Is There Wheat without Gluten? | Allergy

Is There Wheat without Gluten?

by Allergy Guy

Is there wheat without gluten?  Someone asked me this recently.  It sounds like an attractive option (if it exists) – that way you could make all the recipes you’re used to with this special wheat flour, but be safe if you have celiac disease or a gluten allergy. Perfect for the gluten free diet!

Someone asked me this very question a while ago, so here’s my answer:

There are a few problems with the idea of wheat without gluten.

The biggest and most basic is that wheat without gluten is kind of useless.

Gluten is the defining characteristic of wheat.   It provides strength and elasticity.  That’s why you can kneed bread, roll ultra-thin phyllo pastry, and create the perfect croissant.

Sorry, I’m probably making your mouth water about now for food you can’t eat.  Bummer.

Take the gluten out of wheat and you have something much more like rice.

Problem number two with gluten-free wheat is that it would either have to be genetically engineered (don’t get me started on the evils of genetic engineering) or processed.

You can get processed wheat – wheat bran, wheat starch etc.  None of it is very useful for baking though, is it?  That’s because it lacks gluten, as we discussed above.

The more processed your food, the less healthy it is.  Eating unprocessed and unhealthy food defeats the purpose of avoiding gluten: to stay healthy, especially if you have celiac disease.

So in answer to the question “is there wheat without gluten”: no, there isn’t, and if there was, it wouldn’t be useful to you.

What do you do instead?  Get used to life without wheat or gluten.  Learn to love different types of food.  Accept that there are some wonderful types of food that you can no longer eat.  Actually, I’ve reclassified fancy pastries.  They’re no longer food, they’re art.

There is baking that used different types of flour and gums to simulate gluten.  You can get amazing results, even if you have to forgo some of what you’re used to.  I’ve seen huge leaps forward in the last 20 years.

PS If you were hoping I’d tell you about gluten-free wheat, I’m sorry to disappoint you by telling you there isn’t any.

Good luck with your gluten free diet, and avoid that wheat!

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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Schiphrah March 19, 2015 at 15:33

So I have a what allergy not a gluten allergy. My question is do I need to look for foods labeled wheat free or can I look at gluten free as being safe as well?

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2 Allergy Guy March 27, 2015 at 22:15

I would generally consider gluten-free to be wheat-free. However, some foods may be technically gluten-free, but still have wheat-derived contents. This is rare, and not something I have seen, but sometimes people leave comments arguing that gluten-free is not wheat-free. In my opinion you are generally safe from wheat if you eat gluten-free.

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3 Wanda December 5, 2013 at 07:25

I found a bread sold in my area, made in someone’s kitchen labeled gluten free. It is made with a flour from a factory that makes gluten. Is the product left after gluten is removed from wheat flour gluten free?

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4 Allergy Guy December 17, 2013 at 13:31

The flour may have less gluten in it, but it won’t be gluten-free. Avoid!

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5 Patricia December 28, 2012 at 17:24

I like the way you wrote your answer for the question: “wheat without gluten?” At least I got a good laugh. I just want to easily find some fresh bread that won’t fall apart. It’s hard to serve other people, like my grandson,…and those folks that don’t understand gluten free and get so creeped out. Udi makes a pretty good bread, but hard to find. Bummer, but thanks for your input. Some day it will be more common and I won’t feel like a freak.
Happy New Year,
-p

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6 Allergy Guy December 28, 2012 at 19:02

I’m finding more and more gluten-free food of all types in even main-stream supermarkets. Hunt around and I hope you can find fantastic bread in stores which are convenient to you.

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7 Jenkin October 22, 2011 at 11:53

Hello,

I had an interesting experience I think I could share with you if I may? I have been gluten intolerant most of my life, if notall. (not sure how that gets started, besides being fed it too early, or innoculations or who knows. I went to spend the winter in Ireland. While there, I noticed the british wheat was so different than ours. So I tried it. No reactions. The next day, I craved some ina way that is more like a malnourished person, need more of that good nutrition. Ate some more. No reaction.

This continued, till I began to notice slowly, that I was gaining weight. I am usually 95 lb soaking wet. But I could see in the mirror good things were happening ! My appitite picked up a bunch, and all the food tasted so good.

After 3 mth of being thre, I still had no reactions from any grains (usually I cannot eat spelt either and I was eating that also), or yet from any foods at all.

I purchased the whole wheaten meal as they call it, and made many leavening-free pastries with coconut oil, dry fruits and nuts, and was eating this. My health just cleared right up. Nearly every symptom I ever had dissappeared slowly, but surely.

The reason I share this, is that I believe we should be growing our own foods about now, where we can, such as fruits and veggies. And for your wheat, if you want to try it, and it is not too dangerous for you in your thoughtful estimation, you may obtain it by going to foodireland.com only buy the course whole wheaten meal. I believe that is a yellow/brown bag called “Odlum’s wholemeal course 2kg.

I think over in Ireland there are almost no cell phone towers, and many other toxins are not present which we wasteful US ers have. So this is a word of caustion, in that perhaps here there are many more factors weakening the body, since we have so much going on. But many of my family and friends who have traveled, notice no change in their health while there..so we must weigh things out for ourselves.

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