**My 20-year-old daughter has decided to go on a detox diet to lose weight. She’s been told to eat no products with wheat or diary, and consume no alcohol or caffeinated drinks. She goes to college and I’m worried that she won’t get enough in the day to sustain her.
Marie**
If this means she’ll be eating more vegetables and fruit, it could be a great thing. Certainly no alcohol, soft drinks and chocolate will do her good and, depending on what she replaces the wheat and dairy products with and how long she stays on the diet, she should be more than fine.
Wheat products, particularly those found in white processed breads, cakes, pastries, pasta and biscuits, can irritate the intestinal wall and cause bloating, inflammation and abdominal pain. As a society we are too reliant on bread as a staple and students are often the worst offenders — it’s too easy to grab toast in the morning, sandwiches for lunch, toasted crumpets for afternoon tea and bread to accompany an evening meal. Like alcohol, there’s little or any nutritional value in these products — unless they’re been fortified with additional supplements. It makes far more sense to eat foods with these still in them than those which have been stripped of nutrients and added back in.
Assuming your daughter does not suffer from a gluten allergy here are some very healthy suggestions for substituting bread with something better. And if the whole family follows her lead you will all end up better off.
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Supporting our carers: Free resources for carers of older Australians
