Bread - what to eat instead?

[Snadger]

Just go on the Atkins and munch on a Sirloin steak!

PS Aren't refined carbs bad for you anyway?

[piskieinboots]

wholemeal bread (which is all I have eaten) isn't refined carbs Snadger - refined = white flour, stuff with goodness taken out

[chilli gal]

My husband was diagnosed with coeliac disease this year. He feels very poorly if he eats wheat. If you get diagnosed - you can get the special coeliac bread, pasta, cake mixes etc on prescription from the doctor.

The tests take a long time, but he feels so much better now. Coeliacs can't eat rye, barley, oats, spelt and many other grains - it's the gluten that they can't digest. Rice is OK, potatoes, soya and polenta are OK.

If you buy organic sausages and burgers from Tesco in the freezer - they don't contain flour. We make our own burgers etc now, and lots of other stuff.

Do see the doctor as they can help with this problem.

[Snadger]

wholemeal bread (which is all I have eaten) isn't refined carbs Snadger - refined = white flour, stuff with goodness taken out

Ah well, it could be the 'goodness' that is affecting you!

My Son has Chrohn's disease and he can't eat wholemeal bread btw as it's harder to digest!

[Shortie]

The tests take a long time, but he feels so much better now.

Not sure if different Health Authorities do different tests but my little boy is tested for Coeliacs (as well as other things) every year and all they do is take a blood sample and I think it's either 3 or 5 days later the results are ready?

You should get yourself checked Piskie, it might be IBS instead?

[piskieinboots]

update on this...
following this thread and advice from other quarters, I bought a bread-maker, started baking using organic flour and have successfully been munching on home-baked bread for the last 2½ weeks - with NO effects at all

So, once again, many thanks for your advice, help and thoughts dear Grapes

Oh - erm, actually there is one side-effect....my Summer Ball gown is a little snug now

[Mikey]

Does it surprise you just how much salt goes into a loaf piskie?

I tried using spelt flour a while back, with honey instead of sugar. It made a loaf so dense, no one could eat it without indigestion. I use brown flour with about 20% wholemeal as I find if its all wholemeal its a bit too filling. Which breadmaker have you got, I wouldn't be without my panasonic.

[piskieinboots]

oh gawd yes - I made a loaf the other day WITHOUT the salt and sugar (by mistake, obviously ) even the birds wouldn't eat it

I bought the Panasonic 254, love it to bits

[Mikey]

I have the Sd 253, which I guess is its predecessor. Fantastic machines, my MIL has a morphy richards, but it doesn't compare the main cycles are 3 hours MR and 4 hours PAN, the extra air you get in the panasonic makes for a fantastic loaf. Lush, great choice piskie.

I now put it on overnight, but don't extend the programme time, I just leave it in the machine until I get up (extra 3 to 4 hrs). This way the loaf takes some moisture back in, and makes for a softer crust in sandwiches.

Current recipe I'm using is

1 1/4teaspoons yeast
400 grammes brown flour
100 grammes wholemeal
2 tbsp marvel
1.5 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsps salt or just under
25 grammes butter (no marg)
350ml of water, luke warm.

Settings - basic white, large, light crust, 4hrs

Its makes a kind of brown milk loaf, DD and OH love it.

[SlugLobber]

My mum had celiac disease and couldnt eat anything that contained wheat this included gravy, sausages in fact anything containing wheat you will be surprised at what it is in, we always had to read the labels.
If I were you piskie I would visit the Doc's as you really need to find out what causes the discomfort. Mum ate gluten free stuff and it is more available now then a few years ago.

I never found out if it was celiac's, intolerance to wheat or what, but I can't eat gravy, sausages, other reconstituted meats without having the most God-damn awful pains, diarrhoea, then fainting due to the sudden drop in blood pressure. I did go to the Dr, but was fobbed off with the old 'you've got a virus'. Oh purlease!

Anyhoo, I changed my diet (3.5 years ago, now), after writing a food diary and this included making my own bread. I still bloat if I eat a lot, but don't get the same reaction with my own. I avoid sausages like the plague (including vegetarian) and pepperoni/salami, but the latter is as much due to welfare of the animals used in it (horses and donkey transported across Europe often end up in salami).

I would say try making your own bread, using organic flour, and include flat-breads in your reportoire. Tortilla wraps are a good alternative to yeast breds taste wise, but I find I bloat just as much with those, so go through phases of not eating bread at all for weeks on end. It sure teaches you to be inventive with food!!

A little tip if you find that you bloat with smoothies (too much digestible fibre). Add a couple of teaspoons of oatbran to it. It'll help push it through the ol' alimentary canal!

[SlugLobber]

Note to self. Read ALL replies. Durrr!! Sorry!