19 year old trying to go GF
 

My mother, 3 brothers, sister and I all got diagnosed together after my brother was diagnosed. Even though i had the facts (and symptoms) in front of me, i was a skeptic. I thought it was a bunch of health-nut mumbo jumbo and refused to give up gluten. I'd eat some of my mom's GF dishes but ultimately stuck to my junk-food guns, stubbornly ignoring my pain. I now live on my own, so my mom's GF foods are no where in sight. But after living with this pain for so long, and doing some research, i realized i'm fed up & i'm just going to get more unhealthy if i dont eliminate this from my life. My problem is: A) breaking my junk food addiction & B) finding/affording gluten free products.
I heard Walmart has a GF section that's not overly pricey, but my roommates and I share a grocery bill, and to them if i buy GF food that they wont eat, im wasting money that could be used on "normal food"
I guess what im looking for is some support & advice.

Wheat makes bread when you stretch out its gluten and lectin proteins into long tendrils. Add some water and allow an aerobic bacteria to feed on its sugars in a warm environment, and voila ......bread. The harmful plant proteins are what makes bread. Find me a plant protein which you can do the same thing with, and I'll show you a food with the same potential for harm as wheat.

Forget "gluten free", and start eating real food.

Hi,

It is horrible making the jump from a 'normal' diet to gluten free. It can be more expensive, but doesn't have to be!

The problem is that the foods you think of as nice, or a treat, or junk, are far more likely to contain gluten than anything else, mainly because flour and grains generally are cheap fillers... What you need to start eating are basic foods like meats, cheese, potatoes, dairy, rice, veg and fruit. Processed foods are a nightmare - the ingredients list is tiny and complex!!

I eat GF easily now I'm use to it. I cook nearly every meal (you might as well learn as you go, you'll be glad you did), and buy the odd GF ready-made food as a treat.

GF packaged food varies hugely. Stay away from the awful muck the dieticians give you vouchers for, most of it is horrible! The things I buy again and again are supermarket GF pasta, etc. The better the supermarket, the better the quality and taste, I've found. Waitrose are great at GF and their prices stack up very well against any other GF brand. They make treat type things like cherry bakewells, muffins, crumpets etc very well. The other really good make is DS, their pasta, pitta breads, crumpets etc are the best I've found.

Just make sensible swaps in your diet - forget bread and get over the loss thing. It's a waste of time and energy pining after stuff that makes you ill. GF pittas work really well, and make a good pizza base too!

An important point is that there's no point AT ALL in making the change if your kitchen is contaminated with gluten everywhere. You must keep your storage area, work surface, pots and pans, etc scrupulously clean if there's gluten around. Use a separate cupboard, chopping board, grillpan, etc. Never use the same toaster as a gluten-lover!

It's soooooo worth it. This all seems hard work, but you get used to it quickly, and you'll feel better. Strangely, I'm spending LESS now because I'm not buying processed food, and my kids are healthier for it.

Good luck!

Brams :winky:

Do you like rice? I love rice and eat brown rice every day which means I'm not really missing the wheat so much. That being said, I used to think I hated it because I never had it cooked properly.

Rinse the rice thoroughly before adding to heated oil in a saucepan. I usually have softened some onions with it. Add twice the volume of vegetable stock to rice, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes you get a very filling and nutritious base for a meal. It's very important to use twice the volume of water, otherwise it won't cook properly. Don't lift the lid either.

Risotto is also filling, cheap and easy to make. Leftover risotto can be formed into cakes, with a slice of cheese in the centre, then fried.

You can do this with leftover potatoes too... makes a nice snack. Even better, fry leftover sweet potato which is good for you.

* By fry I mean saute in a frying pan...not deep fry.

Hummus is good for you too. You can dip chips in it.

I don't know if you have them in the US (where I'm assuming you are) but in the UK we have something called flapjacks which are naturally GF and very good as a snack. They're a bit like oatmeal raisin cookies but more buttery. Look up a recipe... it's just a case of combining melted butter, sugar, honey and oats before baking.

Hope that helps...!

Just a quick note to the flapjacks and oats thing - although oats are naturally gluten free, they are cross-contaminated by wheat during the harvesting, storage, processing, packaging etc stages, so normal oats bought in a shop are NOT gluten free! You can get 'Pure Oats' from health food shops and big supermarkets, but even then you need to discuss it with your doc really before introducing them, and then start with small amounts while you see how your system reacts. Some coeliacs can't tolerate oats at all, and as you will know :rolleyes: you have to be careful.... I think (do correct me if I'm wrong!) it's because some of the natural proteins (?) in oats are similar to gluten, and your body might react to them as it does to gluten.

Love the tip on the leftover risotto - I'm going to try that!! I love risotto!

I (and my family now, lol) really love a snack/meal I call tuna potato salad - you cook, mash and cool potatoes, then add drained flaked tuna (or any fish), fresh parsley if you can, finely chopped onion (yes, really, its lush) and mayo. Then just mix the whole lot together with a fork until its nicely combined - you don't want it too dry, so add more mayo if need be. We eat it with homemade chutney and a green salad or whatever salad stuff we have around. It's great because you can put the leftovers in the fridge for later - of there are any!!

Keep the ideas coming - its great to get new ideas! :winky: