Hey everyone. I have Celiac, which means that I'm allergic to gluten, food starch, wheat, oats, and some other things. I was wondering, would I be able to have wheatgrass? I love juicing, and I heard how healthy wheatgrass is, but would it be OK for me? Please send me an email at esisser@yahoo.com and let me know... thanks for the help!

PS. Are there any other concerns that people with Celiac on a raw food diet should have?

Hey there,

One of the lifelong problems that probably (as disguised blessings) led me to raw food is/was celiac. One of the best things about being a rawfoodist is that it just removes the entire gluten issue for me. I have discovered that I don't do well with starches in general (I think I always knew this actually), so I tend to avoid all kinds of sprouted grains as well as roots like yams and carrots, and squash.

As for wheatgrass, the protein gluten is contained in the seeds, not in the grass: at that stage of the plant's life it has been converted. I've had wheatgrass just a couple times just to know what it is: I don't feel very drawn to it from everything I've heard. It's never been a problem for me.

Other things to watch out for: some people might use soy sauce in recipes, which somtimes contains some fermented wheat. However, my experience has been that when it's fermented all the gluten has been denatured or transformed (I used to use soy sauce before I went raw without any difficulty). However, nowadays I don't use soy sauce and feel much better for it! My point is that it's not the wheat that's the chief problem in soy sauce but rather the excessive saltiness, the soy, the processed-ness, the fact that it's not raw... So you may want to avoid soy/nama shoyu as a rawfoodist.

If you do a high fruit raw food diet with plenty of greens, you should feel great, and should get a lot of relief from the whole celiac discomfort.

The only other 'concern' I can think of is again in the 'exceptional' (potluck/raw restaurant) scenario. I have come across the use of raw grains used as flour in some recipes in those kinds of contexts, both soaked/sprouted and just used dry. On the couple of occasions on which I've overriden my instincts and tasted such things at potlucks, the result has been excruciating stomach pain somewhat reminiscent of a gluten reaction. So again, you may want to avoid these kinds of creations.

But 95%+ of the time, it's such a liberation from constantly having to ask, read labels, worry about what's in something - the beautiful thing with rawfoods: for the most part, what you see is what you're getting!

Hope this is some help.
love
Ela

Hey Ela... thanks for such a thoughtful response. That helped allot. Im actually EXTREMELY excited to try wheatgrass juice. This is almost like the first time I heard about Goji berries and practically ate a whole bag at once, lol. It was a pretty intense experience. I've learned to soak Goji berries before eating them, it helps me chew them a little easier. I guess I'll take it easy the first time my body experiences wheatgrass juice. I also LOVE cacao beans (often with goji berries). I've always had a problem with chocolate, so cacao basically solved that issue :-).

I know what you mean about starches. Before eating raw foods I would eat allot of rice, rice pasta, gluten-free bread, etc. I feel so much better not eating that.

Have you ever read "The Sunfood Diet Success System"? Its a GREAT book on raw food. I highly recommend it.

My aol name is govindaprema... I dont know any other people who are on a raw food diet (besides my yoga teacher), so it might be nice to chat. Talk to ya soon!

Wheatgrass is great, you can even try the original wheat berries like Kamut and Spelt.

If you can in the spring, eat alot of wild green plants. They got the properties to get rid of mold, parasites etc from your system.

Love!

esisser,
I hope everything works out for your condition. I have heard wonderful things about wheat grass and related grass juices, but they make me feel sick. There are other sources of concentrated nutrients and chlorophyll, so don't feel that wheatgrass is the only source.

Hydrilla verticillata is an excellent source of many nutrients, and its claimed to be extremely high in B12. I consume spirulina regularly, and you probably already know all about that. Sprouts exposed to light will have chlorophyll. Any fresh greens will be beneficial. I have heard of people juicing fresh greens, cabbage, kale, dandelion etc... One wonderful thing is that juicing these greens totally removes any question of any possible exposure to gluten. My personal tastes also makes them more appealing to me.