Deek's Bakery
Great news: deeks delicious bakery products are now available to make it easier for you to improve your immune health. See the website www.deeks.com.au. or phone Deeks Bakery and Cafe on 026 2869 444
deeks products are not normal bakery products. The talented expermental bakers at deeks have been attempting to make them look, smell and taste like normal bakery products and it has not been easy. If you can be a little patient with the ongoing experimental development of the products, and offer helpful advice, they would be most thankful.
The following are examples of some of the questions that people have asked about deeks products. The answers we have given may be helpful for your understanding of the purpose of all the effort to supply totally grain-free bakery products to the public.
Kind regards
Bill Giles
P.S. deeks will open in north Canberra in Spring and it is hoped that deeks can open in Sydney and Melbourne in the near future.
Common Questions with our Answers
But how can eating deeks breads and pastas improve immune health?
Its not that eating deeks bakery products directly improves immune function, however immune function certainly improves across the board as long as normal grain products are not consumed—and deeks products are a tasty and appropriate substitute. All deeks products are grain free (including the absence of rice and corn), are additive and preservative free.
Let me clarify this a little more: If you have a compromised immune system and suffer from autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, Crohn’s disease, coeliac disease, lupus, Hashimoto’s disease, Grave’s disease, etc, or if you simply get too many bouts of influenza a year, irritable bowel symptoms or suffer from too many allergies, the basic step to improve immune strength and efficiency is to trial the removal of all grain products for at least 6 weeks. Rate your symptoms each day out of 10 while using a control. After 6 weeks, reintroduce normal grain products back into your diet for at least 2 weeks, again record and rate your symptoms. The resulting graphs you produce, with your own research, will give you powerful insight to determine if your body improves when you do not eat grains and how it deteriorates when you do!
From your own trials, you can determine: delays in symptom occurrence, duration of symptoms, intensity of symptoms, combination effects between symptoms, the effects that different grains have on your symptoms and other correlations. We can supply the necessary information but because of the individual complexity, would prefer for you to make an appointment at our clinic. As far as we know, this is the only effective way to determine the effect that certain chemical compounds in grains (lectins) have on immune function.
Why can you claim that grains weaken immune function?
Over the last dozen years the staff at this medical centre have monitored nearly 6000 cases in which people with autoimmune diseases and slightly compromised immune systems have completed these trials—no other organisation in the world has done this (See the article: General Reading for People with Immunocereal Diseases in this website). A thing to remember is this: if you have a compromised immune system, by simply removing all grains from your diet your immune health will improve in general, but individuals need to know how to further improve and maintain good immune health (possibly with natural medicines, stress reduction techniques etc)—and this certainly requires professional consultations to provide this tutoring.
I’ve heard that wheat, rye and oats causes coeliac disease because of glutin but surely I can eat rice and corn because they do not have gluten!
Whilst it is true that glutin is not in rice and corn, gluten is principally only the carrier of other chemicals (specific lectin compounds) that are known to disrupt immune function. These types of lectins are common in all grains including rice and corn. Without the sticky gluten carrier, rice and corn do not adhere to the intestinal walls and do not cause an immune disruption in this area. However they pass into the body and can cause immune disruption in other places!
In the late 1950s when mainstream medicine confirmed that certain grains were linked with coeliac disease, the scientists were not aware of the common defence lectins, protease inhibitors, opioids, storage peptides and other compounds occurring in all grains and the scientists attributed the obvious chemical compound they found (gluten) to be the link. However people with coeliac disease have more chronic symptoms than most other people in our societies—and this is because they have a life-long autoimmune disease and eating rice and corn contribute to their ongoing symptoms! The only way you will know if rice and corn are a problem for you is to do your own trials.
The deeks bakery concept was created out of a need to provide basic food products for people wishing to undertake their trials. Bill Giles and Rob de Castella (the marathon runner) combined resources to create totally grain-free bakeries. Our aim is to make deeks bakery products available to all Australians so at least they have a choice whether to eat grain products or not. A side effect of deeks products appears to be improved athletic endurance—this has Rob excited!
If I simply cut down on eating grain foods, will this make my immune system stronger?
No. Crazy though it may seem, for many people even one mouthful or a sandwich can cause a type of catalytic immune effect (B-cell cloning) which can make symptoms continue for weeks! Certainly different grains create different immune symptoms and removing some while retaining others will probably improve parts of the immune response—but to really know if all types of grains cause you a problem, you will have to complete your own trials. From my experience, I suggest that you will have to be totally, 100%, absolutely free of grains—not even the smallest amount!!! Do your own trials and find out for yourself!
Can I complete the trials in a week ... or two?
No. To be 90% sure that grains do not have an effect on your immune system you will have to do at least 6 weeks without grains. Those with a compromised immune system often take three to four months without grains to fully clear their symptoms! There are many traps to self-testing grain foods.
Can people with immune related disorders ever take grains?
People with autoimmune diseases will have a life-long problem with grain foods. However many can tolerate some grain products when their immune systems occasionally become strong and focused—but in almost all cases they must remove all grain products when immune related symptoms re-occur. Stress, physical injury, infections like influenza, lack of sleep, low-grade poisoning and others, weakens immune systems.
What are immune related symptoms/diseases?
• Chronic post-viral symptoms, • Autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, Crohn’s, Hashimoto’s and Grave’s, Shogran’s disease, lupus, diabetes etc, • Chronic aches and pains, • Certain headaches/migraines, • Irritable bowel syndrome, • Chronic fatigue, • Some cancers and tumours, • Irritable bowel syndrome, • Some skin diseases, • Weight problems (underweight, overweight), • Types of chronic emotional stress.
So what are deeks bakery products made from?
They are made from freshly ground organic seeds of quinoa and amaranth as well as soya (de-bittered enzyme inactive), tapioca, almond, buckwheat, pumpkin, potato, sorghum and besan. Some products have dairy, some have yeast, some have eggs. The process of making bakery products without gluten as a binding agent took years of research and is ongoing.
So how do you produce non-grain bakery products?
The key to deeks products lies in the process of baking and chilling. Without chilling, the products cannot achieve their best characteristics, including taste, longevity, ease of cutting etc. Packaging in plastic bags is also a necessity to retain moisture. Because deeks bakery is dedicated to non-grain flours, there cannot be cross-contamination with normal grain flours, as occurs with many glutin-free products produced by other bakeries.
I live outside the ACT. Where can I get deeks products?
One of the unique features of deeks products appears to be the longevity of the breads, biscuits, pizza bases and pastas. They take a few days to become perfect and during this time they can be posted throughout Australia (see deeks website www.deeks.com.au). Despite the absense of any preservatives, the products can be frozen for months and kept fresh in the fridge for 3 to 4 weeks. Good food eh?
Do all people need deeks?
No. People with perfectly healthy and competent immune systems tolerate grain lectins without adverse effects—grains are of course, our basic foods. Many people we know who have family members with chronic immune diseases have removed all grain foods from their diet as an increased preventative against developing the same diseases. Eating deeks is a healthy and tasty alternative—try it for yourself and decide.