Gluten Free Diet
Is anyone out there Gluten Free? I have been Gluten free for about 3 months. Any tips or recipes?
I'm not gluten free, but my wife is, so I'm pretty familiar with it. Did you have any specific questions?
In general, I've found it easier to find healthy gluten free food than unhealthy stuff. The reason I say that is because the more you stay away from packaged and/or processed food, the easier it is to get gluten free. The more additives in your food, the more likely one of them will have something that you shouldn't eat.
A lot of restaurants have nutritional information online. Before we go eat out anywhere, we check to see if the restaurant has a website, and what kind of information is available on their menu. And also when eating out, we've found some wonderful restaurants that have a gluten free menu, if you just ask. My wife sometimes struggles with being assertive enough to do that (doesn't want to be a bother or something), but we had a really good dining experience last week simply because we commented on needing a gluten free dish. Turned out that almost all their dishes could be made gluten free, and my wife had the best asian food she's had since she was diagnosed with celiac disease 5 years ago.
Most of the recipes I have for gluten free cooking aren't ones that are conducive to weight loss, unfortunately. Very tasty, but not good for losing weight. :) I did about a 6 month kick where I'd make a special dessert a couple times a month for my wife. Flourless chocolate cake, cream puffs, different cheesecakes, chocolate creme brulee... Mmmm, I'm getting hungry just typing this, and I just ate lunch!
I found this website to be reasonably useful for sharing information (http://glutenfreenetwork.com/), but I haven't been there for awhile.
Good luck, and post back if you have any specific questions!
Clint
I think nowadays many people go gluten free for reasons other than true allergy, and due to avoiding wheat too. So there are many more products, convenience or otherwise on the market and in mainstream shops.
The best bet is to go for foods in there more natural states, such as plain greek yoghurt instead of flavoured and thickened ect, which often do contain gluten, but obvs read the labels and get a feel for it.
Dairy products are usually safe if unprocessed, all fruit and veg is good, all meats, fish, beans, lentils, eggs, nuts, most tofus, and SOME veggie alternatives are fine. Just obviously stay away from seiten and the like which are textured wheat gluten, but I'm sure you knew that lol.
In terms of your carby part of any meal, you could make up batches of rice/quinoa/lentils, buckwheat is gluten free, gluten free pastas, and use for cold dressed salads in the week for lunch. More nutritous than most bread anyway!
A baked potato can have loads of different fillings so not too boring, and you could try sweet potatoes too.
You could make a big container of hummous by blending chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic olive oil, salt, and any herbs or spices you might fancy and take a bit to work with some ricecakes and cut up veggies.
Breakfast items like pancakes can simply be made from gluten free flours (like potato/rice flour), and you can get gluten free muesli mixes made with millet, quinoa ect.
Dinners are quite easy since you can make salads, stews, grilled/fried meat with any combo of veggies and mix up flavourings to match in your rice or potatoes.
When you bake, gluten free mixes are pretty good, I've used them for a celiac friend and you couldn't tell any different. Also try chickpea flour for general use in sauces, stews, meat coverings, as it gives a great crispy coating and lovely nutty taste.
Infact, chickpea flour makes very good indian style flat breads too. Give it a whirl!
I don't think gluten free is a super good idea if it's not true allergy is it? Like it's not really a "lifestyle change" its just because your allergic
Hungrygirl - Not sure if having gluten in your diet or not makes any difference nutritionally for those without a known allergy. Some people find that gluten upsets their stomach/ causes bloating though, even if not celiac. Sort of like people who are lactose intolerant - they usually won't get seriously ill off eating it, but feel much better without.
Gluten is just one protein and you can more than make up for it with other sources of protein and other types of carbs.
I'm new to Calorie Count and I just joined up on the Gluten Free community here (under communities, general health, conditions and diseases, gluten free - celiac, I think its on the 3rd page). It's relatively new, but there is a place to share recipes etc. I expect it will grow. I found it when I was exploring the site.
GIGI = GLUTEN FREE... yet I don't even notice because the foods I buy are naturally free of gluten... never heard of fresh fish having gluten in it... but then again, you never know what's lurking in fish! ha ha.
