Five White foes in Kitchen, Part 2 - Refined Flour

 #Samanwaya_Ayurveda

# Five_white_foess_part_2

#healthy_diet_series_ Swasthyaveda

                “So Shriya, shall we start? The first food foe is Maida. ”

 * Maida i.e. Refined Wheat Flour * means the finest white flour processed of wheat by removing all bran. The wheat that is available in the market is in different forms daliya(broken wheat), rawa(semolina) or flour. In all these varieties, wheat bran i.e. the outer husk is present in small amounts. This wheat bran is, I would say, is more important than flour. This is because bran contains a large amount of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Flour without this bran which we call maida is almost 98% of non-nutrient white powder containing carbohydrates only. Everyone prefers this flour because it is used to make popular bakery products like bread, biscuits, cookies, rusks, pizza base, ladi pav, puffs, cakes, samosas, pasta, naan, kulcha, rumali roti and the list will go on”

"Yes, Auntie, I love pav bhaji and pizza."

“We love all these foods because of their soft touch and sweet taste. ,but  there was no maida in olden days. All the delicacies were made with fine whole wheat flour only. Maida and Bread was introduced in India after british raj. Even earlier in Europe , bread and other bakery products were prepared from different types of freshly ground whole wheat or other grains as per requirement. Refined flour was invented somewhere between the 18th - 19th century . It gained popularity as it yielded softer baked good.This happens because of the presence of gluten in wheat. Gluten is a protein found in most of the grains. Among these, wheat has the highest concentration of gluten. And it is this gluten that makes wheat flour sticky and stretchy, which is important while making all these bakery products.

Here is a Fun Fact. The word Gluten is derived from the Latin word 'Glue'.

 “Other grains also contain gluten, so we can make bread out of those flour too. But wheat comparatively has a higher content. So refined flour, in absence of fibrous bran, has even higher percentage of gluten. Therefore, this refined flour forms a thin sticky layer on the inner wall of our intestines. This layer staggers the digestion food and absorption of nutrients in the intestines. This leads to indigestion, acidity, constipation, bloating etc. Moreover, the refined flour does not contain any minerals or vitamins. Therefore, the nutritional value of flour is as good as zero. Frequent consumption of refined flour causes disorders like * mouth ulcers, dermatitis, diabetes, obesity, indigestion, heart disease *. ”

"Oh my God! Aunty, this refined flour is pretty nasty, but then what to snack on in the evening ??"

“Ayurveda has never endorsed refined flour , and There are so many different items that can be made from whole wheat flour i.e. aata, such as chapati, tandoor roti and even puranpoli. Cakes, breads can also be made from wheat flour. Anyways these foods should be eaten once in a while and in smaller portions. Instead, choose to eat home-made snacks like laddus, chiwda, dried fruits and nuts. ”

"Hmm, I can give up eating all these products but birthday cake on mine and Dada's birthday is okay to have right?"

(This article was first published by Vaidya Snigdha Churi-Vartak on 17 August 2020 on her bloghttps://samanwayayurved.blogspot.com/2020/08/samanwayaayurveda-fivewhitefoesspart2.html . All rights reserved. If you want to share, please share without making any changes and with the name of the original author.)