Eating Gluten-Free
I believe gluten-free eating will become as well known as Atkins was a couple years ago. The only difference, gluten free is not a diet trend, it is here to stay.
3 million Americans have celiac disease which means they can NEVER eat wheat, gluten, spelt, barley products again. There are also millions of people who are considered “gluten-intolerant”. They don’t have actual celiac disease; however, blood, saliva and stool tests show high sensitivities to wheat-gluten. When people stop eating wheat they report weight loss, the end of chronic headaches, clear skin and sharper thinking. Energy levels increase while fatigue and depression decrease.
Try taking wheat out of your diet for one month. You will either feel dramatically better (meaning your body would prefer you don’t eat wheat). Or you will feel exactly the same (meaning you probably don’t have an issue with wheat), but always check with your doctor.
The nutritional hypothesis is that we simply didn’t evolve to digest and eat wheat. Our hunter-gather genes do not recognize gluten as a tolerable protein available for digestion and absorption. The vast majority of mankind, after the development of agriculture, lived on maize, rice, sorghum and millet; all gluten free.
These are my favorite gluten free packaged chocolate cookies
They DO NOT taste weird, in fact if the box didn’t say gluten free you would never know. I put natural peanut butter on top of a cookie and have a tasty snack. There are many flavors to choose from (lemon, shortbread, chocolate chip walnut, ginger, peanut butter). Pamela’s cookies can be found in most supermarkets.
I also really like these lemon biscotti cookies with tea.
Pamela’s baking mix is the best on the market (in my opinion) for making homemade gluten free muffins, cookies and pancakes.
Amy’s Frozen Foods makes 76 different gluten free meals like; Mac-n-cheese, pizza, enchiladas, baked ziti, lasagna. They are well prepared with high quality ingredients and vegetarian too.
I am not advocating forgoing home cooked meals and gluten-free eating does not mean eating out of boxes. However, there are many companies that make healthy on-the-go gluten free food; Pamela’s and Amy’s are two of those companies.
A couple weekends ago I made gluten free muffins with brown rice flour, white rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch flour, they were really good! I gave some to friends and family and they were amazed that they tasted great and were just like “normal” muffins.
You can go gluten free and still eat baked goods or pasta. You just have to eat non-gluten grains. Some examples of non-gluten whole grains are: Quinoa, buckwheat (no relation to wheat), amaranth, millet and rice (white and brown).
Many restaurants cater to the gluten free customer. These are some places I’ve seen with separate gluten free menus.
PF Chang’s
Outback Steakhouse
Kona Grill
Bonefish Grill Even though this is a chain; it is my favorite restaurant when I travel. They have great seafood and are well trained in gluten free issues!
Maggionos Located in 21 states these Italian restaurants have separate gluten free kitchens to avoid cross contamination. The chef (not the waiter) comes to your table when you order gluten free. They will make anything on the menu using rice pasta. Pretty cool!
The Original Pancake House Gluten free pancakes were given a trial run in Denver. The corporate office is now encouraging all their restaurants to offer gluten free pancakes around the country because of the positive response in Colorado.
This is a short list of the restaurants that have gluten free options. Always ask your waiter if they have a gluten free menu. With the huge rise in food allergies and celiac disease, restaurants have to offer gluten free options to stay competitive.
Honorable Mention Gluten Free “Healthy Discoveries”
Living Without – Magazine for people with food allergies.
Celiac Chicks Blog – Based in NY, they keep up with the east coast gluten free world.
Denver Gluten Free Group – Excellent on-line resources and recipes.
Celiac.com – Lots of great recipes and resources.
Dr. Peter Green, Director of the Celiac Disease Center – Currently looking for celiac volunteers. They are studying the link between bone loss and gluten.
I agree. Celiac was once ocnsidered a cloidhhod disease. Studies have shown that most often, chidren who were diagnosed with Celiac, grow up to be adults with unexplained symptoms. All Celiac’s know that this is one of the most difficult dignoses to make. Many doctors still treat the individual symptoms, without treating the underlying cause, which is the very food we consume to stay alive. I have found that, in retrospect, i have had symptoms all my life. Having been misdiagnosed, it took my Uncle, then my Grandfather almost dying, and being dignosed with Celiac sprue to bring the disease to my attention. Seems my family was full of undiagnosed Celiacs, and we have all benefitted from a gluten free diet.