Gluten Free to Be You and Me

Celiac disease, Gluten sensitivity, Gluten Free…
These words are showing up everywhere these days. Maybe you’ve heard them, maybe they apply to you or you suspect they might, but your doctor doesn’t “believe” in this sort of thing, or maybe you don’t have a doctor and so you’re looking on the internet for some information. A lot of folks seem to not feel well after eating a meal that’s full of wheat gluten – pasta and bread, anyone?
Here’s what I’ve learned so far at school and from tons of personal research…
Gluten sensitivity basically means your immune system (the cells in your blood and organs that protect you from diseases), are treating gluten as if it were a foreign bacteria or virus and attacking it – along with the lining of your digestive tract. These repeated attacks are made worse the more gluten you eat. For this reason, if you think gluten is bothering you, but can’t live without it, it’s better to try and cut back rather than doing nothing at all if it sounds too hard to quit entirely. Of course, the best thing to do would be to find a Naturopathic doctor – who is trained to treat food sensitivities and help you improve your overall diet and immune system health. Some of the symptoms of gluten sensitivity are: headaches, mouth ulcers, weight gain or weight loss, poor immunity to other diseases, and skin problems like dermatitis and eczema. The more common symptoms are diarrhea, gas, and bloating. (from http://www.foodintol.com/celiac.asp) Long term untreated Celiac disease can lead to bigger problems like osteoporosis; and if you have psoriasis, there's a good chance that cutting out gluten could really help. In general, eating gluten when your gut is inflamed (from eating gluten) means you don’t absorb other nutrients. Another side effect is that many people become lactose intolerant because the gluten damages the lining of the gut where the enzymes that digest lactose live. So if you stop eating gluten, you may find that milk and other dairy products don’t bother you as much. Some people may notice that their energy level improves when they cut back on or quit eating gluten.
So what does this mean to you? Maybe you get a headache or stomachache or just feel tired after eating: toast/bagels/muffins/sandwiches/pizza/cookies/cake/pasta/bread… you know as in darn near everything that’s on your plate at every meal.
We eat so much gluten don’t we? Once you start to think about what foods have gluten in them it seems like it’s everywhere – because it is. If you were raised on bread and butter, pies and cakes and cookies for treats, sandwiches, hamburgers and hot dogs on a bun, spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwiches, bagels and cream cheese, mac and cheese – gluten is everywhere. (And did you notice who else was on that list – gluten’s best friend – cheese!) This is what we eat, people! – because it tastes so good!
Ever spend time around a kid who’s a “picky eater”? Ever notice what are the only foods that kid will eat? I’ll give you a hint – they’re all white, yellow, or beige – bread, crackers, cereal, cheese, cookies, pasta (plain with just cheese of course). Why? Because it tastes good! Those mushy, sweet, beige foods make us feel good. Believe me I ate nothing but spaghetti and bread for years.
It’s everywhere and it tastes good. Now what? Can we avoid gluten without having a personal chef or a trust fund to buy fancy organic food? More importantly can we even leave the house without being attacked by some gluten?
Yes. Yes. And Yes.
Ok how? That “gluten free” stuff at the fancy grocery store is expensive and it doesn’t look good.
So what should you eat? We’re always asking this, but no one wants to hear the obvious answer staring us in the face, the one our mom’s used to say over and over when we’d already eaten all the beige food on our plates … “fruits and vegetables”. What? Oh well, yeah I eat those. You know… O.J with breakfast, a little salad at lunch, uh, you know… fruits and vegetables. But really, I’m trying to be “gluten free”, so what can I eat? Are these gluten free cookies, ok?
You see where I’m going with this right? Vegetarian meatloaf anyone?
There are foods that don’t have gluten in them. It’s true. They never did. They are called fruits and vegetables. They don’t taste like mac and cheese, they cost more, and they take longer to prepare (as in not eaten from your car on the way to work… and also home from work).
Maybe our bodies are trying to tell us something. They do that you know. We like to shut them up though don’t we? Headache? Aspirin. Stomachache? Antacid. Gluten hurts me? Gluten free food! Remember “fat free”?
