gluten-free & Diabetic - Work Lunch Help :)

[VydorScope]

Okay, I personally do not have a problem with gluten, but for my son's sake we prefer to keep our house gluten-free. It makes things much simpler on everyone. I do how ever have a problem with blood sugar spikes and dips. Its nothing for me to swing from 200 to 30 in a 4 hour period. I am just that good! (LOL) Up til this current gluten-free effort I have brought peanut butter sandwiches to work for lunch every day. The reason is:

1) Kroger & Walmart sell a wonderful low carb bread whole grain bread

2) Kroger & Walmart sell a generic all natural peanut butter (peanuts and salt, only ingredients)

3) They travel very well, do not care about being squished

4) They need no fridge, no cooking, and can be made up in advance by the stack full

5) I can eat them with no meds and not get a blood sugar spike

6) It is very cheap

So gluten-free bread sucks for this because it is very high carb in comparison. If I am to get rid of this last source of gluten I need some option that can fill that slot. It has to be low carb, high fat/protein. Think Atkins if you are not familiar with diabetic diet. It has to travel well, be easy and cheap to make and no require more then an ice pack in my lunch bag.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Adalaide]

Wraps with gluten free tortillas? Heck, you could even still go with peanut butter. My hubby's endo told us that what one person can eat and be stable with, may spike the next person and leave another going low. If your endo has an on staff dietician you might call and set up an appointment if they're celiac savvy. (My husband's doctor is.) I honestly have no clue what I'm going to send my husband to work with when he's gluten free.

[bartfull]

Can you just bring the PB and buy a loaf of regular bread to keep at work? Then you could make your sandwich at work, keep your blood sugar stable, and just wash your hands really well before you go home.

[Takala]

Does it have to be.....

Gluten Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Almond Free, and Oat Free or just gluten, soy, and oat free ?

I can make a high protein gluten free bread, but I'm usually using egg and dairy products to help hold it together, besides the protein bump. The alternative would be to use guar or xanthan gum.

Suggested gluten free flours which are higher protein and less crumbly than plain brown rice flour: amaranth, buckwheat, sorghum, navy bean, garbanzo bean flours

If flax is acceptable, you can add that for fiber.

I have gotten the bun-in-a-cup to work with just buckwheat, garbanzo, and potato starch for the flours, and no eggs.

[Juliebove]

Since you are eating these at work... Can you just bring the bread and peanut butter in there to eat?

The other option would be to clear off a little area in your kitchen. Cover it with foil or use a paper plate or something and make your sandwiches. Then put them in a sealed container or plastic bag. Then clean the area well. Make sure that you label that peanut butter so that you don't cross contaminate the gluten-free person.

I am diabetic. I did go gluten-free for a while but then wound up buying my own bread. No way would gluten-free bread work for me. But also no way would an Atkins style diet work for me. I have to eat some carbs. If I don't eat enough, my blood sugar soars. If I eat too many my blood sugar soars. Currently I am having severe trouble with hypos. Sometimes we just can win!

What I ate for lunch for a long time was a taco salad. I cooked up a large batch of taco meat and stored it in individual bags in the freezer. Now I was eating this at home but I have also taken it to my daughter's dance studio. What I do there is to take some salad in a bag. Then I take separate bags of the meat, cheese (if you eat it), salsa, beans (if you eat them) and any other toppings you might want. Like gaucamole and sour cream. I would take a large plastic bowl to eat the salad from. And a small paper bowl so that I could nuke the meat. If you have no microwave at work, just make sure to defrost the meat the day before and you can eat it cold. Assemble the salad at work.

You could also make lettuce wraps. This is what I made for my daughter when she first started on South Beach. I asked an owner of Jimmy John's how to do it. She said the trick was to get the paper. I did that. Went to a restaurant supply store.

You need to start with some large leaves of lettuce. At Jimmy John's they have huge heads of iceberg which they cut in 6 pieces and use the outer leaves. I find that the heads we can get at the store are much smaller so core it and cut in four wedges. Peel about 6 outer leaves off. Lay 5 of them on your paper. Then add your meat, cheese and whatever other toppings you want. Fold over the edges, add another piece of lettuce on top, then wrap tightly with the paper and seal with a piece of tape.

