Healthy eating comes in many guises. You can go from eating lots of standard fruit and veg plus meat (if you're not a veggie) from the supermarket to eating more and more organic produce and better quality meat, to eating totally organic. For some people, a vegetarian or vegan diet is the healthiest; for others, including meat is essential. Some even decide to adopt a totally raw food diet.
Never one for extremes, I like to pick and mix, but I'm becoming more and more aware that eating gluten and dairy produce is not good for you. This morning, I got an email from a newsletter I subscribe to (SanteNatureInnovation) which convinced me even more.
According to Dr Jean Seignalet, a dairy-free and gluten-free diet can relieve ninety-one major illnesses: auto-immune (psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, poly-arthritis, etc.), allergies, asthma, headaches, depression, insomnia and gastric/intestinal problems.
Apparently, giving up dairy and gluten for three months can be a life-changing experience for those who don't know they are intolerant. They regain their energy and morale; sleep well, feel good, and lose weight. Their hair looks better, and their pains and fatigue disappear.
Historically, people turned to wheat and dairy because they were not expensive, so they incorporated them into as many recipes as possible. Unfortunately, humans can't digest lactose in milk very well, and the protein casein provokes intolerance and allergies. As for calcium, only 30% is absorbed, so it's not such a brilliant body-builder after all! Wheat is poor in nutrients, containing starch (sugar), and some protein of which mainly gluten which 15% of the population is intolerant to, and a bit of fat in the germ.
Those who are intolerant to either or both know just how bad it can get (like this professional ballerina). The intestines get inflamed, become porous, and let proteins pass into the blood which set off inflammatory and auto-immune reactions throughout the body.
I'm not particularly intolerant to either, although I do burp after I eat bread (and it's probably getting worse), but I'm interested in what I can replace them with. I've started using different flours (buckwheat, chickpea, rye), in muffins, tarts and cookies, but I want to know more, and I don't want to spend (even more) hours finding out.
The newsletter invites us to register for a cookery course called Naturacook given (in French) by Benjamin Dariouch, founder of Naturacoach. It teaches the secrets of tasty eating gluten- and dairy-free, and how to use properly the different flours that are available. It's on for four months and is delivered through videos which can be watched and re-watched, plus pdf versions of the 120 basic recipes, the possibility to ask Ben questions, and how to transform normal recipes to gluten-/dairy-free.
I was asked recently to find out about cookery courses for an American couple who wanted to come to Montpellier for a couple of weeks. I was quite surprised at how much they cost. This course is €37/month for four months which I reckon is a good buy. I'll let you know how it goes.
