Gluten Free

[fidgiegirl]

It's looking increasingly like gluten free eating is going to be an effective solution to some of my health problems. I am having a really hard time getting into a mental space where I am ok with this. Not sure why . . . we live in such a land of food abundance. Maybe because I already have trouble with a lot of foods that are already gluten free, so to go without gluten is to further restrict my diet. But I really should do it and would likely feel better.

So, to that end, what are gluten free foods that you love? I'm not really that interested in substitutes at this point. I'm more talking about stuff that's just by its very nature gluten free. Like chili, for example. I made chili the other day and it occurs to me that it is gluten free. All the ingredients are. Or chips and salsa. Quinoa tabouli. I want to focus on what I CAN eat.

Any ideas welcome as I get my head around this. Thank you, friends.

Luckily when I flirted with the idea some months ago I already adopted Rosemary's granola recipe to cut wheat out of breakfast (but maybe not gluten . . . have to check those oats . . .)

[JaneV2.0]

Cheetos! Oh wait...

Lots of Asian foods are: Indian, Chinese, Thai...Ethiopian food if the injera is made from teff only. Rice noodles and bean threads. Flourless cakes. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, meats of all kinds. Check out paleo blogs and cookbooks, as well as gluten-free and low-carb ones for endless ideas.

[treehugger]

I do not eat gluten free, but I definitely agree with the strategy to focus on what you can eat, rather than what you can't. You will be much happier.

My DH and I went through a multi-year period where he had to severely restrict his potassium (which is in every fruit and vegetable, plus milk). That was tough! My acceptance of that waxed and waned, but it was always easier to cook when I investigated new-to-us options that he could have. That made it more fun, too.

Kara

[Kestra]

Once you do the gluten free thing for a while it'll probably be easier. I've been minimizing wheat for a few months now to try to self-diagnose some GI issues. Just got into see a specialist and am going for a biopsy for Celiac next week. He made sure to point out that the test won't work if I'm not eating any wheat. So I've been trying to increase my intake. I bought a bagel and was feeling sick just thinking of eating it. After I ate it I was moody and exhausted for several hours. Today after eating some crackers, nausea, headache, lower abdominal pain. I'm starting to think I am somewhat intolerant. I've avoided it enough that unless the wheat is well hidden in a cookie, I don't even want to eat it.

For things to eat, I've been eating lots of rice, beans, lentils, yams, oatmeal. There are so many things made gluten free now that it's not bad at all. Had some fried corn tortillas the other day. Pretty good. It's harder for me because I'm also not eating onions or garlic except in tiny quantities, like soup broth. Anyhow, once you try it you might feel so much better without that it's hardly a sacrifice.

[Jemima]

fidgiegirl, you may find that once you're eating a gluten-free diet your other food intolerances will go away or lessen. Gluten-intolerance reduces your ability to digest any number of foods, and the first thing to show up is usually lactose intolerance because dairy foods are the hardest to digest.

If there's a Trader Joe near you, check out their gluten-free breads. I especially like the Food for Life brand brown rice bread. It's much heavier and denser than most wheat breads, but it tastes great and makes marvelous toast. TJ's also has a nice selection of other gluten-free items and you can get a list from the manager's desk or a cashier will fetch one for you.

Here are two web sites which have a lot of gluten-free foods:

http://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free/

http://shop.tastybite.com/SpecialDiets.aspx

Bob's Red Mill is mostly baking products (I recomend their gluten-free whole grain bread mix) and Tasty Bite features a lot of Middle Eastern foods in boil-in-bag pouches.

As for regular supermarkets, my fave in convenience foods is Maria Callender's Cheesy Chicken and Rice and Lean Cuisine's Santa Fe Beans and Rice.

You might also want to take a look at Living Gluten-Free for Dummies just for the section on non-wheat flours and their nutritional content. I was surprised to find that buckwheat (which comes from a seed rather than a grain and is totally unrelated to wheat) has a lot more bang for your nutritional buck than wheat.

Speaking of buckwheat, here's another website where you can get buckwheat products and some terrific recipes: http://thebirkettmills.com/

[Aqua Blue]

I think gluten is related to my migraines and know I need to try a diet off gluten. I have gone for brief times and here are a couple of things I have found helpful.

the blog, Mennonite Girls can cook, has a lot of GF recipes. One of them has a daughter and grandchildren who have celiac disease.

Another thing I did was rice instead of wheat. When I was hungry for pizza I made rice and added the things I would normally put on pizza to it. It made sort of a pizza bowl, if you will. I also did this with mexican food. Putting what I normally would put on a taco or burrito on rice. (I have the added problem of not tolerating corn). I did the same thing with lasgna ingredients. It actually worked pretty well. Hope that helps.

I

[Bastelmutti]

Focusing on naturally gluten-free stuff is a great approach. Do you need to avoid all gluten religiously? In that case, processed foods are a minefield. I know people who can't do even the trace amounts of gluten that might be in products that are not produced in a dedicated facility. But sticking to whole foods makes that much easier. And lots of stuff is labeled now, so it is getting easier.

My fast - 5 minute! - go-to GF meal I almost always have in my pantry is bean tostadas: tostada shells, refried beans (no-fat canned beans are GF if they only contain beans and salt), sour cream (full-fat, "natural" is GF - Daisy is one brand), cheese (full-fat, "natural" is GF), lettuce, salsa (Pace and Green Mountain are good GF brands), maybe some avocado. Yum!

One fun discovery we made with friends who are gluten free is ice cream pie - crush up GF cookies for the crust (there are various recipes for this where you mix in butter and bake, or just use oreo-style cookies with filling), fill with softened ice cream (some Breyers and Haagen Dazs flavors are GF) and top with GF fudge sauce or crushed candies, freeze. It's one of those decadent, yummy things you can take to picnics and parties that isn't noticeably gluten free - sometimes it's nice not to have to explain.

Good luck to you!

[Bastelmutti]

PS As mentioned by Jemima above, Tasty Bite has some good prepared meals if you like Indian food!

[AmeliaJane]

Flourless chocolate cake. Flourless peanut butter cookies (even better made with cashew butter). Baked potatoes stuffed with spinach-artichoke dip. Meringues. Risottos. A huge variety of soups and stews. Ice cream and sorbet. Prosciutto and melon. Corn on the cob dripping with butter. Ceviche.

I like the "make it fast, cook it slow" crockpot cookbooks. They are not written to be GF, but one of the author's children eats GF so she always lists adaptations. The Gluten Free Girl blog is a little syrupy for my taste but the recipes are excellent.

[fidgiegirl]

Thank you, guys!!! I am trying to be positive about this and not sure why it is so hard. There are certainly much worse things happening to people in this world than having to avoid gluten! If anything, I should be grateful to (hopefully) be figuring it out now rather than later.

Jemima, I'm very much hoping for my other intolerances to clear up. I was thinking maybe I'll try gluten free FI a couple of months and then try my other problem foods again. Will see what doc says, too.
Will update you on progress ...