If you’ve ever read about a woman with Hashimoto’s who has eaten freshly milled flour for two years with no problems, it’s tempting to think that could be you (I want to eat regular food again too). Then a few comments down, someone’s husband still gets headaches from einkorn sourdough.
Your gut is different from anybody else’s gut. Her answer isn’t automatically yours.
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What freshly milled flour is and why people choose it
Freshly milled flour is exactly what it sounds like. It’s flour milled fresh from the wheat berry or another grain. It isn’t always wheat.
The biggest benefit comes from getting the whole grain. That means the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. It’s rich in minerals, vitamins, and fiber.
Shelf-stable flour from the grocery store has been processed. (In my house, we now call it dead flour.) All-purpose flour, bread flour, whatever kind it is, a lot of the good stuff has been processed out.
When you mill flour and use it within a couple of days, you get a lot more nutrients from it. You also get more control over your grain. You choose where you buy it, whether it’s organic, and whether it’s heritage wheat.
The wheat family tree, from einkorn to modern wheat
Heritage wheat is typically wheat from before the 1950s, before wheat became more modernized. (There aren’t really hard and fast definitions for any of this.) Einkorn is the most ancient wheat we have.
Between einkorn and modern wheat, you’ll find emmer, Khorasan, and spelt. Heritage wheat comes in red and white varieties, which are more like the modern all-purpose flours. There are a whole bunch of non-wheat grains you can mill too.
Einkorn is weird to bake with. When I first saw people say that in the Facebook groups, I thought, it’s still wheat, how can it be weird? But einkorn doesn’t have the same gluten as modern wheat, and it doesn’t like a second rise.
I followed some einkorn bread recipes and failed at first. Then I tried a different recipe where my einkorn sourdough was almost like thick cake batter when I poured it into the loaf pan. No kneading. One rise, then straight into the oven.
It was a perfect sandwich loaf. (I was so proud of that one.)
Sidenote: Because of how einkorn doesn’t like to be handled much and is such a wet dough, I went to the thrift store and bought a bread machine for $20. I’m now getting perfect einkorn loaves every time.
Why so many of us hope for a gluten loophole
When you’re diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, one of the first things you hear is to try going gluten-free. Most of us don’t like that advice. Some research says about 80% of people feel better on a gluten-free diet, but we still start looking for loopholes.
If you’re still deciding about gluten, start with whether you have to go gluten-free with Hashimoto’s.
Freshly milled flour first came up for me in an interview with Sue Becker of Bread Beckers. She has Hashimoto’s, and she eats freshly milled flour. She talks a lot about watching people turn around their health and seeing their lives change.
Sue has a science background, and she doesn’t believe in the gluten molecular mimicry theory. (Molecular mimicry is when the immune system mistakes one thing for another because they look alike.) She’s one of the leading voices in the freshly milled community, and a lot of people agree with her and a lot of people don’t.
What the research says about gluten and your thyroid
As a registered nurse, I wanted to know if gluten molecular mimicry is really a thing. There’s not a ton of evidence, and we can’t say definitively yes. But there’s more evidence for yes than for no.
A lot of the research and a lot of the experts point to molecular mimicry between gluten and the thyroid. One research paper pointed to molecular mimicry between gut and thyroid tissue transglutaminase. So I can see how Sue gets the wiggle room to say what she says.
But honestly, I don’t think most of us care about the molecular side of gluten. We just want to know if we can eat regular food again. Can we eat wheat if it’s freshly milled?
What freshly milled flour changes for most people
I’m part of several freshly milled flour Facebook groups, some gluten-free and some regular. One post asked everyone (not just people with thyroid or autoimmune problems) if their health changed after switching. The woman who asked said she loves the taste and loves making bread, but she hasn’t noticed any real differences.
She still felt bloated. She might feel fuller longer, but nothing like the testimonials she’d heard.
The replies went both ways. One woman who is prediabetic said her blood sugar stayed in the normal range after three weeks of eating only freshly milled flour. She’s worn a continuous glucose monitor for a year, so she has a good baseline.
Another woman had spent seven years pregnant or breastfeeding and was exhausted all the time. Her changes were more subtle, but she did start feeling better after eating freshly milled wheat.
Why more nutrients might make the difference
One piece of research said a lot of people on a gluten-free diet don’t get enough B vitamins, vitamin C, folate, iron, zinc, and magnesium. Freshly milled grain is higher in B vitamins and a lot of other vitamins and minerals. So one idea is that people feel better because they’re getting more nutrients.
If you already take a really good multivitamin to fill the gaps in your diet, you might not feel a difference when you switch. I’ve noticed that pattern when I talk with people one on one. (I’m not going to take over somebody’s Facebook post to ask about their multivitamin, though.)
One woman said a lot depends on your health habits before you start. She was already eating very healthy and exercising, so she didn’t notice big improvements. She’ll never go back, though, because she wants to stay healthy.
Gut, skin, and other small changes
A lot of people noticed changes in their gut. One woman has better bowel movements after a year of milling. Another said her gut is so much more regular, and the one week she couldn’t make bread, her gut churned the whole week.
Others said their skin or acne got better. Overall, most people hadn’t noticed a lot of changes, but they enjoyed knowing it was better for them.
Can you eat freshly milled flour with Hashimoto’s? My story
After I had my youngest son (he’s 12 now), I had to go on a huge elimination diet because of some problems he was having. When I added foods back in, I found out I was no longer tolerant to gluten. It really lowered my migraine threshold, and it caused other problems too.
For about 12 years, I’ve gone off and on gluten. Every time I tried it, I felt worse and worse.
