Little Miss Sunshine, finally healthy and growing properly
I've recently been asked by several people about going gluten free, learning to read labels, dealing with restricted diets, and everthing else that goes along with it. I've been directing people to
this post, but since I wrote it 2 1/2 years ago, I thought I should update it a bit.
I no longer follow very many gluten free specific blogs. Given all the dietary restrictions we have, I follow a variety of paleo/primal/vegan/allergy blogs. {hee hee} Listing paleo/primal with vegan seems counter-intuitive, but it works for us.
Anyway, here's the most helpful blogs I follow, mostly for recipes. I rarely follow recipes as they're posted, since I'm getting better at using them as a starting point and tweaking them for dishes we can eat.
The Spunky Coconut
The Food Lovers' Kitchen I have their cookbook, and it's great!
Cybele Pascal
Elana's Pantry
The Sensitive Pantry
The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen they also have a great cookbook
Civilized Caveman
Comfy Belly
Gluten Free Goddess
These blogs host linky parties, so they're a good source of random recipes and new blogs to check out. I'm always searching for someone else who has the same dietary restrictions and who posts recipes. Hasn't happened yet, but I keep hoping :)
Allergy Free Vintage Cookery
Simply Sugar and Gluten Free
An athlete's perspective on dealing with celiac, which helps me as I work to overcome damage caused by years of nutritional deficiencies. He also writes well-researched and well-written articles on various gluten free topics, which I find very informative.
No Gluten, No Problem
As I've mentioned before, we have a fairly restricted diet that doesn't include a lot of processed foods. I'd like to eat less rice crispies and rice milk, but at this point it's our best breakfast option.
Breakfast is usually rice crispies sprinkled with Enjoy Life cinnamon crunch nut and gluten free granola with rice milk. We were eating rice Chex and cinnamon rice Chex, but the BHT was giving both of us problems. The Kellog's Gluten Free Rice Crispies also contain BHT, but it doesn't seem to be as much, since it doesn't bother us (yet). If (when) it does, we'll switch back to Erewhon gluten free rice crispies, which don't have BHT, but are more expensive. In the past we've done green smoothies, but I got out of the habit over the winter and haven't quite picked it up again.
Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before (ie, meat and veg). Occasionally we will do nori rolls or meat rolls (lunch meat rolled up with veggies inside), and there's always fruit in a bowl on the counter that we can grab a piece from.
Dinner is a variety of dishes. We do rice pasta once a week, rice once every week or two, and quinoa and beans occasionally- I'd like to do more, but haven't yet found recipes we like. Mostly the meal is made up of meat and assorted veggies. We don't eat potatoes, but mashed roasted cauliflower and mashed baked squash make pretty good substitutes. We eat fish, chicken, pork, and elk (instead of beef), and I'm always looking for new recipes that incorporate them. I'd actually like to eat less meat, but that's just not an option right now unfortunately.
Snacks are usually fruit or the occasional Larabar (they're made with nuts, and most nuts are on the bad list these days, so we don't eat them often, but they're easy to keep in my bag). Treats are homemade sorbet (still need to post that recipe), smoothies, Yummy Earth lollipops (the ones made with rice syrup, not tapioca syrup), and occasionally fruit strips (corn syrup free, of course). I keep trying different recipes for snacks and treats, but none of them has worked out well enough (or agreed with us well enough) to be added into our repertoire.
We try to eat as balanced a diet as possible, but we're also trying to overcome years of nutritional deficiencies caused by the untreated celiac. As a result, we take Juice Plus+ supplements (instead of a traditional multivitamin), calcium, D3 and a chewable B (6, 12, and folic acid) vitamin. We also take digestive enzymes and I take CoQ-10 because I sleep better when I do (I actually have dreams, which never happened before I started taking it) and fish oil. We do have to be very diligent about reading labels on vitamins and other supplements. I once had a reaction to a vitamin I was taking that claimed to be gluten free, but was manufactured in a shared facility. A lot of supplements are made with soy or corn ingredients, which drastically decreases the brands that we can choose from when buying supplements.
We only occasionally eat out- there just are not a lot of options for us right now. In the past,
5 Guys Burgers and Fries was a great option. Their limited menu offerings mean you don't have to worry about the french fries being fried in the same oil as the chicken nuggets. They're also good about preparing your burger without a bun, wrapped in lettuce. Unfortunately, potatoes just do not agree with me, so we haven't been to 5 Guys for awhile. The pad thai at
Noodles and Co are gluten free (I always let them know I have celiac just to make sure) and can be ordered without eggs. We don't have a restaurant close to us, so we don't eat there very often.
Chipotle's burrito bowl has been a go-to meal in the past, but they cook the meat and rice using soybean oil, and I've been progressively having more and more problems when we eat there. And you have to be careful about anything they touch with their hands- so no lettuce or cheese.
Outback Steakhouse has a great gluten free menu (it tells you how to order in order to avoid gluten), and their employees seem to be fairly knowledgeable. I've never had problems eating at Outback.
That's all I can think of for now, but I do need to add a disclaimer. These are things that work for us, but may not for others. I am not a doctor, so consult with yours before changing your diet. Good luck!
