“Carolee Bateson-Kosh, an expert in food allergies, states that milk and wheat are the two foods that most commonly cause allergies.”
The word “gluten” comes from the Greek word for glue, and true to its name, is a powerful tiny protein molecule commonly used in adhesives. Gluten has an elastic quality which makes it excellent for the purpose of producing high, light bread, allowing dough to trap carbon dioxide bubbles, a byproduct in the fermentation of yeast. The wheat for bread grown in Canada is genetically engineered to generate the highest amount of gluten in the grain and extra gluten is even added to most bread to increase its elastic quality.
Excessive mucus is a response to an irritant in the body. Because of gluten’s rubber-like quality, it is an extremely difficult protein to digest and break down. People with celiac disease have a complete intolerance to gluten, and the only treatment is to remove gluten from the diet, resulting in a return to health and vigor. A gluten-free diet has also been shown to help treat multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, rheumatoid arthritis, regional enteritis and autism.
Dr. R. Shatin of Alford Hospital, in Melbourne, Australia, suggests that in the case of celiac disease, damage is caused within the small intestine and to the demyelination of the nerve sheaths from the intolerance to gluten. He sees a pattern in the high rates of multiple sclerosis in Canada, Scotland and Western Ireland. These countries consume Canadian hard wheat, which has the highest amount of gluten-content of any wheat in the world. In comparison, Africans, who primarily eat millet and less wheat, have a very low occurrence of multiple sclerosis.
Research on gluten is still shrouded with questions, but there are strong patterns that have begun to surface. Gluten is not a direct poison to the lining of the bowel, so why it causes such trouble is still a mystery. It is theorized that it may stimulate an immunological reaction of defense to rid the colon of an irritant.
Carolee Bateson-Kosh, an expert in food allergies, states that milk and wheat are the two foods that most commonly cause allergies. With the exception of milk, wheat bread is considered to be the most mucus-forming food. All wheat foods contain gluten unless stated to be gluten-free. Rice, millet, corn, spelt, soy flour and wheat germ are examples of some grains and grain products that are gluten-free.
After seven years of travelling down my personal life-diet pilgrimage, I decided to tackle gluten. I had avoided facing my bread addiction even though I suspected I was allergic to wheat. The thing that is the most damaging is often the hardest to give up. As I began to check the gluten foods, I was amazed at how much of my diet consists of wheat products. After two weeks of painful withdrawals I began to experience new levels of mental clarity and memory, the two tools all writers treasure.
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