Living Gluten and Gliadin Free

There is life beyond a diet of foods containing gluten and gliadin! If we stop and think for a moment, we'd realize that most of our primitive ancestors never ate grains. Our origins come from hunters and gatherers whose diets were rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, proteins, and natural fats... all of the foods that could be gathered from the earth's harvest. A number of studies and research findings show how native tribes experienced a profound sense of health that has changed dramatically by the introduction of processed foods into their traditional diets.

Our American diet has become very grain and process-food oriented. Diets free of gluten/gliadin can in many ways be a return to an earlier way of eating... a way that our body genetically, hereditarily, digestively, and metabolically understands better and functions with. So... enjoy a diet rich in proteins (chicken, beef, eggs, lamb, turkey, fish), vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and the grains rice, millet, wild rice, and buckwheat. You will feel much better for your efforts! Please note that the intestinal healing process takes a minimum of two to three months on a gluten-free diet, and more dramatic health changes are usually seen after six months.

The gluten-free world is growing. Know that you are not alone in this dilemma, but rather part of an expanding group that realizes the benefits of improving their diet. To help you in your meal planning and preparation, we offer the following places to start. Each of these references will lead you to further suggestions, ideas, and references. Enjoy the learning process!

Cookbooks
"The Gluten-free Gourmet" and "More from the Gluten-free Gourmet" – Bette Hagman
"Special Diet Solutions" – Carol Fenster, PhD
"Special Diet Celebrations" – Carol Fenster, PhD

Products
Authentic Food Flour Products – (flours with which to make your favorite bakery items)
"Panadini" Pure Lentil Bean Pastas – (four different shapes!)
100% Buckwheat Soba Noodles (read the labels carefully)
Corn Polentas, "Gabriele" Polenta (Corn) Pastas
Rice Noodles (the best choice is organic, brown rice is higher in nutrition, do not overcook!)
Rice Flours
Rice Almond Bread, Rice Pecan Bread, Bean Bead – Available at Jimbo's, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods
Savory Thin Rice Crackers – Baron's, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods
Arrowhead Mills – Wheat-free All Purpose Baking Mix

Websites
www.celiac.com
Provides important resources and information for people on gluten-free diets for celiac disease, gluten intolerance, dermatitis herpetiformis, wheat allergy, or other health reasons. Also offers key gluten and wheat-free online resources that are helpful to anyone with special dietary needs.

www.celiac.org
The Celiac Disease Foundation provides support, information, and assistance to people affected by celiac disease/dermatitis herpetiformis (CD/DH).

www.gluten.net
GIG provides information, education, and support to those with celiac disease/dermatitis herpetiformis (CD/DH), their families, health care professionals, and the general public.

Restaurants
Any restaurant serving grilled, poached, or sautéed fish, chicken, turkey, beef, and lamb – ask that the bread basket not be delivered to table and ask if your menu choice has any hidden flours (see below). Accompany your meal with a salad, vegetable, rice, or potato. Our culture has become very bread/pasta oriented. Do not hesitate to break the cultural rules.

Hidden Glutens
Read food labels carefully. Glutens can hide under such names as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, modified food starch, dextrin, and "natural flavorings." Gluten might also be found in the alcohol used in flavorings such as vanilla, distilled vinegar, and veined cheese like blue cheese and Roquefort. Even the smallest amount of gluten could be enough to keep you from feeling the best that you can, so take extra care in finding places in which it might be hidden.

The focus of a gluten-free cookery is often on replacing gluten flour in baked goods with starches made from rice, arrowroot, potato, other legumes like chickpeas, and wheat starch (all the protein has been carefully removed).

In many respects, it is easier and nutritionally wiser to forgo the baked goods in large measure and eat other foods. The task of changing your diet is very much like moving to another country and culture. You may try to bring all of your old habits with you, and struggle to get all of the ingredients that you used to make meals, or you can gracefully, and with a sense of adventure, try the new cuisine. Certainly, bakery foods are delicious and tempting, but so are creatively prepared rice, vegetable, fruit, fish, and meat meals. Even with multiple exclusions, an appealing, varied diet is within reach if you are willing to change your eating style. The main thing is to be inspired to create and enjoy a new cuisine that will diminish your disturbances, sustain your interest in food, and provide balanced nutrition.

Often, people being treated for food problems make odd, exotic food choices and use new food products of doubtful safety. Exotic legume products, new flours, and a host of new snack foods are all on the questionable food list. We cannot be sure how your body will tolerate these products, so eat them with caution. In food-related illness, even the most wholesome appearing food may be harmful to people with allergies and digestive or metabolic abnormalities.

So… although the food industry and grocery stores are awakening to the demand for wheat and gluten-free products and are providing them in new and interesting products, do not get caught up in using these new products. The best choice is still to eat foods that come directly from the earth… the foods that Mother Nature provides.