Can someone give me an idea why graham crackers give me trouble?
#152374 - 02/21/05 09:30 AM
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I have been using them for pie recipes. What could be in that stuff that is so nasty to me?
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My box of Nabisco Honey Maid Brand Cinnamon graham crackers lists HFCS. That's all I see that looks problematic.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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what is "graham flour" anyhow? And I found this Website that claims graham flour is a type of whole wheat flour.
I think we need to get Heather in on this because she lists "graham crackers" as one of the things to eat when you can't eat anything, so I must be misunderstanding something about how graham flour is made.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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The Honey Maid graham crackers have HFCS, but I did find that Keebler Grahams don't! I think that's what Heather was maybe referring to.
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~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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do Keebler Grahams have graham flour? If so, is it actually a type of whole wheat flour? If so, why is it safe to eat?
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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I'm not sure if there is wheat flour in it, but there is graham flour listed. The first ingredient listed however, is enriched flour which does have wheat flour in it.
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~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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I guess I'm not being clear. According to the Website I quoted in my "Then I started wondering" post, graham flour is a type of whole wheat flour. That is, it includes the bran and, sometimes, the germ. I thought whole wheat flour was a trigger because it includes the bran. If graham flour includes the bran, why would it be considered safe?
(I suppose I could just eat some of the darn things and see if they cause an attack, but I am awfully curious about things that don't seem to make sense, so if there's a logical answer to why whole wheat flour is bad, but graham flour is good, I'd be much obliged for it. Thanks.)
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Hmmm... don't have an answer to that one.  Maybe it's the way it's processed or something? Just a guess.
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~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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Good guess!
#152943 - 02/22/05 02:45 PM
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atomic rose
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 7013
Loc: Maine (IBS-A stable since July '05!)
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I just did a quick Google search and this is what I came up with... from the Wheat Foods Council: "Whole wheat, graham and stone ground can be used interchangeably. Actually, graham flour is a finer grind of whole wheat flour. They are equal in nutritive value as with stone ground, which is wheat ground between millstones."
Of course, that still doesn't answer Sand's question... my guess on that is because it's a finer grind. I should add here that whole wheat is an insoluble fiber food, and insolubles are NOT "unsafe". They must simply be eaten with a soluble fiber base. Since the crackers also contain white flour, and at a higher proportion than the graham, that would take care of the soluble base right there. Insolubles are also easier to digest the smaller you can break them down - hence the advice to mash cooked vegetables - and that would also make graham flour easier to digest than whole wheat, applying the same logic.
Hopefully Heather will see this and weigh in on it... I know she's not on the boards very often. All I know is that I can (unfortunately for my waistline!) sit down an eat an entire sleeve of the Keebler grahams without any problems, and I've been pretty sensitive to insolubles in the past.
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Wow! Thanks Casey! That actually cleared a lot of for me! It does make perfect sense the way you put it! 
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~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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Re: Good guess!
#152960 - 02/22/05 03:59 PM
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Sand
Reged: 12/13/04
Posts: 4490
Loc: West Orange, NJ (IBS-D)
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So, graham flour is less of a trigger than regular whole wheat flour because it's ground more finely making it easier to digest AND in graham crackers the graham flour is pretty well "hidden" in the refined wheat flour which is a soluble fiber that "cushions" the whole wheat-ness. Makes sense. Thanks.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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that this all started because Harmony had trouble eating graham crackers. Maybe, like me, she's buying Nabisco and should be buying Keebler to avoid the HFCS. I wonder though - if someone is super-sensitive to whole wheat, maybe the graham flour, even though more refined and buried in soluble fiber, could still be a trigger.
Like you, I hope Heather will weigh in. It feels like she's not on the Boards very often, but I imagine she'll wander by eventually. And there's no hurry - except for poor Harmony who needs to know why her pie crusts are so hard on her. In the meantime, my DH has offered to eat the box of Nabisco grahams I just bought and I think I'll let him - at least until we hear from Heather. 
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Depending on the recipe, the crusts could also have too much fat in them. Just because something is safe ingredient-wise doesn't mean that it's SAFE. I don't know what recipe you're using, Harmony, so maybe you can weigh in on this too, but since graham crackers have fat of their own, and then you typically add margarine, which is pure fat... there's a possibility that it's just too high in fat for someone who's sensitive to it. And we haven't even talked about what kind of filling she's putting in it yet.... 
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