[VydorScope]

Thanks everyone!!!

  On 6/27/2012 at 12:36 AM, Adalaide said:

Wraps with gluten free tortillas? Heck, you could even still go with peanut butter.

All the gluten-free tortillas I have see are high carb. Do you know of one that is not and can be found easy? I do not live where there are a lot of specialty stores/foods.

  On 6/27/2012 at 12:42 AM, bartfull said:

Can you just bring the PB and buy a loaf of regular bread to keep at work? Then you could make your sandwich at work, keep your blood sugar stable, and just wash your hands really well before you go home.

Maybe, I just do not have a place to take care of / clean all the stuff at my desk. I'll have to think on this one.

  On 6/27/2012 at 7:13 AM, Takala said:

Does it have to be.....

Gluten Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Almond Free, and Oat Free or just gluten, soy, and oat free ?

Just gluten. They other foods were are testing through the elimination diet, hoping most of them will be added back.

  Quote

I can make a high protein gluten free bread, but I'm usually using egg and dairy products to help hold it together, besides the protein bump. The alternative would be to use guar or xanthan gum.

Would love to see this recipe. I might be able to modify it.

  On 6/27/2012 at 10:02 AM, Juliebove said:

Since you are eating these at work... Can you just bring the bread and peanut butter in there to eat?

The other option would be to clear off a little area in your kitchen. Cover it with foil or use a paper plate or something and make your sandwiches. Then put them in a sealed container or plastic bag. Then clean the area well. Make sure that you label that peanut butter so that you don't cross contaminate the gluten-free person.

This is what we are currently doing. Feels a little like Russian roulette though.

  Quote

I am diabetic. I did go gluten-free for a while but then wound up buying my own bread. No way would gluten-free bread work for me. But also no way would an Atkins style diet work for me. I have to eat some carbs. If I don't eat enough, my blood sugar soars. If I eat too many my blood sugar soars. Currently I am having severe trouble with hypos. Sometimes we just can win!

It is a myth that you do not eat carbs on Atkins. Most should end up on like 60-80 carbs a day on that diet. I am not dieting right now, it was just the easiest way I could think of to explain the diabetic needs.

I am in the same boat as you are. I can go a little while with out carbs, but to long and I will have issues. Right now I try to keep to 20-30 a meal. If gets more then that I have to chase it with pills. Blah.

  On 6/27/2012 at 10:02 AM, Juliebove said:

What I ate for lunch for a long time was a taco salad. I cooked up a large batch of taco meat and stored it in individual bags in the freezer. Now I was eating this at home but I have also taken it to my daughter's dance studio. What I do there is to take some salad in a bag. Then I take separate bags of the meat, cheese (if you eat it), salsa, beans (if you eat them) and any other toppings you might want. Like gaucamole and sour cream. I would take a large plastic bowl to eat the salad from. And a small paper bowl so that I could nuke the meat. If you have no microwave at work, just make sure to defrost the meat the day before and you can eat it cold. Assemble the salad at work.

You could also make lettuce wraps. This is what I made for my daughter when she first started on South Beach. I asked an owner of Jimmy John's how to do it. She said the trick was to get the paper. I did that. Went to a restaurant supply store.

You need to start with some large leaves of lettuce. At Jimmy John's they have huge heads of iceberg which they cut in 6 pieces and use the outer leaves. I find that the heads we can get at the store are much smaller so core it and cut in four wedges. Peel about 6 outer leaves off. Lay 5 of them on your paper. Then add your meat, cheese and whatever other toppings you want. Fold over the edges, add another piece of lettuce on top, then wrap tightly with the paper and seal with a piece of tape.

Taco salad has possibility, but that would require I (read.. my wife ) spend time cooking the meat each week in advance. Cold salads of some kind I think would work easiest since I can put them in a plastic container and stick them in my lunch bag pretty easy.