Adjusting to a Gluten-Free Diet

May 5, 2014 kristenann3 Comments

There are many guides to help newly diagnosed celiacs and gluten intolerant people but I know when you are first figuring it all out it feels like you are the only person in the world changing your diet and lifestyle. There will most likely be favorite meals you are giving up, familiar restaurants, and things like weekly meet-ups and dinner parties need to be rethought. Things you never had to think about before suddenly need attention, everyday habits, social rituals, and even the chores of shopping and cooking scream for a revamp. It’s a lot, and it can be overwhelming, but hopefully it will help to know that many people have been there, with their miner’s lamps on before you, walking through the dark and leaving notes. First of all, make a list of all the things you can eat. It’s so easy to focus on the food/foods that need to be eliminated and feel like everything is off-limits, but in reality there will always be a lot more food on the OK list than on the ‘must avoid’ list. It is important to figure out where the hidden gluten might be, like soy sauce, fake meat products like soy hotdogs, and oat products, but it is equally important to understand there are things like wheat free tamari,

gluten free faux meats ,

and safe oat products . (Unless you react to the similar protein that is found in oats the same way you react to gluten. Some people can eat certified gluten-free oat products just fine, while others cannot.) Beyond the products that are made to be gluten-free, of which you will find just about anything you can think of, there are foods that are naturally gluten-free and they are still there for you, so go ahead and eat all the French fries and corn tortillas you want. Most natural foods stores, like Whole Foods, would be happy to have a knowledgeable employee walk around with you to show you the gluten-free items and they will also know which are the best sellers, so if you don’t know which bread to try first just ask what the most popular brand is and start with that one. Calling ahead to find out when the best time to come in for some personal attention would be advised and you might even be able to do that at a regular grocery store~ depends on the place. A local Co-op here has monthly(?) food tours around their stores to highlight gluten-free things, or sometimes there are other themes, but the point is you might find something similar in your own local store. Speaking of that local co-op, it is called PCC and they have a webpage dedicated to gluten-free info and so does Whole Foods. Both of those places have many recipes that are labeled gluten-free and are a great place to find healthy foods in general. Trader Joe’s also has a gluten free list and other special diet lists and I recommend you look at your local favorite store’s website to see what they have available. Also check out Urban Spoon for information on restaurants and bakeries that are gluten-free friendly and find some places to visit sooner rather than later so when the inevitable time arrives when someone asks to meet for lunch you will have a place to suggest. Delicious living, a magazine you may have at some point seen in a natural foods store, has a guide for gluten-free living and there are several magazines dedicated to food allergies, but Living Without is the most popular one. There are blogs, social media groups, and online gluten-free stores to also offer assistance and advice, recipes and in some cases, coupons. In short, you aren’t alone and once you get into a gluten-free groove, it’s really not all that hard and you will find the amount you feel better outweighs any missing of old foods by so much that you truly don’t miss them.

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Gluten-free Ramen

April 21, 2014 kristenannLeave a comment

At this point in the year I’m pretty much souped out. Not eating it, just making it. So, I’m quite excited to have found this gluten-free ramen that takes all of 4 minutes to make and tastes seriously good. The one I like is by Lotus Foods and has a miso base and I’m pretty sure when my oldest tries it, he’s going to be hooked too because he loves miso, and noodles, and especially fast prep. Try it out yourself on a day when your missing dorm cooking, or more likely, just want some fast soup on a chilly Spring day:

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Broccoli and Tofu

April 15, 2014 kristenannLeave a comment

You can’t really ever go wrong with tofu and broccoli, at least in my oldest son’s opinion. His favorite way to eat that healthy combination used to be wrapped in a spelt tortilla with garlic sauce. He even wrote an essay about that dish in third grade when asked about his favorite thing to eat, but sadly, he can’t eat spelt anymore and corn tortillas are just not the same. They are great for soft tacos, quesadillas, and ‘beandillas’, (a quesadilla made with refried beans instead of cheese) but corn tortillas just do not complement the broccoli and tofu like the spelt did. He missed that dish terribly, along with countless others, once his gluten intolerance was discovered, but now he’s found a new favorite way to enjoy broccoli and tofu. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 package brown rice fusilli

