How much wheat can you eat without feeling unwell?

I went away for the Easter weekend, where every meal was organized for us and as we were in the middle of nowhere and hiking all day, I had to have what ever there was, otherwise I would feel worse and probably get into the ketogenic diet without doing the diet consciously. Yes, not eating enough also would take you to a ketogenic diet, as the body would use fat as the second fuel burner to make the energy. Now I usually do not have sandwiches everyday for lunch, however no choice there. It was a very nice bread, wholemeal. So how much did I eat before feeling unwell. Well more than I usually do. Which it was two sandwiches (the Hike were tough and I quite need fuel with that) and toast, plus porridge in the morning with lots of fruits. So no much more than I usually eat, however that 2 sandwiches for lunch did affect my stomach. I felt more bloated that I normally am and I felt more tired and than I usually am (not only for the big walk which I was not used to). However the worse was not during the eating of the bread, as my body got used to it. It was the withdraw from so much bread that got to me. In fact for the week after, my muscle were fine, however I felt so drained and tired no matter how much I slept at night. I felt my energy was drained completely. It took about 1 full 5 days to be ok and funny enough I was craving for bread! I am back to normal now, which is great.

Now with my experience with children and adults with eating wheat and gluten, unfortunately some cannot even eat a microscopic part of the gluten or gliadin of the wheat. If they do, the immune system starts to get into a low grade inflammation, which puts the body down and in constant alert. Leading to eventually more viruses or physical problems which can trigger their hereditary genes.

In a nutshell, how much wheat can you eat? well it depends on your genetic make up, it is like the lactose intolerance, each of us can cope with as much as our genetic make up allows us to cope with. Some people who evolved with the farmer genetic make up more than 10.000 years ago, might be able to cope with more wheat than others. Some cannot cope with even a microscopic part of it.

(c) Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) Nutritional Therapist – RCST