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When we talk about “wheat”, “celiac disease” immediately comes to mind. However, celiac disease (gluten allergy) can be quite different from a food intolerance to wheat (which contains many other allergens), and only an expert doctor can properly evaluate the relationship between these hypersensitivities and the treatment for celiac disease.
Wheat intolerance can cause highly visible signs: flakey dermatitis (or dandruff), diarrhea (due to malabsorption), inflammatory headache.
The situation becomes complicated when the body is also hypersensitive to fermentations (yeast). In this case there is an increase in vulnerability to fungus contagions (candidiasis, vaginitis, mycosis), but most of all, the body develops a sort of generalized “drunkenness” that steals mental and physical lucidity.
What if there is also a milk intolerance? When the intestine reacts badly to a substance there are only two defense options: it either “expels everything” (diarrhea) or it becomes paralyzed (constipation). The entire body, including the skin, tries to eliminate the disturbing substance: acne, seborrhoic dermatitis, psoriasis, sun rash, mucus, fat accumulated in the abdominal area. Most of all, the inflammatory stimulus from the intestine becomes an intense physical fatigue (asthenia, doctors call it) not soothed by sleep: insomnia is quite frequent.
A person with these intolerances often has a stomach ache (and a swollen belly) and headache. He has dermatitis or dandruff due to wheat. He's tired, he has trouble breathing (asthma) and he easily gets sick because his fatigued intestine doesn't provide energy and immune defenses. Most of all he has “drunkenness” due to yeast which deplete lucidity and alertness.
What does “avoiding milk, wheat and yeast” mean?
The allergens contained in wheat are present in the entire grain; on diet days it's therefore necessary to avoid white flour, whole wheat flour and bran, as well as rye, spelt and kamut due to their similarity to wheat.
For a person who is intolerant, avoiding milk (on diet days) means avoiding all milk of animal origin (cow, goat, sheep, skimmed, pre-digested...) and all related products such as yogurt, whey, cheese, butter, cream and ice cream. It's also important to pay special attention to manufactured foods since many of them contain milk as a component.
Avoiding yeast means that you need to be careful with chemical or natural yeast, but also everything that ferments or is fermented, including mushrooms, wine, and perhaps even the molds in the basement. The list of yeast holds a few surprises: the best thing to do is to always keep an eye to our food profile Milk + Wheat + Yeast: yes and no foods.
How can a person manage the milk, wheat, and yeast diet?
This diet is rather demanding, because it means that on diet days many usual foods will have to be replaced, from bread to wine to snacks. The advantage is that in our tradition, flour is usually combined with yeast, so when we learn to control flours, we also solve almost entirely the yeast issue without extra effort.
Following the control diet for milk, wheat and yeast means learning to recognize and freely use many grains and flours, such as barley, rice, corn, buckwheat, oatmeal, millet and quinoa (but, as we said, not rye, spelt or kamut). “Alternative” pasta can be used (rice, corn, buckwheat...) as well as vegetable milk (rice, soy, almond...) choosing among an ever growing selection of products which are now easily found in many supermarkets.
Suggested diets
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