Gluten Free Ladies

apple

well, i'll hold off on the recipe for now for gluten free cheesecake.. i think i can do that.. if i figure out a way to make the delicious crust.  It will be a while before she returns anyway.. it's so darn far.

apple

Marianna.. i would just keep my own stash of good bread while in transistion...   good bread is awesome.

WellWater

I didn't read through the entire thread, just bits and pieces.  I was glad to find this thread.

I "bumped" into Wheat Belly 3 weeks ago and after reading intro/reviews and then googling wheat information, I was shocked at how bad wheat is for you.  I had never heard of anyone going gluten free for any reason other than having celiac disease.  I started it as an experiment and after seeing me shed a few stubborn pounds, my DH decided he'd try it also.

After 3 weeks, I am down 8 pounds and it's staying off....DH hasn't dropped any weight yet but we are both experiencing wonderful digestive-system changes.  After reading so much on wheat I know I won't go back to it.  I am very surprised at how I do not miss bread or wheat pastas (and I loved them).

I have recommended this to several friends....all of them have dropped weight and love being gluten-free.  

I am truly a "convert"

Frapp

Hello all, I'm glad I found this thread. I've been tempted to try gluten free but have a hard time with thinking of quick meals to throw together after working 9hours. I seem to fall back to old habits. Plus I really like bread!! I usually have peanut butter on bread for breakfast. Does anyone have ideas for a couple of easy staples that I can turn to when I don't have time to plan? Thanks for the help and this thread.

exbrnxgrl

Hi Frapp,

I am not gluten free but younger dd has Celiac's disease so I know about the lifestyle. Good news, there is gf bread! Udi's and Rudy's are two brands we like. We eat lots of salads with either chicken,fish or beans for protein. Stir fries are fast and great but make sure your soy sauce is gf, most are not. Tamari often is. We eat rice but it's easy to find brown rice versions of both basmati and jasmine. I'm not crazy about all gf pastas so you just have to experiment. My older dd once made an excellent lasagna with gf noodles. Good luck. Caryn

DianaNM

Frapp, make your same meals, skip the bread. We generally have some protein and either a large serving of cooked vegetables or salad for dinner. Then try to have enough for a leftovers lunch the next day. Favorite breakfast is two free range eggs with two slices of uncured bacon, keeps you full for hours. If you have a nice tomato, that's good with the eggs! Good time for your fruit serving too.

If you are not trying to lose weight, GF bread is not bad. If you want to lose some weight, which I am forever trying to do, skip the extra carbs.

Whole Foods here carries a cookie, "Minnie Beasley's" which comes in chocolate. It is gluten free, only 4 grams of sugar per cookie. Delicious! A lot of of the Whole foods house brand GF goodies are really good, again, trying to keep the carbs and sugar down so they are a rare treat.

Frapp

I was doing fine on low carbs for a few months and then my meds were changed and it seems like that is all I'm craving. I havent gained any weight (could stand to loose a good 20) but my middle has definitely increased. Would love to get rid of this stomach that seems to be growing with no added weight. Is Greek yogurt gluten free?



I have a who,e foods down the street from my work. Guess I'll stop in and check out their gluten free area. Itsprobably just a matter of proper planning. Gotta get on that. Thanks for the tips!

gardengumby

Frapp - I don't know if all greek yoghurt is gluten free, but The Greek Gods and Chobani are - though I only buy the passion fruit Chobani and the plain Greek Gods, so am not sure about other flavors.  Another option is making your own, which is a lot easier than it sounds... 

For pasta, try rice sticks.  You can buy them at most Asian markets.  Don't cook them very long!!!  They get mush fast.  For bread I buy a brown rice bread at Fred Meyers in the health food section.  I've seen it at other health food stores as well.  It sucks though if it's not toasted.

For quick meals I almost always make salad.  Usually I've got some cooked meat left over from somewhere.  I add a can of chick peas (I always keep some kind of beans on hand, but those work best for salad IMO.) sometimes throw in a little parmesan and have a good chop salad.

