arrowroot Powder
• Tapioca Starch

Some of our delicious gluten free recipes:

• Buckwheat Pancakes
• Healthy Oatmeal
• Kasha Porridge
• Granola
• Flax Crackers
• Granola Bars
• Energy Bars
• Banana Bread
• Falafel
• Raw Veggie Burgers
• Veggie Curry Burgers
• Black Bean Burger
• Nut Cookies (chocolate, cherry ginger, chai spice...)
• Jelly Thumbprint Cookies
• Carrot Cake with Cashew Frosting