What is Celiac Disease?
Still little known, its symptoms can be confused with other disorders. This is Celiac Disease, that is: Permanent gluten intolerance. Celiac Disease generally manifests itself in childhood, between the first and third year of life, but can appear at any age, including adulthood. Treatment of the disease consists of a completely gluten-free diet. People with the disease cannot eat foods such as: bread, cakes, cookies, pasta, drumsticks, kibbehs, pizzas, beers, whiskey, vodka, etc., when these foods contain gluten in their composition or manufacturing process. Due to the total exclusion of some foods rich in carbohydrates and fiber, the Celiac's diet is usually made up mostly of fats (margarine, butter, oils, etc.) and proteins (meat in general) and to a lesser extent of carbohydrates (pasta). gluten-free, sugar-free, etc.). Every Celiac who does not suffer from the disease tends to have an increase in body weight, and therefore must have a balanced diet. To do so, you must reduce your protein intake, moderate your fat consumption and increase your consumption of fruits, natural juices, vegetables and legumes, making your diet more adequate and healthy.
What is GLUTEN?
It is the main protein present in Wheat, Oats, Rye, Barley, and Malt (barley by-product), cereals widely used in the composition of foods, medicines, industrialized beverages, as well as cosmetics and other non-ingestible products. In fact, what is harmful and toxic to the intestine of a gluten intolerant patient are “parts of gluten”, which are given different names for each cereal. Let's see: In wheat it is Gliadin, in Barley it is Hordein, in Oats it is Avenin and in Rye it is Secalin. Malt, much questioned, is a product of barley fermentation, therefore it also contains a fraction of gluten. Products containing malt, malt syrup or malt extract should not be consumed by celiac patients. Gluten does not disappear when foods are baked or cooked, and therefore a diet must be followed strictly.
But…
If there is no wheat, oats, rye or barley in the preparation, the food can be consumed! Below is the recipe for a delicious gluten-free carrot cake!
Gluten Free Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
3 medium carrots
2 cups (tea) of sugar
2 cups (tea) of rice cream
3/4 cup (tea) of oil
3 eggs
1 tablespoon (soup) baking powder
Method of preparation:
Blend the carrots, sugar, oil and eggs in a blender. Pour this mixture into a bowl and add the rice cream along with the yeast. Place in a preheated oven on a greased baking tray sprinkled with rice cream.
CHOCOLATE SYRUP
7 spoons of sugar
2 spoons of margarine
3 spoons of chocolate
2 spoons of milk
Cook on fire until it thickens. Once ready, pour it over the still hot cake.
NOTE: This cake is also very tasty, covered with the juice of 2 oranges and a spoonful of sugar.
TEXT ADAPTED FROM THE BRAZILIAN CELIAC ASSOCIATION WEBSITE
http://www.acelbra.org.br/2004/index.php