There is an increasing awareness on the accumulation of
pesticides and chemicals in our food chain.
Organic food purchase is on the rise.
Studies have always wanted to defy the nutritional contents of organic
food, i.e. the vitamins and minerals in the organic food that it is no better
than conventionally grown food. However,
these studies have not considered how much resilience a plant without
pesticides needs to have in order to survive, and when we consume organic
foods, we are consuming this resilience and ability to thrive. These are minute phytochemicals produced
innately by the plant that is beneficial for us.
Gluten Free is a term used to define grains that do not
contain gluten, namely rice, buckwheat, quinoa, millet and amaranth. Root vegetables, vegetables, fruits, seeds
and nuts do not contain gluten either.
When foods are sold as fresh produce, the contents is 100% of the
produce itself, e.g. an avocado is 100% avocado, a capsicum is 100%
capsicum. There is no question of
gluten, hence no need for the label gluten free, unless it is whole wheat,
barley, rye, oat or spelt. The problem
arises when foods are processed, e.g. the making of gluten free biscuits, the
contents may be made of sugar, butter, rice flour and potato flour. A gluten free biscuit made out of sugar,
butter, rice flour and potato flour is gluten free but high in sugar. Everyone of the content in that biscuit other
than butter is or will convert to sugar, making that biscuit a sugar load!
There are many parties that have jumped onto the organic and
gluten free band wagon, including gluten free cereals, gluten free sausages,
gluten free cakes and biscuits, and the prices can be many times that of their
conventional counterparts. Gluten has
been shown to be a problem for many people even if they are not coeliacs. You can only be celiac if you have the gene
transcription for it. However, you can
still have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, which creates many problems,
digestive or otherwise. The solution is
not to get out there and buy gluten free substitutes but to go back to the
drawing board and consume organic, whole foods that are rich in nutrients and
low in processing.
