Going Gluten & Dairy Free: What I've Learned

In our effort to get to the bottom of what has been bothering Camden's tummy and skin, my doctor had me go off of gluten and dairy for two weeks. I thought I'd share a few tips and recipes I've learned along the way. (This is for you, Jessie!)

A few facts about gluten

1 percent of Americans are gluten intolerant (Celiac disease) and 10 percent have gluten sensitivity. (You can read about the symptoms here. Also, this is an interesting article from CNN: Will a gluten-free diet improve your health?)

Wheat used to have 14 chromosomes, and now, because of genetic engineering, it has 42. There is some belief that the increased chromosomes can cause a myriad of health problems.

Some people (like this cardiologist) believe it's genetically engineered wheat that is causing nationwide obesity.

A gluten-free diet has been used as an adjunct intervention treatment for autism and related disorders, as well as infertility problems.

What I learned about eating gluten-free

Gluten-free baked goods: At first, I just wanted to find gluten-free replacements for everything I was already eating, so I went to the gluten-free aisle at Macey's and stocked up on gluten-free cookies, granola bars and pasta. I learned that store-bought, processed gluten-free food is NOT worth buying. Make it at home. It is so much more delicious (and more healthy). On that note, don't waste your time with store-bought, gluten-free bread. Yuck. If you can have eggs, there are some good homemade bread options out there.

Pasta: Pasta, however, is a viable option. My sister, whose husband has to eat gluten-free, gave me the tip to go for Quinoa pasta. Even my husband couldn't tell a difference when I made spaghetti with it.

Gums: Xanthan gum and guar gum is in a lot of baked gluten-free goods, but they can cause stomach upset in some people. I think I am one of them.

Eating healthy when gluten-free: When I first went gluten-free, I thought I was being so much healthier, because going without things you love to eat make you feel that way. But you can eat gluten free and still be eating unhealthily. There can be a lot of sweetener in gluten-free stuff. As with any diet, it's good to stick with whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible. Fruits and vegetables are always gluten-free. Also, because wheat products are enriched with vitamins (as synthetic as they may be) make sure you are taking supplements (or eating crazy amounts of greens) to get all of the iron, etc. your body needs.

What I ate 

The no. 1 thing that got me through the two weeks without giving in to a bread binge was meal planning and making things ahead and freezing them. I created a Google Doc so I could access it anywhere and planned out my breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks with links to recipes. I also printed out the recipes I liked and  put them in a gluten-free section in my 3-ring-binder recipe book.

There are a lot of great gluten-free recipes, and they are easy to find, especially with all the blogs and Pinterest pins floating around the internet, but www.donteatwheat.com and www.lexieskitchen.com got me through my two weeks. You can find a few more on my blog roll and gluten-free Pinterest board.

Here are some things I ate:

Breakfast: Rice chex + bananas, GF steel cut oats, multi-grain breakfast cereal (steel-cut oats, millet, red quinoa), GF bagels with almond butter, GF waffles with New Grains Bakery waffle mix from Macey's, pancakes and pumpkin pancakes (I used 1/2 banana, 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp oil as an egg substitute)

Lunch: Green smoothies, chicken salad (avacado instead of mayo), tuna, meat + veggie skewers, leftovers, spaghetti squash with herbs

Dinner: Barbecued salmon on a cedar plank (may favorite thing Clay makes. All you need to put on it is salt and pepper!), tacos with GF tortillas or crunchy corn tortillas, spaghetti, chili and vegan cornbread, butternut squash soup, tomato basil soup, BLT salad and sage pork chops

Snacks: Dried fruit, almonds and cranberries, sticky toffee power balls, veggies and GF Crunchmaster crackers (from Costco) with hummus, fruit

As for grocery shopping, Sunflower Market is great because they have yellow tags on everything that is gluten-free. Macey's also has an entire gluten-free aisle.

Eating out is more doable than you'd think. I like Jason's Deli, Kneader's salads and Guru's best.


A few notes about dairy-free
We stopped buying milk a little over a year ago when I noticed Ellie's eczema go away after being off of it for awhile. Also, I learned about some of the negative effects cow's milk can have on our bodies. Instead, we buy Silk Pure Almond (50 percent more calcium that cow's milk). I have tried a lot of other almond milks and we like this one best. Their dark chocolate milk is good too! I'll occasionally buy coconut milk to switch things up and get some more healthy fat in my skinny little girl. I'll still eat small amounts of dairy here and there, but I have noticed too much doesn't sit will with Camden, so I avoid it for the most part. Also, I don't worry about it if Ellie has cow's milk now and then at other people's houses.


If anyone has more gluten or dairy-free recipes they like, send them my way!

P.S. I am definitely not anti-dairy or gluten. Barring a medical condition or intolerance, I think all things in moderation is a good rule of thumb. I am just very interested in nutrition and enjoy exploring it. :)