There has been chatter for the last six months or so about coconut flour and its many benefits, i.e. it’s high in fiber, gluten-free, contains protein, and is lighter to cook with than almond flour (another flour growing in popularity).

While I have not experimented with it yet, I am very excited about this new alternative flour. Namely because rice, potato, and tapioca are starches, which means they turn to sugar in your body once they are processed. The aforementioned are not even remotely fibrous, are processed, and pack on the pounds just as fast as baked goods containing gluten.

Coconut flour however has my eyebrow arched. While it may not be as powdery and delicious as it’s counterparts, it is still tasty and good for you. This is a magical notion.

Gluten-free allergies are popping up more and more every day. In my case, I am definitely allergic to gluten, but I also have another condition called PCOS or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I don’t believe the allergy is disconnected from the PCOS, in fact for me it seems they both go hand in hand. PCOS causes my hormones to go out of balance, specifically my testosterone increases to levels that start wreaking havoc in my body. What are PCOS symptoms you ask? Unpleasant ones like facial and body hair also called Hirsutism, female pattern baldness aka Alopecia, cysts on the ovaries, fibrocystic breasts, and to top it off acne and weight gain in the mid-section. ALL seem to be exacerbated by eating sugar or processed starches that convert to sugar in the body.

My symptoms are particularly bad, which means in order to not lose my hair and experience all the other unpleasantries, I have to take a testosterone inhibitor called spironolactone, every morning and night. I take 50 mg twice a day and for the most part my symptoms are at bay, but not completely. For example, if I eat too many gluten-free baked goods with ANY TYPE of sweetener I get irritable (blood sugar crashes) and I am depressed the next day.

So you are probably asking yourself why don’t I just cut out gluten-free goods out of my diet completely, avoid the hassle, and get better. Easier said than done. For the most part I choose what I eat very carefully, but sometimes it is hard to avoid breads, especially when you’ve had a bad day and want some gluten-free pizza. The prospect of having a flour that does not affect my body the way the current list of GF flours affect me is a positive one. It’s fibrous, has protein, is low carb, and doesn’t convert to sugar! I will be back to report how my first baking project went in a few days and how I felt after eating it.

Related Articles

• Coconut Flour: Is This the Best Gluten-Free Flour? (thekitchn.com)