6 Alternatives To Gluten Grains

One of the most common food intolerances today is intolerance to a protein found in grains including wheat, barley, rye, and spelt. Gluten gives our foods elasticity and helps it rise, unfortunately for many; their digestive system just isn’t able to handle the gluten they consume. An issue with gluten digestion is often termed ‘gluten intolerance’ and symptoms include bloating, gas, mild cramping and sometime constipation and diarrhoea. Coeliac disease is a total allergy to gluten, which causes severe symptoms when gluten foods are consumed. In the long term, eating a diet containing gluten when there is intolerance present leads to damage to the intestinal lining. This damage weakens the bodies systems, and it’s not uncommon for people with a gluten intolerance to develop symptoms such as allergies to other foods and environmental allergens such as pollen and dust, and skin conditions such as eczema.

While a practitioner should assess gluten intolerance should be assessed properly, if you pay attention to your bodies signals you will soon know whether you have issues with gluten. Do you find yourself bloated after you eat bread or pasta? What about when you eat cereal? Look at the ingredient list, what grain is in that cereal? Is it a gluten grain? Do you have the same problem when you eat barley? Or Rye? If you notice that you only have symptoms when you eat wheat, it may actually be intolerance to the wheat grain itself, rather than intolerance to the gluten, however, if you notice the symptoms with a variety of gluten containing grains, you may want to consider eliminating them from your diet. 

One of the biggest challenges people has when trying to follow gluten free diet is the fact that gluten is in almost everything. You would be surprised where it turns up. It can be found in tomato sauce, soy sauce and ice cream, so it’s important to read ingredient lists, and to know which grains are suitable for you.

I would never recommend eliminating any food from the diet without adding replacement foods, not only to make your life easier (if we just keep taking away we wont have anything left!) but also to make sure you’re covering your nutritional bases. So, that being said, lets look at some of our gluten free alternatives.

Quinoa

Cooked red quinoa

Quinoa, pronounced keen-wa , is actually a seed. These tiny little seeds contain a great amount of protein and are a low GI carbohydrate. Use it like you would rice, on the side of a plate, in curries, in salads etc. Its got a really mild, almost neutral nutty flavour and you’ll notice it sucks up the flavour of whatever you cook with. It comes in white, black and red, all are nutritionally pretty similar, however anything with colour has additional antioxidants in their pigments. Mix it up for a bit of variety. Quinoa takes about 10 minutes to cook if you boil it. You’ll notice its cooked when the centre is almost clear and you can only see a white ring around the outside. Be aware you’ll need a strainer with tiny holes, many a hungry man have strained their Quinoa in a strainer with big holes and lost it to the sink. Quinoa is also available as pastas and flour. Check your local health food store for these. Try this lamb recipe from Taste.com - Lemon Thyme Lamb with Fennel and Parsley Quinoa - http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/18373/lemon+thyme+lamb+with+fennel+and+parsley+quinoa

Millet

A tiny yellow grain, millet is both nutritious and alkalising to the body. It’s easily digested and is a good source of B vitamins and minerals. Eat millet in soups and stews or as a side to meat and vegetable dishes or try this Tabbouli recipe http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/tabbouleh.htm.

Gluten Free Tabbouli

The easiest way to cook it is to use about 1 cup millet to 2 cups water. Bring it to the boil and then turn the heat right down and put a lid on the pot. After 15-20 minutes it should be cooked and the water will have been absorbed. Again, you can also get millet pasta and flour.

Amaranth

Amaranth is another grain-like seed. It is similar to quinoa in that it contains more protein than wheat or rye. To cook amaranth, use 1-cup amaranth to 2.5 cups of water and boil for 18-20 minutes. Its surprisingly hard for its size and takes longer to cook than you think it would, but don’t cook it too long or it becomes gummy. If you need to strain it, this seed is tiny, so again, use a strainer with small holes. Amaranth is also available as pasta and flour.

Skull shapes made from amaranth and honey for the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico. I just thought this looked cool

Buckwheat

Also a seed, buckwheat seeds are shaped like a pyramid. Although the name has ‘wheat’ in the title, buckwheat is actually related to the rhubarb family, and certainly has no gluten in it. It does however, have a decent amount of protein for a grain-like seed, and plenty of rutin, a bioflavonoid (nutrient) great for vein health. You can get raw or roasted buckwheat. Roasted has a much nuttier flavour. The Russians make kasha out of roasted buckwheat, but again you can add it to just about anything. Roasted buckwheat will take a little less time to cook, say 10-15 minutes. Raw buckwheat will take about 15-20ish. Buckwheat flour is also available. Buckwheat pancakes anyone?

Oats

Oat grain

Oh so much controversy over oats. It really depends who you talk to as to whether oats are a gluten containing grain or not. Many countries class it as gluten free. Australia says it has gluten. It does have a type of gluten called avenin, which is different to the gluten found in wheat, barley and rye. The Coeliac Society of Australia say that 4 out of 5 people with coeliac disease can tolerate oats. Remembering that coeliac is a more serious form of gluten intolerance, the rest of us are quite likely to be ok with oats. The problem however is that oats are a mass produced grain. They are usually always processed on machinery and equipment that processes wheat and grains that do contain gluten. It is possible that oats are therefore contaminated with gluten from the machinery. For this reason there are now ‘uncontaminated’ oat products. These products are manufactured in factories where there is no chance of the oats coming in contact with gluten. I would suggest you use your own judgement, if you know oats upset your stomach then don’t eat them. We all know about rolled oats, but you can also buy un-rolled oats. The oat grain (see picture) takes a little longer to cook, probably around 20 minutes, but its nutritional value is higher because it hasnt been presteamed like rolled oats, or crushed through a roller. If you've got the time, why not?

Coconut

Bet you didn’t think of this one! Coconut flour is a great substitute for gluten containing grains in baking. It is high in fibre and low GI. It is more expensive than normal flour (as all the gluten-free flours will be), but it is definitely a nice addition to any recipe.  

So there you have it, 6 gluten-grain alternatives. Happy cooking.

Chris