What Is Your Daily Diet?

[gary'sgirl]

If you're going shopping in a typical store (not a health food store with a special gluten-free section), here are some things to look for:

Breakfast

* Chex Cereals - there are five kinds that are gluten free. They will say gluten free on the box if they are gluten free.

Lunch

* Progresso Soup - if you do a search here, you can find out which Progresso soups are gluten free. Kettle brand potato chips.

Dinner Ideas

* Chili, Mexican (McCormick taco seasoning is gluten-free, read labels to find all corn taco shells or corn tortillas), pot roast, baked potato w/toppings, any grilled meat w/ veggies

If you have a health food section in your store, you can look for Tinkyada gluten-free pasta. Or try your favorite pasta sauces over rice for a risotto type meal.

If you find Udi's bread, buy it - you won't be sorry.

Hey I just wanted to add here that you may want to be careful of Chex Cereals. I have heard of several people having a bad reaction to the ones that are supposed to be gluten free. -Maybe a cross contamination issue. Personally I've steered clear of them.

[superbeansprout]

Breakfast: yogurt and fruit, sometimes some Mary's Gone Crackers for more protein. Chia seeds are excellent, and filling, they make you feel full for a long time.

Sometimes on the weekends I'm adventurous, and make gluten free crepes, they're SO easy:

2 eggs

1 c skim milk

2 tbsp butter melted

1/3 c white rice flour

1/3 c corn starch

1/2 tsp salt

then you can add whatever you want in the middle! riccotta cheese, tomato sauce, makes a good lunch crepe. I happen to like bananas and nutella, or just plain sour cream on top.

Lunch: Usually homemade soups, or a sandwich made with gluten free sandwich meat from Hormel or something like that, I'm a cheese fiend, so sandwich must have cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, on some great gluten free bread. I haven't tried Udi's but I have heard nothing but excellent things about it...I just bought some in fact. There are also a lot of pretty decent gluten free frozen meals if you're in a bind and don't or can't cook, and some great gluten free soups by Kettle Cuisine. Organic Bistro has a lot of gluten free meals, that are maybe a little more healthy than your average frozen meal, as a lot of them have quinoa, or brown rice and vegetables, rather than white rice, etc. Anything you can do to increase your fiber, and lessen your fat intake will be good, as the gluten free diet is chock full of low fiber, high calorie, high fat things to make up for the lack of taste in gluten free grains.

Dinner: My personal fav is mexican. But I eat pretty much anything. Fish--gently coat with corn starch or gluten-free all purpose flour, sear it on both sides, then bake in the oven with lemon and capers. very tasty. My token mexican meal that I usually make about once every two weeks is this:

1 tbsp olive oil

chicken breasts, cut into cubes, or ground chicken (faster, less prep work)cook in pan until just about cooked througout, then add:

1 jar taco sauce, and 1 jar of your favorite salsa

1 can black beans, drained, rinsed

1 can jalapenos (or fresh, but this just eliminates the prep work)

1 can corn, drained

chili powder, garlic, cayenne if you like things hot

1 can diced chilis

soft corn tortillas or hard corn taco shells (ortega is gluten free, I believe)

shredded mexican cheese

avocado, sour cream

I tend to heat my corn tortillas in a dry skillet on one side, then flip, add cheese until it melts, then fill with taco filling.

ortega taco seasoning IS gluten free...though it has msg in it, which just isn't healthy.

One thing I think should be mentioned is that oats are generally NOT on the safe list...especially if you are newly diagnosed, you should definitely ask your doctor before adding those back into your diet. I've been gluten free for 3 years, and am apparently VERY sensitive. My TTGs go up and down all the time. I have recently started looking at my makeup, which I found out HAD wheat in it. Most recently, my ttg level was 30, with no explanation. I am so strict with my diet, my makeup was one of the only things I discovered...but what my nutritionist told me was that any makeup, lotion, shampoo, etc, HAS to be ingested, you CANNOT absorb it through your skin, you have to digest it. but with lotions, often you put it on your hands, and maybe you eat something, so you ingest it there.

The other thing I had added into my diet was Eco-Planet gluten free 7 grain cereal, which I figured since they were certified gluten free oats, I'd be ok. But who knows. Some people do still have a reaction, and it depends upon your own personal sensitivity to any contamination.

[my.oh.my]

Thanks to all of you! I obtained lots of good ideas how to broaden my gluten-free variety!

[Dace]

I do not have gluten problems, my kids and Hubby do. I ditched all the processed foods and simple carbs in Nov and promptly lost 15 lbs.

My daily diet looks like this:

Breakfast:

handful of baby carrots (to break the *fast*

Coffee w/ raw cane sugar and heavy cream

Kefir smoothie- homemade kefir, carrots, frozen spinach,blueberries, 1/2 banana, teaspoon raw honey

OR

Scrambled egg frittata with at least 1 c of saut

[JustLovely9216]

Breakfast: Peanut butter apple with skim milk, egg muffins (toss chopped veggies/meat/cheese into a muffine tin and toppped with beaten eggs), PB & J Lara bar with skim milk, PB & J smoothie (frozen strawberries, banana, milk, peanut butter), and I always eat a banana (unless I have the smoothie) on my drive in to work before breakfast.

Lunch: Usually leftovers from dinner or chicken salad with rice crackers, salad with some sort of chopped meat on top, soup, etc.

Dinner: Baked ziti, spagheti, baked chicken (spicy thai peanut, lemon pepper, sweet and sour, salsa, etc), shrimp scampi, tacos, and tons of homemade soups (taco soup, chicken tortilla soup, veggie soup, chicken noodles soup), I also love making chilli and having it either as regular chili, or "Mac" with noodles and onions, on top of a baked poatoe, etc. I also just tried a recipe for fiesta cabbage rolls that were awesome, just make ground beef with taco seasoning packets, brown rice, onions, garlic, and a can of diced tomatoes and roll in lightly steamed cabbage leaves.

Snacks: Chocolate, almonds, gluten-free cookies, guac or hummus with carrots, fruit, popcorn, chips & salsa, etc.