During COVID, I tried long fermented sourdough and was very hopeful. Within about an hour of eating it, I was super, super depressed (which was so unusual for me). Finally, I realized, oh, this is the gluten.
After I heard Sue Becker’s interview, I tried freshly milled heritage wheat sourdough. I tolerated it better. I wasn’t depressed, but I had brain fog, less energy, and I just didn’t feel like myself.
I talked about trying freshly milled flour with Hashimoto’s back in episode 143.
Since then, I found out about even more ancient grains. I tried Khorasan and spelt, and my body told me no. But I can eat einkorn, the most ancient wheat.
Before I tried gluten this last time, I spent a year working really hard on my gut health. I can eat einkorn fresh, too. But my body appreciates it more when it’s sourdough fermented.
Detox reaction or autoimmune flare?
I put that video on YouTube, and so many people commented that it was just a detox reaction. For me, it was not a detox reaction.
I know what my body feels like off gluten. I know what happens when I have an autoimmune flare. The brain fog, the low energy, and not feeling like myself after heritage wheat were my body whispering to me about what was going on.
I want to catch those whispers before my body has to start yelling. I don’t want to let my body get used to being sick again and just say, oh, this is how it is.
So to everyone who says that was just a detox reaction, I’m going to fight back. That was my body communicating with me.
What other women with Hashimoto’s have found
These stories come from the freshly milled flour groups I’m in. Each one is one woman’s experience, not a rule.
One woman with Hashimoto’s went gluten-free and dairy-free. She said her inflammation dropped, her joint pain went away, and her antibodies decreased by about 50% for the first time ever. Now she mills gluten-free grains, so she gets the freshly milled benefits and stays gluten-free.
Another woman with Hashimoto’s who takes thyroid medication has used freshly milled flour for two years with no problems. One mom said her daughter has Hashimoto’s and can eat some freshly milled foods in moderation without it affecting her. But her daughter did have to go gluten-free for a while.
Someone else said her husband still gets headaches from freshly milled einkorn sourdough. That’s the most ancient wheat, fermented, and he still can’t tolerate it.
Why there’s no hard and fast rule
One woman said something we’ve talked about a lot on the podcast: “My experience is that some gut healing has to take place first.” Once that happens, she said, slowly introducing freshly milled flour can bring benefit. But if your immune system and gut are struggling, it might not help.
Another woman said, “I think this is just people trying to sell their opinion wrapped as truth.” She said there’s no hard and fast rule for thyroid or Hashimoto’s issues. Absolutely.
So can you eat freshly milled flour with Hashimoto’s? Some women can, and some women can’t.
As one woman wrote, “The only way to know is to try it. We are different.”
Why gut health comes first
Gut health is crucial. It’s one of the main root causes of all autoimmune conditions.
Gluten and zonulin talk directly. Think of the gate of a medieval castle that opens and closes. Zonulin is the remote control that tells the gate to open, and gluten pushes that button.
When those gates open, everything goes through. That’s leaky gut, and gluten is going to do that. So before you experiment with freshly milled flour, work on your gut health.
I have a bunch of gut episodes because the gut is such a big root cause. If you only have time for two, start with the gut-thyroid connection, where I share what I learned from the book Super Gut. Then listen to how to improve gut health with Hashimoto’s without overwhelm.
How to test freshly milled flour for your own body
Work on your gut first, then experiment. Keep a good food log. Write down what you tried, then log your brain fog, your energy, and your gut symptoms.
Keep that log for at least three days. That gives you a good picture of what a food does in your body.
As much as everybody wants me to say there’s a loophole to the gluten thing, I can’t say that. It isn’t accurate. Freshly milled flour might work for some people, but it doesn’t work for everybody.
You are a unique person, and your gut is different from anybody else’s gut. It’s your job (and your privilege) as someone with Hashimoto’s to figure out what works for you. The only way you’re going to know is to try it.
Questions about freshly milled flour and Hashimoto’s
So, can YOU eat freshly milled flour?
You know now that freshly milled wheat still has gluten, and gluten talks directly to your gut. You also know the real answer comes from your body, not someone else’s story. Start with your gut, keep your food log, and let your body tell you.
Gluten, zonulin, and molecular mimicry all point to the immune side of Hashimoto’s. Hashimoto’s Decoded walks you through the two systems at play, thyroid function and immune function, so you can finally understand what’s actually happening in your body. Grab Hashimoto’s Decoded for $27.
Hopefully you can print that image. If not, here’s the text version.
Bread Machine Sourdough Einkorn
Adapted from Kristin Nobels of Generation Acres Farm
Step One: Autolyse
Ingredients
- 270 grams sourdough starter
- 1 cup warm water
- 410 grams freshly milled einkorn flour
Instructions
- Add the sourdough starter and warm water to the bread machine. Mix together.
- Add the freshly milled einkorn flour.
- Use the dough cycle to mix.
- Turn the bread machine off and let the flour autolyse for 60 minutes.
Step Two: Make the Dough
Add:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- About 2½ tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons salt
- A sprinkle of yeast*
- 1 large egg
*This is not an official measurement. I probably use around 1 teaspoon of yeast, but I have never measured it.
Instructions
- Run the dough cycle.
- Set a timer so you can stop the bread machine before the second knead. This is 80 minutes for my machine.
- Assess the bread. If it needs more rising time, set a timer and check it again in 10, 20, or 30 minutes.
Step Three: Bake
- Select the bake cycle.
- Bake for 50 to 70 minutes.
- The bread is done when its internal temperature reaches 200°F.
