Fresh Milled Flour Detox – What is it?

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Everyone talks about the benefits of fresh milled flour, but no one talks about the fresh milled flour detox. These detox symptoms can be intense – making people re-think fresh milled flour. So – what is the fresh milled flour detox and will it ever end?

Fresh milled flour has a plethora of benefits. But sometimes people forget to talk about the “detox symptoms”. These symptoms are not as favorable to experience when incorporating more whole grains into your diet.

It is no surprise some people have reactions when incorporating more fresh milled flour to their diet. Eating a whole grain exactly as God intended it (with bran, germ, wheat and endosperm in tact), can bring you so many more vitamins and minerals than the processed counterpart. Processed flour not only removes these essential nutrients, but the fiber and vital oils, too.

During the process of commercializing wheat (and other grains), the bran and germ are removed. The removal of the brand and germ removal is to reduce the level of oil. This helps to ensure it does not spoil on the shelves – ultimately extending it’s shelf life.

These changes with processed flours have become what people are use to purchasing and what their body is use to when buying bread from a store – or making your own with ‘all purpose flour’. It is not surprising when milling our own grains, we have an adverse reaction as we receive a large amount of vitamins and minerals at once.

This change in flour can cause an adverse reaction in some. It can cause flu like symptoms which can last for or even weeks. This can cause confusion on whether or not continue eating fresh milled flour baked goods. But for some, the push through the ‘detox phase’ is vitally important on the step to their best health.

Benefits of fresh milled flour

There are endless benefits of eating fresh milled flour baked goods. Fresh milled flour is a good source of B vitamins like thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and folate. It is also high in vitamin K and E, along with minerals like potassium, selenium, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus and iron. Not to mention all the fiber (both soluble and insoluble)!

With all the extra vitamins, minerals and fiber removed from all purpose flour – fresh milled flour seems like a powerhouse! It is very easy to see how fresh milled flour has been claimed as a ‘miracle’ to many, reversing health symptoms and healing lifelong ailments.

On this blog, we take it up another notch and play around with adding in sourdough (like these fresh milled flour sourdough brownies – yum!!).

What is a fresh milled flour ‘detox’?

Fresh milled flour detox is a term for the reactions people may feel when they start incorporating fresh milled flour into their diet. As their body begins to take in more vitamins and minerals, it can have adverse reactions (which are not always the most fun!).

While the term ‘detox’ can sound frightening to some, this is not your traditional ‘detox’, rather the opposite. Rather than eliminating foods, you are adding them in. By adding fresh milled flour to your diet, you are incorporating a variety of vitamins and minerals which lack in other food sources.

If you viewed any of ‘The Bread Beckers’ content or listened to Healthy Minutes with Sue Becker – you will see people claiming the health benefits were not obtained without climbing a mountain of other symptoms.

This detox period can happen immediately when eating fresh milled flour or happen a few months later. And while the amount of bread consumed by an individual may be the same as when they were eating bread made with all purpose flour, the amount of vitamins and nutrients is vastly different.

Digesting these additional nutrients (and fiber), can cause the body to have ‘detox’ like symptoms. Sometimes this change is immediate, though with others it can be a month or two into beginning a fresh milled flour journey.

The good new is – the symptoms do not last forever!

Fresh Milled Flour Detox Symptoms

There are a variety of symptoms which can occur when eating fresh milled flour foods. These can include (but are not limited to):

• Acne
• Allergy (stuffy nose, runny nose, sore through)
• Brain Fogginess
• Bowel movement changes / digestive distress
  • Bloating
  • Constipation
  • Cramps
  • Diarrhea
  • Gas
• Cravings
• Flu like symptoms
  • Weakness, Lethargy, Joint Pain, Headache
• Headache
• Joint pain / lymph node swelling or pain
• Mood Swings
• Rash
• Stomach Pain
• Weakness

How long do fresh milled flour detox symptoms last?

The length of time detox symptoms last is variable. I have found some report symptoms lasting as short as a few days and others a few weeks.

Part of me thinks this detox may correlate to how often someone eats nutrient dense food with the wide range of vitamins and minerals found in fresh milled flour.

And to expand upon this, how well a body can digest these vitamins and minerals (ever heard of leaky gut?). All of these can impact how well your body takes in nutrients through time – and how long it will take until you are no longer ‘deficient’ in them.

If you have a large deficiency in vitamins, the ‘detox symptoms’ may impact you more intensely. It kind of makes me think of when someone eats zinc vitamins on an empty stomach to get the highest amount of absorption – it can cause you to feel nauseous.

My personal experience was about a week and a half of symptoms which lasted before I felt the more favorable impacts of eating fresh milled flour.

My Experience with Fresh Milled Flour Detox

I definitely had a ‘strong’ detox experience when I started milling my own flour. I have had my fair share of stomach flare ups and reactions as I was gluten free for over 14 years and had intense reactions due to inflammation.

While my fresh milled flour detox symptoms do not compare to what I experienced for a few years when I would get ‘glutened’ or when my body was battling SIBO (oofh), I had some symptoms which were outside of my ‘norm’!

A few years ago, eating sourdough was a huge mental battle for me as I was nervous to add back in gluten after years of avoiding it. When I started incorporating fresh milled flour into my diet, I thought I would feel like I was ‘glutened’. In the past, “glutened” symptoms would include intense stomach pain, bloating, gas, joint pain). However, I was pleasantly surprised!

I started by eating a slice of fresh of 100% fresh milled flour sourdough bread every day. It is important o highlight this bread was long fermented with sourdough. I do believe this helped to reduce my symptoms. I have also been working on healing my gut for an extended period of time (over 10 years).

For about a week, my wedding ring did not fit, I had acne (which is not my norm), my joints were achy and I had the worst headache. To my surprise, I never had stomach distress. However, I was so weepy! I felt very emotional for almost a week with no reason to explain it.

I pushed through and continued eating the fresh milled flour bread. Eventually the symptoms just went away. Then I moved onto the beneficial parts of incorporating fresh milled flour into my diet that I was so excited for.

Improved digestion, better bowel movements, clear skin and less brain fog. I also felt more satiated. Plus, I was happy I could eat a piece of bread without any toppings (other than butter, of course).

Not to mention the taste was phenomenal. The bread had a nutty flavor I never knew was possible.

I can now eat something made with fresh milled flour and not question if it will bother me. We are ‘in the clear’!

Did you experience any fresh milled flour detox symptoms when you started incorporating it into your diet? Let us know your symptoms and how long you had them for in the comments below!