½ yellow onion

2 crushed cloves of garlic

3-4 cups broccoli, cut into bite size pieces

1 package extra firm tofu, drained and wrapped in paper towels to get out extra water

Approx. 2 T. olive oil (1 for the stir fry and 1 for the pot of pasta)

1 T. balsamic vinegar (or to taste)

1 T. gluten free Tamari

Dried basil and oregano to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

For this dish, I start the water boiling for the pasta as I begin the cutting up process. Pour in at least one tablespoon of the olive oil in a large pan, and then add the onions, cooking until translucent. Next the garlic should be added in, with the broccoli following. Pour the vinegar over the broccoli while stirring the veggies. Add the tofu then cover the tofu with the tamari. While cooking, stir in the herbs, salt, and pepper, and cook until the broccoli is bright green and the tofu is warm throughout with a bit of browning. Meanwhile, make the fusilli according to the package directions, and when all is done combine into approximately 4 bowls. This is one pasta dish that doesn’t require parmesan, but feel free to add it if you prefer, or if you like just drizzle on a bit more olive oil. For my son and I, we do not add anything but our forks.

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Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter

March 26, 2014March 26, 2014 kristenannLeave a comment

My son needed a science project and I needed a reason to try to make the sourdough starter recipe I’ve been eyeing for months, so we decided to work together and see what happens. The recipe we are using is from Jennifer Katzinger’s Gluten-Free & Vegan Bread. I’ve wanted to make sourdough starter for a long time now, ever since I read about it being a more easily digested bread than other types with single strands of yeast, but the recipes I read always seemed too complex and involved too much planning. Once I read Katzinger’s version which was already gluten-free I started thinking I could do it. Except I didn’t. There was still that planning part that got in my way, until my son’s science fair came up and I thought, we could do this~ we have a week and a half, plenty of time to get the starter going and then to try to bake with it a couple of times, with enough time even for a failure or two. We will actually use the starter later today for the first time, but actually making the mother was easier than I expected, so in case you are feeling daunted by the idea yourself I thought I’d share the steps so far. First, get a gallon size glass jar and put in 1C teff flour and 1C water.

Stir well.

Then add two purple cabbage leaves and the skin of half an apple.

Mix well again and then let it sit in a warm spot for 12 hours before stirring and adding more teff and water. After 48 hours (with 12 hours in between stirrings and adding more flour and water) it should be bubbling with yeast activity.

It is then time to take out the cabbage leaves and apple skin and put it in the fridge. It is ready to be used.

Now it’s time to test if this has worked. There is starter resting on my kitchen counter right now warming up with fresh teff and water for 4 hours and hopefully creating some yeasty activity. Crossing my fingers that we will have fresh sourdough bread by tonight. We’ll see!

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Brain on Gluten cont.~ News from Living Without Magazine

January 14, 2014January 14, 2014 kristenannLeave a comment

Neurologic Effects of Celiac Disease

A study featured at the International Celiac Disease Symposium looked at neurological dysfunction in celiac disease. More than half of the study’s 73 participants—newly diagnosed adults at a celiac clinic in the U.K.—had neurological symptoms. These included frequent and intractable headaches, balance problems and sensory symptoms. White matter abnormalities were spotted in the brain scans of a number of these participants and some had TG6 antibodies. (TG6 antibodies have been linked to neurological dysfunction in celiac disease.) Findings suggest that neurological dysfunction is common in newly diagnosed celiacs, write researchers.

A U.S. study, also featured at ICDS, found that neurocognitive effects like brain fog are common after exposure to gluten in those with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity alike. A whopping 89 percent of celiacs and 95 percent of those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity reported experiencing neurocognitive effects due to gluten, specifically, difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, grogginess, detachment and mental confusion. Symptoms often began 30 minutes to an hour after gluten exposure and lasted several days. Results were based on a preliminary online survey completed by 1,143 individuals with celiac disease and 253 with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. More work is planned.

This is the exact article I found in my email box this morning from Living Without. Fascinating.

