[mandigirl1]

hello!
Ive been gluten-free for 8 yrs now. Recently I decided to become a vegetarian. Ive been eating mostly brown rice, potato, veggies, PNB, nuts. Does anyone know of brand name foods that are good, "tasty" and healthy, gluten-free???? Or, additional sources of protein besides soy????
Thanks!

[Mango04]

Are you vegan?

I don't eat much meat, and I don't eat soy, so I eat a lot of beans (mainly pinto, black and garbanzo) and lentils. It's a good idea to add beans to your rice for a more complete protein. Hemp and flax might be good additions to your diet as well. I sometimes use cashews (to make creamy sauces and such).

If you're looking for packaged convenience food, I like Amy's, Sunshine Organic Veggie burgers, Mac and Chreese, stuff by Seeds of Change, Garden of Eden and My Pantry Organics. I also like Alpsnack Bars, Clif Nectar Bars, Cocao Chia bars and most products by Go Raw.

If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, they have a lot of good options these days (lots of quick pre-made gluten-free/veggie meals, soups etc.)

If you eat vegetarian though, it's easy to make a lot of things from scratch (or semi-scratch) for less $$.

[mtraezme]

Here's a link to a site that has some good information. It's for vegan celiacs. I've tried to register for the site, and it never seems to work, but I can still read the postings.

http://www.vegiac.com/forums/index.php

Hope that gives you a few more ideas.

Ezme

[hathor]

Tasty Bite & Thai Kitchen have some gluten-free offerings, too. (Just read the boxes, not everything is).

I'm surprised that the vegiac.com board doesn't work. Perhaps your spam filter is eliminating the confirmation email? I know all the emails I get from that board show up in my spam file.

I had a problem with the celiac.com board as well. Verizon was bouncing the emails and I couldn't fix the problem. I ended up creating a Yahoo email address and that works fine (except for the vegiac.com emails in spam )

You might check out a couple cookbooks: The Vegetarian Gluten-Free Kitchen and Food Allergy Survival Guide (all the recipes are vegan and avoid common allergens). Fatfreevegan.com also has a gluten free recipe section, and there are other sites online with gluten-free vegetarian or vegan recipes. A very nice one is a Yahoo group that has scads of recipes in their files: http://groups.yahoo....nd-Gluten-Free/

Many vegetarian/vegan recipes are gluten-free or can be converted. For instance, you use a gluten-free pasta or grain instead of gluteny ones.

For variety, you might try quinoa, buckwheat, lentils, split peas, polenta, sweet potatoes, or winter squash.

Protein is really a nonissue. The subject was confused for years because people were drawing conclusions from rat studies as to how much and what guide of protein PEOPLE need. The studies of people demonstrate that plants have sufficient protein and that protein contains what amino acids you need. A link (in particular read the second and third articles where you can see the recommendation for assorted amino acids and see their availability in different plant foods):
http://www.drmcdouga...ot_protein.html

The only way you won't get enough protein is if you eat junk or rely solely on fruit.