Healthy Gluten Free Consulting For Businesses

By Claudine Hodges


Our food chain has become complicated and it is increasingly difficult to know what is in our food. For people with food allergies this can be serious. Avoiding gluten can be a minefield but it is one which, not only celiacs but everyone is going to have to get to grips with. More and more people are diagnosed all the time so it is likely that a family member or friend will be found to have a gluten intolerance. For those who work in the food service and manufacturing industries healthy gluten free consulting is also going to become essential.

Firstly, let's be clear that wheat intolerance is not just a preference. People who have been diagnosed suffer a multitude of debilitating symptoms from irritable bowel syndrome to migraines. Before diagnosis they have usually suffered for many years and been unable to live a normal life. It is also extremely damaging to long term health. One study found that people with associated inflammation of the gut had a 39% increased risk of death, mainly from heart disease and cancer.

Understanding how food is produced and why industrial food producers use ingredients in ways we cannot imagine is essential when living wheat free. Most people who are diagnosed with an intolerance or celiacs disease have to spend a lot of time doing research and getting to grips with what gluten free actually means. This is because even a tiny amount of gluten can make them very sick.

Avoiding gluten is actually quite difficult as wheat is a versatile ingredient and is used in many ways. It crops up in surprising places such as ice creams, chocolate as it is used as a thickener by industrial food processors. It even appears in oats. This is because of cross-contamination. Oats do not actually contain gluten but they are often contaminated in factories.

Some households decide to go totally gluten free because the contamination issue requires a lot of attention to detail. Separate utensils, chopping boards and pans are all necessary. If, for example, a breaded shrimp has been fried in some oil then that oil cannot be used to make gluten free food. The smallest trace of gluten can contaminate everything.

As wheat intolerance rises it is becoming easier to get the information and products necessary to live without wheat and be healthy. One way is to use a consultant. They offer services for sufferers and those who need to learn about the issue for professional reasons. For sufferers they offer services such as guided trips to the supermarket to learn to read food labels. They can make dietary plans and teach about cross contamination.

For restaurants, caterers and professional cooks they offer classes on the history of the problem, food production and wheat substitutes. They can do in-house staff training to show kitchen teams how to avoid cross contamination. Waiting staff also need to learn about the issue to be able to communicate effectively with customers. A consultant can teach them which questions to ask and how to deal with queries.

Gluten free living is not a simple matter and the consequences for those with a food allergy can be very serious. Whether you suffer from an intolerance or work in the food preparation industry a consultant can help you learn about the necessary steps to making gluten free food. Healthy living is important for everyone and food intolerance need to be better understood so that sufferers do not live in pain or die early.




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