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Brain on Gluten

January 12, 2014 kristenannLeave a comment

This is an interesting article about one neurologist’s belief that gluten and carbs are responsible for many brain ailments, such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, ADD and such. He talks about inflammation being caused by carbs which in turn is the root of many brain diseases, with gluten being especially damaging because of blood brain barrier issues. The part I found most personally verifiable is where he says many gluten intolerant symptoms are not felt in the digestive track at all, but in other parts of the body, and I can readily attest to that. Other foods majorly affect my stomach and such, but when I eat gluten I feel it almost immediately in my head. I had a low-grade headache from childhood until my 20s when I began to figure out the wheat connection. It is like clockwork, eat something with gluten and I start to feel ‘off’, like maybe I’m coming down with something and need to sleep it off, but then I slowly realize it isn’t just fatigue, but the a headache that is different from a normal headache, which incidentally I rarely get now that I don’t eat gluten. My whole body feels fatigued, I feel slightly depressed, and my head hurts for 3 days, and then it all fades into feeling good again. Very predictable. As for Doctor Perlmutter’s assertion that gluten and carbs are innately bad for us, I tend to disagree. It seems he’s stumbled upon some truths, (carbs cause inflammation, inflammation is bad for our brains, gluten causes the worst problems, etc) but he made some suppositions that go to far. There has long been a link between brain and gut health~ this has been long-established and shows up in products such as MindLinx, a probiotic that emphasizes the link between a healthy intestinal tract and the mind, hence the name, and before gluten intolerance was recognized it was thought that all carbs were equally responsible for digestive troubles. People have singled out gluten, sugar, PH balance (remember that craze?), blood type, fat, and many other things as the be-all-end-all deciding factor in health, always just until the next thing comes up. Granted, they usually have at least a nugget of truth in them, but they are never the golden nugget that they are made out to be. If you look at the world’s healthiest populations with the least amounts of disease you find communities that focus on whole foods~ fruits and vegetables, grains and vegetable fats, with small amounts of meat/fish/poultry. A fantastic book (with recipes!) about these healthiest cultures and their diets is The Jungle Effect by Dr.Daphne Miller. Real food, despite valiant efforts, could not be improved, and in fact has only deteriorated in nutrition and taste since the industrial revolution. We live in an age of amazing medical technology and knowledge, and goodness knows I’m happy to not be living in the middle ages with leaches being the latest and greatest, but sometimes the old ways, the jungle ways, can teach us more than any doctor.

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KISS

January 9, 2014January 12, 2014 kristenannLeave a comment

I’ve heard a certain expression all my life and never realized the acronym was k.i.s.s. until I just recently put it together. It was one of those moments when I thought, “does everyone already know this?” Anyway, if you’re like me and a little late to the party I’m talking about the expression, “keep it simple, stupid”. That line goes through my head a lot because I have a natural aversion to complications, which is a bit of handicap in this quickly complicating world. That is probably my least favorite part about our family’s food intolerances~ it adds a layer of complexity to what seemingly should be a very simple, straight to the point thing~ eating. When you add in eating while out, or eating while on vacation, the complications add up and complications mean stressers and stress and sometimes I just feel like saying, “let’s just eat whatever we want, shall we?” Actually, I know quite a few families who operate like that~ their children stay away from wheat and/or dairy while at home, but if they are at school and there is trigger food, they can eat it, or if they go out and there is not an easy option to avoiding it, they will just eat it and deal with the consequences. I can see doing that with my own kids once they have been off their trigger foods for a good year so it is totally out of their system and then maybe the bits will help to desensitize them, but for now it just isn’t worth it. They are so much healthier now, with better skin, brighter eyes, more energy, and happier outlooks it’s hard to imagine just letting them slide back into the funkiness of food intolerance~ I should know because I was funky for decades before realizing my own intolerances. It makes a huge difference, and in a way, it has it’s own simplification aspects that I appreciate~ the more natural the ingredients and the fewer the ingredients, the better. This time of year we hear a lot about food and diet programs, Paleo this and cleanse that, and again the idea of ‘keep it simple, stupid’ comes to mind. If something feels drastic, and difficult, and not doable for the long haul, it’s probably not the best option. I’m all for a cleanse every once in a while, as long as it involves real foods and helps to reset healthy eating habits, but it’s far more important to eat real food, mindfully, every day. I’ve mentioned how picky my youngest is, and in an effort in reinforcing healthy food choices we’ve started a sticker chart for him~ if he tries a new food he gets one sticker, if he eats the whole serving he earns another sticker. Once he reaches 50 stickers then I give him $10. So far it’s helped him with the trying part, though less so with the whole serving part~ but it’s a start, and this is a good time of year for new starts. Good luck with your own New Year’s resolutions, and remember to check in regularly with yourself and make sure you are being ‘kissable’.

