A couple of weeks ago, when I said I hadn't been feeling well, it was food allergy, intolerance, and/or sensitivity-related, and had just gotten the best of me. I had a whopper of a reaction that left me sick for almost a week. I'm still working out what I can and can not eat.
For the time being, I'm dairy and gluten-free. The dairy part I'm very used to. I've been unable to eat dairy for 25 years. The gluten is a little more difficult. I've been on and off gluten over the years. The western diet is very heavy in foods containing wheat -- pizza, pasta, burritos, cookies, cakes -- all some of my favorite foods. I am hopeful, that at some time, I can re-introduce some of the foods I can't have right now, on a rotation schedule (once every 2 or 3 days).
So, what can you eat when you're dairy and gluten-free?
I have chosen not to eat all those packaged "gluten-free" products, instead preferring a whole foods diet, for a couple of reasons.
For one thing, many of the packaged gluten-free specialty foods are lacking in nutrients. In place of wheat flour, many use potato starch, tapioca flour, white rice flour and added sugar, to achieve the desired texture of their wheat-based counterparts. It's important to remember that gluten-free does not necessarily mean healthy. I had a sample of a gluten-free, dairy-free Oreo-type cookie yesterday, at the organic/health-foods store. Sure it won't cause a reaction in my body, but it won't add any nutrients, either.
With a whole foods approach, I can look at a sweet potato and see for myself that there is no lurking ingredient that will do me in. And with home-baking, I know exactly what goes into every item I bake.
Also, eating a lot of packaged gluten-free foods pushes a lot of healthier foods out of the diet. I think I've had a tendency to eat too many grain-based foods in the past, when I could use a larger variety of foods in my diet. I find that I am much more likely to put together a healthy and balanced snack when I don't have the manufactured g-free products in the kitchen.
Some of the gluten-free replacement foods are just awful. I've tried the g-free spaghetti and didn't like the ball of glue it cooked into. The rice flour tortillas were horrible. I'd hate to spend $6 on a loaf of g-free bread only to discover it was just as bad.
And if those reasons weren't enough for me, gluten-free manufactured foods are very expensive. $6 for 4 hamburger buns, or a small loaf of bread. $6 for a box of gluten-free brownie mix. $3 for a 6-count package of some of the worst rice flour tortillas I've ever tasted (yes, I caved and bought a package. I wanted a burrito. These were terrible. I'll stick to corn tortillas from now on.) $5 for 2 cupcakes. $4.50 for a smallish package of gluten-free Oreo-type cookies. I can see buying the burger buns, for a special cook-out. But if we're doing burgers, I think I can also just eat mine animal-style (In-n-Out Burger -- burger and all the fixings wrapped in a lettuce leaf). Otherwise, I'm a good baker, and there are lots of gluten-free recipes online.
Breakfasts on a gluten-free diet
Of the meals in the western diet, breakfast seems to be the one that centers most around either wheat or oats. We're often in a hurry in the mornings, and breakfasts of cold cereal, toast, and pastries are quick to grab and go. The newly gluten-free faces the shelves at the organic/health foods store and is stunned by the prices on those small boxes of g-free cereal and 2-count packages of g-free muffins.
And for some of us, our bodies have been starving of nutrients, in the weeks leading up to a diagnosis of gluten sensitivity. What we're really needing is for our breakfasts to be fully-loaded with nutrients -- fruits, vegetables, and protein.
Here are some of my favorite dairy-free, gluten-free breakfasts, many of which would also work as paleo breakfasts (you may notice there are no eggs here, I've had to minimize those as well for the time being).
Turkey bacon, grilled apple slices, sauteed carrots -- I use one skillet to prepare everything, simple clean-up for me.
Sausage and sweet potato hash browns -- I cook the whole package of sausage at a time and store in the freezer, taking out just what I need at a time and heat in the microwave. For quick sweet potato hashbrowns, I peel an entire sweet potato, then cut off a chunk as needed for breakfast, wrap the rest of the sweet potato and store in the fridge. I dice the sweet potato, then microwave the dices for 1 minute, to pre-cook. Then I saute the dices in a bit of oil in a skillet. It just takes a few minutes until they're golden.
Tapioca "pudding", not very sweet, made with tapioca pearls, almond milk, 1 stevia packet, 1 teaspoon sugar, vanilla extract -- I make a batch and keep in the fridge. Some mornings I want just a couple of spoonfuls before I head out the door to take my daughters to school. Then when I come back I have a proper breakfast. (This is not a terribly nutrient-dense breakfast. Tapioca is a starch, the root of the cassava plant. But I like keeping some cooked not-too-sweet tapioca on hand, as it is one of the few foods that my stomach can handle on a bad day, even better than rice.)
Leftover brown rice, sauteed in butter, with cinnamon, almond slices and raisins -- this is one of my old favorites. I've been eating this for breakfast for 20 years. It goes together quickly and heats while my coffee is brewing (I add the raisins at the very end, so they don't scorch).
Gluten-free banana muffins -- made with millet flour, brown rice flour and xanthan gum. I'll post the recipe next week, along with my gluten-free dark chocolate brownie bites recipe.
Leftover baked potato, re-warmed, with butter, along with some turkey bacon -- bacon can be cooked ahead and frozen, making this an even quicker breakfast.
Gluten-free pumpkin pancakes -- using brown rice flour, millet flour and xanthan gum, again. Another of my old favorites. 25 years ago I was on an elimination diet to determine allergies. Grocery stores didn't have gluten-free bread products. Rice flour pancakes (made with my home-ground brown rice flour done in the blender) were my staple bread. I had them for breakfast and at lunch with peanut butter. Adding pureed fruit or vegetable helps the texture of non-wheat quick breads.
Buckwheat pancakes -- buckwheat is not a wheat, and so can be eaten by the gluten sensitive.
Puffed rice or puffed millet cereal, with sliced bananas, almond slivers and almond milk -- we had a bag each of rice and millet cereal in the pantry. These are bland at best, on their own, but have taste, texture and added nutrients when fruit and nuts are added. The one redeeming thing about these packaged puffed grain cereals is they are simple. Just the grain, often times the whole grain. No surprises. No weird dough conditioners, preservatives or food colorings. My stomach can't take any more surprises this month.
You may notice that many people with gluten sensitivity also tend to eat more paleo (fruits, vegetables, roots, nuts, eggs and meat), and minimize grains in their diets. Some of us find we actually feel best with fewer grains, even the gluten-free grains. So, many of my breakfasts just don't have grains at all. And I feel better if I don't start in on any grains until lunch or later.
I've now been completely gluten and dairy free for 3 weeks. I feel loads better, and have even had a surprise or two. My belly bloat is totally gone. I no longer look pregnant. And a patch of eczema is showing remarkable improvement. I'll have to see if the eczema continues to improve. Eczema can mysteriously clear up, then reappear. So, I'll wait before any definitive pronouncements on that situation.
Next on The gluten-free life, how I grind my own brown rice flour. I read about this, in the one and only book in the public library on food allergies, 25 years ago. There were not a lot of resources for people with food issues back then. Practically no one had heard of Celiac at the time. Major grocery store chains did not sell almond, hemp, rice or soy milk, except as infant formula. Back then, I made my own almond milk, in the blender. The only kind of gluten-free bread I ever saw was this really awful-looking white rice flour bread, and even that was in a health-food store. A lot has changed. There are many options now. But I still like to make this as affordable as possible.
Have a great weekend!