Gluten-Free Diet – What To Eat In a Day

November 20, 2018/in Blog, Gluten-Free, Nutritional Consultant

Gluten is becoming a new sensation in the world of dieting. Especially when we talk about gluten-free eating, people think this is the new revolution. The problem is that when we hear “gluten-free diet” most of us unconsciously relate it to unnecessary starving and removing some of the most delicious foods from our menu.

Such a diet could be not only as delicious as our previous eating habit, but could bring many other, unknown to now benefits like a healthier lifestyle, more energy during the day and cleansed body.

What to look for in a diet? Most gluten-free foods exclude important substances like Vitamin B12, fiber and niacin. Make sure that when you create your own, personal diet, you include all of those in your menu. Read the labels of the packaged foods carefully. For instance – when buying bread (one of the most common parts of our daily eating), we should be looking for one that has around 70 calories per slice.

Breakfast

For the most important meal of the day you can experiment more than usual. You can include oats cooked in water, 1 cup of raspberries (great supplier of needed vitamins in the morning), almonds and honey. Another recipe you can eat – 1 slice gluten-free bread, 1 1/2 Tbsp peanut butter with one cup unsweetened almond milk. Classics like scrambled eggs (with olive oil of course) should not be overlooked and you can add corn tortilla or avocado.

Lunch

Focus on salads (not only for lunch but mainly here). One of the top salads you can eat is – 2 cups spinach, 2 oz chunk light tuna in water (drained), 1/3 cup canned white beans (rinsed), Half a cup of veggies (cucumber is the obvious choice). Mix them all together and enjoy the healthy life. You can also have – 2 cups mixed greens, 5-6 cherry tomatoes, 4 oz cooked chicken and half a cup of quinoa.

Dinner

Brown rice is a great option here as you can have it with almost everything if it is not enough. You can cooked chicken breast (cooked with olive oil and seasoned with ground cumin, salt and pepper) and again – quinoa.

During the day you might need the feel to recharge the batteries with some snack – boiled eggs are a wonderful option providing you with a lot of protein. Raspberries and almond milk is a combination that you will love as well.

The Basics of a Gluten-Free Diet

November 19, 2018/in Blog, Gluten-Free, Nutritional Consultant

Going gluten-free can be explained with 3 different conditions – you are Coeliac diagnosed, you are gluten sensitive or you just like the new fashion and want to try it. No matter what is the reason behind it, there are strict rules that need to be applied to your gluten-free diet and here is some basic information that can help you. What is forbidden?

If you are certain about your condition and are definitely going gluten-free, most grains should be avoided. That does not mean that you cannot enjoy some of them (quinoa, chia, corn – all naturally gluten-free). What you should avoid when it comes down to grains is wheat, rye, barley. A lot of the delicious everyday foods are naturally gluten-free – you can safely eat eggs, cheese, milk, beans and most importantly fruits and vegetables. If you are not used to some of the gluten-free foods, initially you will experience like your body is missing substantial ingredients but as anything else in life – it is about habits and it takes time to adjust and get used to it.

Be more careful with your drinking beverages.

You would not need to remove a good glass of wine from your menu nor sports drinks and juices. The downside of a gluten-free diet comes with beer. Most beers sold in our supermarkets are containing the protein called gluten and if you are a die hard fan, you would need to be looking for the “gluten-free” label.

Coeliac and gluten sensitivity

The main reason why would someone change their eating habits is health. Getting diagnosed with coeliac could be a life changing event. It is usually surrounded by symptoms like diarrhea, severe rashes but there are many cases when no symptoms were experienced and yet the disease was there. If you are gluten sensitive a change in the meal plan is necessary as well. The gluten-free diet would have to be for life but if you follow it strictly you would still fully enjoy the rest of your healthy life.

Having to change your diet from regular to gluten-free could be a hassle in the beginning but with all the information online, it could start a life altering chain of events. The most important tip that you will get is to read the labels of the foods carefully. Familiarize yourself with the needed gluten information and how to avoid foods containing gluten.

How Do I Make My Kitchen Gluten-free?

November 16, 2017/in Blog

This is an excellent question. It shows that you are aware of cross-contamination and how gluten ingredients may accidentally end up in your gluten-free food. Food storage and preparation is one of the key components in ensuring that the food you consume has no gluten in it.

Since most food preparation is done in the kitchen, making it gluten-free is essential. If you live alone, you will be able to keep it gluten-free quite easily. If there are other family members in the same household, you will need to explain to them the importance of keeping the kitchen gluten-free.

There will be rules to abide by and any errors that may occur will affect the gluten intolerant person’s health. Since a family’s health is at stake, most family members will walk on eggshells when it comes to complying. Even then, mistakes may happen. So, you will need to be watchful and alert.

The first two things you will need to do are elimination and segregation. You will eliminate any gluten containing products in your kitchen. Give away your flours, baking supplies, etc. Any flours and baking ingredients you use should be gluten-free. If you are living alone, you can eliminate every single gluten containing product in your entire house.

If you have family members, you will need to segregate your food from theirs. You will need separate containers to keep foods such as butter, jams, etc. It would be an excellent idea to use different utensils and store them in a separate place too.

All this might seem like a hassle and it is. Yet, it’s the only way to ensure that gluten doesn’t accidentally get into your diet.

Get a toaster just for gluten-free bread. This is not an area to compromise regardless of your budget constraints. Grills, toasters, etc. that are used to prepare gluten containing foods will always have remnants left behind. Since you can’t wash a toaster thoroughly, there is absolutely no way to toast gluten-free bread and keep it in pristine gluten-free condition if other family members are using the same toaster to toast their normal bread

The crumbs from the normal bread will definitely end up on your gluten-free bread. If you eat it, you might as well be eating normal bread because the cross-contamination will be negating any attempts at living a gluten-free lifestyle.

Get different pots, pans, chopping boards, bread boards, etc. for your food preparation. You may think that you can use the same pots and pans as long as you wash them thoroughly. What many people don’t realize is that over time, there are scratches and little dents in the pots and pans. No matter how well you wash them; there will be some residue in these miniscule cracks. There will be gluten containing residue which will end up in your gluten-free food if you’re using the same pots and pans to whip up your meals. The same applies to cutting boards, bread boards, etc.

Initially, it may all seem troublesome and even a little expensive since you will have to have two sets of utensils, toasters, etc. However, once all is settled and you have your own items, you’ll not have any other issues as far as food preparation or cross-contamination goes. Put in the initial effort and expense. Over time, you will reap dividends many times over.

Goin’ All Veggies – A Guide to Becoming a Vegetarian (Free Download)

Tag Archive for: gluten-free