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Gluten-free Pasta

December 11, 2013December 11, 2013 kristenann1 Comment

Normally when I make pasta for the family I just make whatever gluten-free kind I happen to have, which is most often Jovial brand but really we like it all. It’s hard to get pasta wrong, gluten-free included, in fact it is one of the few gf things my gluten tolerant husband does not mind eating with us, his family of 3 intolerants, so it was with some surprise I realized I had some regular old wheat kind in my cupboard. When I decided to go ahead and make it the other night, along with our rice pasta, it dawned on me why I consistently do not make enough pasta~ wheat pasta doubles, or triples, or I don’t even know what in the boiling water, while gluten-free pasta just gets a tad bigger. After years of cooking half a bag of fusilli that becomes dinner for three people with leftovers, I haven’t changed my ways to gluten-free fusilli which just doesn’t expand as much. Aha! So, now I know when I make gluten-free pasta, use the whole bag if I want leftovers. Speaking of Jovial Brand, they have gift baskets for the holidays if you are wondering what to get your favorite gluten-intolerant people in your life. I think you have to order them through their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/jovialfoods. Nice idea!

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Ups and Downs of Intolerance

September 12, 2013 kristenann2 Comments

Most days the food intolerances my sons and I deal with are not that big of a deal. In fact, they have helped all three of us be healthier so in a way they have been kind of nice. If I could eat gluten, for example, I’d live on bread and such to the exclusion of a lot of other nutrients. BUT, there are days when it really gets…old. Reading every label, dealing with school classroom eating (why do they eat so much at schools? They’ve been back 8 days and already have had a marshmallow party and a cupcake party.) Telling my youngest that no, he can’t have his favorite meal (ever ever again,) and leaving a restaurant wondering if I ate something off-limits, and if so, how bad the reaction will be. (Actually, does anyone know where I can find a recipe for a gluten-free, dairy free, soy, nut, and egg free alfredo sauce recipe? It’s my son’s favorite and that never again thing really doesn’t sit well with me.) It’s tiresome, and honestly I’m just sick of thinking about food all the time, and not like in a tasty way, thinking about what’s in it, how am I going to get variety in my picky sons’ diet, what supplements are we out of, etc… These are the days that call for easy frozen pizza for the boys and trusted comfort foods~ gluten free, dairy free, soy free, nut free, and egg free of course. Thank goodness for dark chocolate.

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Gluten Free Bakery in Bellevue

August 21, 2013 kristenannLeave a comment

Eden B bakery is not your typical gluten-free bakery. In fact I’d bet that it’s the only bakery in the greater Seattle area, gluten-free or not, that could ask, “Would like a Jeep or Dodge with that muffin?” The location, inside a Jeep dealership, makes it an awkward place to stop by, unless you relish navigating between smiling, over-helpful, car salesmen so much that you choose to do so even when not in search of a new car. The place is worth the trip though, because it’s location isn’t all that makes it unique~ they also make salads, sandwiches on gluten-free bread as well as offering a nice selection of muffins, sweet breads, and the like. Some of the goodies are also vegan, but not all (maybe 1/3 of the selection) and my sons both picked the gluten-free, vegan ding dongs. I’ve never seen a homemade ding dong before, and they had never even heard of a ding dong, so that was a fun find. My oldest loved it but my younger, pickier son…not so much. I probably should have guided him to the big gf, vegan snicker doodle cookies that they had because you can can’t go wrong with straight sugar on top, but maybe next time. Along with the sandwiches and bakery goods they also have espresso drinks plus bags of gluten-free chips and such to round out a pleasant lunch. We’ll definitely go back though I’d go back more often if it were in a less awkward place~ something about going to a Jeep dealership for a sweet-fix just doesn’t feel right.