July3
I recently received this email and know there are probably others of you wondering the same thing.
Dear Molly,
I understand that in some of your recent posts, you are going gluten-free? My family and I are doing the same thing, and it is a challenge to find good gluten free recipes. Can you share more? Also, maybe share your personal experiences of going gluten free, like why you are, how you are doing and challenges you face day to day being gluten free.
Thanks!
~Karen
My challenge in responding is that I (Molly) am blogged by a talented team of women with varying backgrounds and life experiences. This helps to make me even more of an “everywoman”, relating to women in all different stages and stations of life. If you’ve been reading this year’s Digests, you’ll have read their individual frugal journey stories in our February through June issues. However, I can see where it can become confusing where food comes in. You’ll see me write about gluten-free resources, then post an amazing cake recipe! So, I figured the best way to respond to the above question is to let those of our Molly team members who deal with food issues share firsthand.
Toni:
I avoid garlic, soy, and most dairy products because I’m allergic and/or have an intolerance. The challenge that comes with it is that we have to read every label on every can/package we buy because almost everything has soy or garlic in it. Eating at restaurants or at a friend’s house is often difficult, but I’ve been this way for about 5 years so I know which restaurants I can eat at and what I’m able to order off each of their menus. I don’t generally eat at people’s houses unless I know them really well. We improvise on a lot of recipes and in order to eat Italian foods we make our own sauce. We get super excited when we find seasonings or premade sauces that are garlic free!
You probably already know this, but $5 Dinners has a section of recipes that are gluten, soy, and dairy free.
Eleanor:
Both my oldest daughter and I have celiac disease. Actually, it’s estimated that 1 in 133 people are affected by celiac disease and that 97% of those people have not been diagnosed!
Basically, if a person has celiac disease, his or her body creates antibodies that react to gluten (found in wheat, barley, and rye.) This reaction attacks and destroys the intestinal lining, doing far-reaching damage in the long term and causing sickness in the short term. So we must avoid all products that contain those grains. It’s harder than it seems! So many foods contain derivatives of wheat, barley and rye.
But there’s good news! More and more gluten-free products are becoming available all the time—though they tend to be very expensive. Good news for frugal folk is that cooking from scratch, using healthy foods like fruit, vegetables, brown rice, potatoes, and unprocessed meats is the best way a celiac can eat!
We make a very good gluten-free pizza every week, and we use pasta made from brown rice. It’s delicious! We do a fair bit of baking bread and muffins from scratch—it’s far cheaper and tastier than buying pre-baked gluten free products.
You can find lots of information about celiac disease visit www.celiac.org.
Dena:
One of my boys is allergic to milk and reacts immediately upon ingesting any. He’s developed a very good attitude as he often has to refuse deserts at birthday parties or dishes/deserts at potlucks. I usually keep a small container of sorbet in the freezer for him to have in place of ice cream. We’ve also discovered that Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet chocolate chips are dairy free. I also keep some Nucoa margarine on hand for him. I also keep powdered Rice Milk on hand so that I can mix it up to use in recipes in place of milk. (I don’t tend to use the liquid milk fast enough and the dry mix allows me to make up just the amount I need). Casseroles are often off limits as they include cream soups or cheese. However, many times I’m able to just make a portion separately for him, leaving out the offending ingredient. (If you haven’t downloaded Molly FRESH! be sure and do so. All the recipes are free from processed ingredients and it’s free!)
In December, my husband, who has suffered from extreme digestive issues cut out wheat and found a marked improvement. I don’t believe he suffers from Celiac disease because small amounts, like what is found in licorice or soy sauce didn’t have a noticeable effect. But avoiding wheat products dramatically eased his digestive problems, so we thought perhaps it was an allergy.
However, in doing some recent reading I began to learn about Candida overgrowth and was quite sure this was what my husband was suffering from. He had nearly all of the many seemingly unrelated symptoms. And it made sense that avoiding wheat would help as the yeast feed off wheat. So he has been on a yeast detox for the last several weeks and is feeling SO much better! He has also been taking a probiotic supplement
targeted to ridding the body of yeast. He has been able to drop some of his medication, many symptoms have subsided and he has a great deal more energy. That sad thing is that doctors tend to treat this with medication that simply masks the symptoms and does nothing to address the problem. At this time he is avoiding all wheat and sugar. This includes milk, fruit and more. So it’s fairly strict, but the results have been worth it. Down the road, he should be able to add healthy foods back in slowly, but he’ll need to always watch the amount of wheat and sugar he consumes.
And yes, it is difficult. We had a Father’s Day breakfast at church and it was decided that we would serve breakfast casserole. Neither my husband or son could eat them. So I just brought some eggs and sausage for them and cooked them up there. Basically, I’ve found that it requires constant thinking/planning ahead, but it’s certainly not impossible.
I have personally been on a fairly strict diet and have noticed a great increase in energy since I cut out processed foods (and my Diet Pepsi). We’re planning to work at eating more healthy as a family. We do have an Adventist grocery store nearby and I’m able to get amazing produce at great prices, as well as many bulk foods, so that has been a real blessing.
Jennifer:
Jennifer’s family is “normal” and she’s the one you’ll find posting all the wonderful Pioneer Woman recipes!!
So there you have it! We all have different experiences and are doing what we are for different reasons. What about you? We’d love to hear your stories. What are you doing in regard to your diet and why? What challenges do you face and how do you overcome them?
To find resources and ideas be sure and check out the “gluten free” link in my sidebar. Or click this link to get a good start. From there you can click “older” and “newer” to find even more resources. Enjoy!