DianaNM

For all my talk about low carbing, must admit I just enjoyed some pancakes. Pamela's GF mixes are available online and at Whole Foods, it is the mix they use at Le Peep for waffles. We put a bunch of fresh organic blueberries in them, used coconut oil instead of veg oil, and cooked them up until toasty. Sugar free syrup, not ideal but doesn't hurt the taste! They were really good. 

Though I will say I haven't had a "regular" pancake in about 2 1/2 years. 

ATeamNana

My celiac husband makes sandwich wraps using gluten free corn tortillas. He makes bacon lettuce tomatoe sandwiches and even peanut butter and jelly. I also make him grilled cheese sandwiches with the corn tortillas.

allurbaddayswillend

Frapp, I usually don't eat refined flours, etc but after my first round of chemo I've been eating a bit more of rice noodles and GF waffles than I used to. I just can't quite stomach my usual diet. So I will recommend Thai Kitchen Thai Peanut flavor Rice Noodle Cart. It's a pretty big package and that peanut flavor is lower in sugars than their others which are practically dessert for all the sugar in them! Their noodles packages are almost always gluten-free - I haven't run into one that isn't yet. I've either scrambled some eggs and veggies and eaten it with that or stir fried some chicken and veggies to go with the noodles. One package of "rice noodle cart", any flavor, has a lot of calories though so watch out if you're trying to lose. I would recommend only eating a half a package with the protein and veggies. They're a nice convenience starch for me and my guts don't tolerate plain rice very well.

The other recommend is Nature's Path buckwheat/berry waffles. om nom nom! I should probably make a batch of almond flour waffles but my MIL left a pack of these in my frezer and a few days ago I toasted one and then put almond butter and peanut butter on it and ate it. that was nummy! For making your own GFpancakes and waffles, Diana is right, imho - Pamela'sPancake and Baking mix is goooood.

DianaNM

Also, Frapp, read "Wheat Belly". Excellent information about not eating gluten in that one. Cut the gluten, and your bloating will disappear like magic. No kidding. There will be some fat left, but it will seem a lot smaller!

Frapp

gardenbumby...I don't seem to be able to eat a lot of salad.  I like salad but ever since I had part of my colon removed (then reconnected, loooong hysterectomy story) in 2008 I don't seem to digest it very well.  So I try to limit my salad in take to no more than 1 a week.  But maybe if I use more non-lettuce ingredients like beans and cucumber and such, it might be better.

 DianaNM...I'll definately have to try that pancacke mix as I have been craving pancacks for some reason.

AteamNana...that sounds doable.  But a peanut and jelly on a wrap???  Doesn't everything just squish out of it?

allurbaddayswillend...those waffles sound like they would make great peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast.  I wish I had read this before my lunch hour as I stopped over to whole foods to get some GF granola.  It's made by UDI's and is very good.  I usually make my own but ran out so while I was there I got a package of Red Mill gluten free rolled oats to make my next batch with.

 I went out to dinner last night and the restraunt had a guten free spinach salad with grilled beef loin medallions, hardboiled egg, guacomole and bacon with a blue cheese type dressing.  OMG, was that good!!!!  Since I had gone gluten free last night I decided to keep it that way today for as long as I can.  Had peanutbutter and celery for breakfast, chobani yogurt with strawberries and gluten free granola for lunch and brought some cellery and carot sticks with humus to work as a snack in case I get hungry.  Dinner will be a small steak and 1/2 backed potato. 

Thanks for all the great suggestions and inspiration!!!!  You guys are the best!

Frapp

PS...is Wheat Belly a book?

DianaNM

Yes, a book by William Davis. Best price is for the Kindle version if you have one.

Ellendou

There is also a Wheat Belly facebook site that has lots of info.

