Learning How To Eat Again

[hiketheAT]

I was diagnosed with Celiac several months ago, about 2 days before I bolted north to the backwoods of New Hampshire to start my summer job at a backcountry hut. I didn't have time to mentally/physically process the diagnosis, and now I'm in a whirlwind of trying to cope but I don't have a support group up here and I don't know how to deal with this. 

Most of all, I don't know how to eat anymore. I'm basically living off gluten-free granola bars and jars of peanut butter. I know I'm deficient in everything, but I don't know where to start. Can someone help direct me to easy, cheap meal planning for celiacs? Thank you!

[kareng]

Check out what some of us are making for dinner.  Some of us are great cooks and some of us just open a jar of pasta sauce, put it on the pasta add cheese and melt the cheese.  You can really eat just about anything.  A few things you will need to make adjustments to - like gluten-free noodles or picking a taco seasoning without wheat.

 

 

 

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/75238-the-whats-for-dinner-tonight-chat/

 

And check out the newbie thread for some starting info

 

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/91878-newbie-info-101/

[StephanieL]

What do you like to eat?  What meals are best in your mind? What do you eat a lot of?

 

Starting with whole foods will be the easiest place to start. Think meat, veggies/fruits and starch (rice, potato, and all the other gluten-free subs out there!)  Then start looking for things you miss- snacks, desserts, junk. 

[w8in4dave]

I eat fresh meats and fresh vegetables. It's really getting back to natural stuff and not pre packaged stuff. Good luck! 

[cristiana]

Are you finding that you are able to tolerate dairy?  If so, that's great, but if you are having issues with dairy (this may well just be temporary) my nutritionalist said it was important to get calcium from somewhere else and has encouraged me to eat tinned sardines which fortunately I have acquired more of a taste for!  Eggs are good too for providing other key nutrients and both foodstuffs are easy to put together with vegetables or on gluten-free toast for a quick meal.

[BlessedMommy]

Welcome!

 

I guess a good place to start is to think back to what kind of dishes that you liked to eat before your DX. Many of them can be made gluten free with only small modifications.

 

In my family, we eat lots and lots of fresh produce (I get a weekly farm share box) and make salads and cook veggies all kinds of ways. We also eats lots of fresh fruit. For grains, we enjoy quinoa, certified gluten free oats, millet, white basmati rice, etc. One of my favorite meals is a quick Spanish rice that I cook in my rice cooker. (I put beans in it too)

 

We eats beans all different kinds of ways (we're vegetarian) and also eat a few of the gluten free vegetarian meat substitutes or veggie burgers once in awhile. We eats lots of eggs in various ways and also nuts. I have a couple of bread recipes that I really like and I tend to bake our own gluten free bread but we also buy commercial sometimes, especially for hamburger buns.

 

I agree with the suggestion to check out the What's for Dinner thread. Hopefully that will get your creative juices flowing.

 

I know that things can be overwhelming at first, especially if you don't have much support. I have found that this forum is great source of support!

[Georgia-guy]

Blessedmommy, please send me your bread recipes!

I

HiketheAT, if I understand your post right, you are not near any big cities or towns, I'm guessing just the local country stores. As far as getting your hands on some gluten free items, run a google search for gluten free foods and look at the shopping section. A lot of the time you can order stuff online and have it shipped to you (which would be rather convenient if my assumptions about your shopping options are right). I would also check out the "what's for dinner" thread, a LOT of good recipes there. (I have gotten many good ideas just by following it for a week or so as several people post their daily dinner plans on there.) As some people have already said, look for FRESH meats in the meat department of whatever store is nearby-or a butcher shop (no prep-packaged meats as some will contain gluten), and fresh produce (I can't think of any produce I've found at the store-even pre-packaged like the salad mixes- that have had gluten, but double check).

[BlessedMommy]

Georgia_guy, this is my favorite one:

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

I also like this one:

 

Open Original Shared Link

[SMRI]

I was just diagnosed and you might be over thinking this a bit.  MOST food is naturally gluten free so you don't have to limit yourself so much.  Fruits, veges, meat, etc. are all gluten-free. I've found that just about everything I eat is already gluten-free.  The only substitutions I've had to make so far have been my breakfast cereal and oatmeal and breads.  I never really ate that much bread though so that hasn't been hard---oh, an no more Pop-Tarts .  I went through my pantry the other day and really didn't have to clean out very much, some Cream of whatever soups, a couple boxes of cracker and some chips.  I had already replaced my cereal.  Hardest part is my husband likes to bake so he is just going to have to learn which rice or whatever flours work for that.  The only really hard part for me is eating out.  I travel a lot for work and while it's not hard to find gluten-free foods on menus these days, reading the boards here seems to show their prep procedures are not always gluten-free.

[nvsmom]

Your topic title made me think of the Pink song "learn to Love Again".... That's just screaming for a celiac parody of "Learn to Eat Again".  LOL

 

The best thing is to avoid prepackaged foods, like the others said. Make trail mix (nuts, dried fruit, seeds, chocolate), meat and potatoes or rice, eggs and bacon, any fruits and vegetables.  If you can get gluten-free foods like bread and noodles, then you can eat almost everything that others can eat: PB&J, grilled cheese, tuna salad, spaghetti, Mac and cheese....

 

Eating gluten-free requires that you prepare more of your own food than you may have in the past, but that is usually a good thing in the end.

 

Best wishes.