Bless our hearts. We want to feel good. You know what feels good? Fatty foods. And gluten.
At least until they don’t feel good anymore. Which is unfortunately right about a minute after we’ve savored them and put them in our bellies.
But what feels good long after we’ve eaten? Yep. Turns out mom was right. Isn’t she always?
Another thing our bodies are trying to tell us with all these fun symptoms? I’m you! Now give me some real food.
Food is a big subject these days, isn’t it? Local, organic, healthy yet delicious food. The kind of food foodies like to eat. Food used to be what you spent all day finding, growing, killing, and preparing until finally you ate. Now it’s a freakin hobby. My food is better than your food. It has more adjectives – it’s grass fed, cage free, gluten free, wheat free, dairy free. But mostly it’s far from free. In fact the more “free” it is of bad stuff, the more it costs generally. Maybe part of this expense is necessary, but…
So being healthy, like everything it seems, is about money. Well what can we do to eat less gluten or no gluten at all and not spend more money – and still enjoy life? How about…
Find a store with fruits and vegetables. Find a few you already know and love. Take them home. Now eat them. At home. No really. At your house. In fact eating more at home is actually way cheaper. You know what else is cheap and has no gluten? Water. Drink some. From the tap. Unless it tastes really bad – then maybe get a filter. Now what? Well, the main idea is eating food that is food. If it grew out of the ground or on a tree then it’s probably better for us. All this gluten eating is mostly about processed foods. Avoiding these is a good idea in general, and having to avoid gluten can open up a healthier way of eating. How about:
Breakfast – (I think driving to and standing in line at a coffee shop to order a bagel takes just as long as eating a healthy breakfast, but I like to tell myself I’m only doing it because I have no time…)
Yogurt (plain if you can stand it - if not, throw in a little honey), berries (frozen works),
A piece of fruit – pears, apples, banana. No prep time, cheaper than a breakfast sandwich, and no gluten.
Still feel hungry? Maybe you need a little more protein. So what does that mean?
Well, yogurt is a pretty good source of protein. But so are hard-boiled eggs – and you can boil a few all at once and have them ready to go for morning. If you’ve really got time, make them any way you like and eat them sitting down. Luxurious!
Also, nuts (peanuts, almonds, cashews)
Or peanut butter on celery or apples or bananas works too.
No gluten there.
Lunch: I’ll just eat a sandwich. Oh, just kidding. I won’t.
What about buying some lettuce and adding some veggies and some chicken to it? As in throw some chicken in the oven and roast it – salt/pepper/olive oil – cut it up into chunks for salad.
Or some fish. Or some beans from a can even (pinto, red beans, chick peas).
“I can’t eat that everyday” you say (or maybe that was me?)
Well, what do we usually eat for lunch? For most of us it’s the same 2 or 3 things. Because we like them. They taste good. So will these foods – especially when you start noticing how much better you feel after eating them and how you don’t miss eating gluten at every meal and getting a wicked stomachache.
Ok, but what else?
Rice – cook up a big pot add some spices, some butter or olive oil, beans, veggies, or chicken. Make it at home for dinner and have it for lunch the next day. Find what kind of rice tastes good to you. Brown rice and wild rice have more fiber, which is nice.
Dinner: This one’s a little easier I think, since hopefully it’s eaten at home more often. Focusing on eating a variety of vegetables is the idea here, with things like meat, beans, and grains helping out. Oh yeah, there are grains that don’t have gluten, but guess what? They’re not everywhere yet like wheat is. But corn is also everywhere. Corn tortillas and polenta (corn meal) are delicious – and you can fit a lot of tasty vegetables on them. Just don’t go crazy eating corn at every meal. Remember what happened with wheat? Right.
Rice noodles are easy to find and inexpensive if you like noodles with your veggies.
As far as eating out, lots of Asian cuisines are generally free of gluten already, so those can be good options – Thai food and sushi are two ideas. Mexican food is also affordable, and easily gluten free as long as you specify corn instead of flour tortillas. Convenience food needs to happen sometimes, as does eating out. It can also be free of gluten. The important thing is to realize that any amount of improvement in your diet is significant, and acknowledging your success in this can be a good motivation to take even better care of you.