Frapp

I have a kindle and facebook...will look into those.  Thanks!

scuttlers

Just saw on the TV that some places are adding pancake batter to omelets to make them fluffier! interesting

Kaara

That gluten free cheesecake sounds wonderful!  Does it have a lot of sugar in it?  If so, I better avoid it although I would love to make it for a special occasion.  If it's easy to share the recipe, please do.  Thanks.

dlb823

I made a gluten-free, meatless lasagne tonight using Tinkyada Pasta Joy Lasagne noodles, and it came out really good -- good enough that I wanted to pass along the product name to you all, since I've never seen another gluten-free lasagne noodle.  They're brown rice noodles with rice bran, made in Canada, Kosher Certified, and less expensive than many other gluten-free pastas.  Worth looking for if you've missed enjoying lasagne due to the gluten.     Deanna 

Ginger48

I make that brand of penne and really like it.

Kaara

Deanna:  Thanks!  I've found gluten free spagetti but not lasagna noodles and that's a signature dish that I make...both the meat and veggie variety, so would love to find some.

zogo

Hi Ladies, I stopped by the thread and read the last few pages.  I've been doing no sugar/ low carb for a year now.  I'm still trying to lose some extra weight before my final reconstruction surgery.  This way of eating is not just a diet for me...I've done tons of research and it is my way of eating for life!

I have a couple great recipes (that I found on low carb websites) that I love.  One is a cheesecake and the other is a spinach lasagne.  After my husband had a couple pieces of the lasagne, he asked what I used for noodles...Ha, there were no noodles in it and he didn't even notice.

A couple of months ago, I got the opportunity to see Dr. Davis (Author of "Wheat Belly") speak at a fundraiser.  It was fascinating to hear the details and proof behind his concepts.  Did you realize that two slices of wheat bread have a higher glycemic impact than a candy bar or table sugar.  And some of the "gluten free" breads raise your insulin response even higher than wheat bread (depending on what replacement starches they use).

Glad to have found this thread  

DianaNM

Zogo, thanks for the information. I have not looked into the insulin response of the GF products, but I do watch the sugar grams in them when I buy them. My daughter needs to eat GF, and some of these products help her stay "on the wagon".

But it is a good reminder that I don't need to eat them! Do you know which starches are especially bad? 

zogo

Diana, 

Here is a link to Dr. Davis' response to that question on his Wheat Belly blog.

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2012/04/wheat-belly-safe-flours/

I hope that helps! 

  

gardengumby

Thank-you, zogo.

glostagirl

Frapp, I haven't tried this yet but my DH loves peanut butter in his oatmeal along with a bananna and walnuts.  Might be just as good as on toast or a bagel, the latter used to be my favorite, yum, a hot bagel slathered with PB, not anymore 

I slipped up this past week and had some wheat pasta with pesto.  Next day woke up with skin break-outs, that seems to be where it gets me first.  A warning sign!   

Kaara

I have found a wonderful gluten free bread....Udi's...which comes in white, multi grain, and raisin cinnamon.  You really should have it toasted because it is a little dry eaten fresh.  I like the rasin cinnamon toasted with apple butter.  Yum!  I keep it in the freezer.

dlb823

Does anyone have any suggestions/recipes for healthy/easy breakfasts to serve when you have houseguests?  What I'm looking for are some delicious gluten-free (or at least wheat-free) things I can make in lieu of croissants or muffins -- things everyone will enjoy just because they're delicious, without even knowing or caring that they're gluten-free.      Deanna

Momine

Deanna, in Joy of Cooking there is a recipe for oatmeal scones. I make that using buckwheat flour instead of wheat, then I leave out the dates, use a tableapoon of honey or syrup instead of the sugar, oil instead of the butter, add in some walnuts and a teaspoon of cinnamon. They are good this way and very easy.



Joy also has a recipe for basic banana muffins. again I use buckwheat flour instead of wheat and instead of the wheat bran in the recipe, I put rolled oats. I also add some berries to the batter. I cut the sugar to half of what the recipe calls for. This I bake in a loaf pan that has been oiled and dusted with oats.



I am not really going gluten-feee, just trying to keep the glucose down and buckwheat supposedly is better in is regard and good for BC patients. I find that it works fine in most recipes that are risen with baking powder. I also make pancakes with it.