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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, its related grains and derivatives contain many potential allergens that can cause highly visible signs such as 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, chronic lung problems...), but most of all, the body develops a sort of generalized “drunkenness” that steals mental and physical lucidity (some managers, professionals and students have learned to follow the yeast diet as a sort of “doping” in order to increase their ability to concentrate).
The overall picture of this diet is discomfort: stomach problems, recurrent cystitis, dandruff, flakey skin, an aching head that struggles reasoning. There's nothing really serious here, but the situation is uncomfortable enough to make one's professional life and human relationships more difficult than necessary.
What does “avoiding 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.
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 “Wheat + Yeast: yes and no foods”.
How can a person manage the wheat and yeast diet?
This diet is rather demanding because it means that on diet days you will need to replace many usual foods, from bread to wine to snacks. The advantage is that, in our traditional diet, flour is usually combined with yeas, so, when we learn to keep flours under control, we also solve many yeast problems without additional worry.
Following the wheat + yeast diet also means learning to use many other grains and flours such as barley, rice, corn, buckwheat, oats, millet, quinoa (but not rye, spelt or kamut).
You can also make use of a wide variety of pasta (made from rice, corn, buckwheat...) that can now be readily found in many supermarkets. Even bread can be easily replaced with rice, steamed potatoes, crepes (made with rice or buckwheat flour), ...
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