How to enjoy being Gluten Free- My 5 Tips
Is it possible to enjoy being gluten free? What about gluten free and dairy free? What about being gluten free, nut free, egg free, and nightshade free? YES!! I’m living proof that not only can you enjoy being gluten free, but you can THRIVE! I’m here to show you how you too can be happy and be gluten free or _____ (fill in the blank) free.
#1 Focus on your “cans” and not your can’ts
One of the first things that you think about when you are told to be gluten free is how many foods that you CAN’T have. Boy, does that feel super overwhelming. Like, wait, no pizza? No doughnuts? No burgers? No pasta? The classic American diet revolves around processed wheat products. So, now what? What in the world are you going to eat now? Yep, I’ve been there in my thoughts. I get it. Not only did I have to give up gluten, I also had to give up dairy, soy, eggs (I can eat duck eggs), nuts, nightshade vegetables and citrus. That was a very overwhelming list of can’t foods. Oy. I cried. I did. I was so overwhelmed. Like, what in the world do I eat now?! Maybe you feel that way or have felt that way.
That’s when I decided to make a list of my CAN foods. What can you eat? What grains can you eat? What vegetables can you eat? What meats can you eat? What fruits can you eat? What fats can you eat? What nuts or seeds can you eat? You get the idea. I made a list of all of the delicious foods that I could eat.
Make a list, write it out or type it out of all of the foods that you can eat. If you know certain foods bother you or are borderline, don’t include them on the list. These are only foods that you know you can enjoy without any reaction or sensitivity. So, what foods can you happily enjoy?
- Meats? (unless you are vegetarian)
- Eggs?
- Grains? (brown rice, white rice, quinoa, millet, sorghum-these are all naturally gluten free)
- Vegetables?
- Nuts and seeds?
- Fats?
- Fruits?
- Beans?
Once you’ve listed all of the foods (and there should be a lot), you’ll want to center all of my meals around those foods. It sounds like that’s a no-brainer, but often our first instinct is to try to use substitutes. That leads me to the next tip about substitutes.
#2 To start: Choose foods that are naturally GF- not substitutes
In the beginning of going gluten free, you may think, well… I’ll just use a gf substitute instead of the wheat version. From my experience this has left me incredibly disappointed because they typically don’t taste the same. Wheat has a different flavor and bakes completely different than a gluten free grain, like rice for instance. They are not the same and if you are expecting them to taste and work the same way in a recipe, you may be disappointed.
Let’s take pizza for example, for me, I can’t eat gluten, dairy or tomatoes. Yes, I could buy a gluten free pizza crust or make it myself, then use dairy free cheese and use a homemade garlic sauce as a substitute for pizza sauce….but it WILL NOT taste the same as it’s wheat version. Not even close. Now, it could be delicious, but if you are expecting it to taste the same, it won’t.
This is why I recommend focusing on the foods that are naturally gluten free/dairy free/_____,fill in the blank with your diet, to start. My favorite meals are naturally gluten free and anyone will love them because they don’t require any or very few substitutions. This also means that you can make the same meal for your entire family (even those who may not have to be gluten free). I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time or want to be a short-order cook! No thank you! I did that for about a year and felt like I was losing my mind. Never again!! Maybe you can relate. It’s much better when you can make one meal that everyone can eat!
Some of my family’s favorite recipes are my brown sugar grilled chicken, honey mustard chicken legs in the crock pot, beef roast in the crockpot, lemon chicken, herb roasted chicken, grilled pork chops, burgers without a bun, beef hotdogs without a bun, hotdogs with baked beans, whole chicken in the crockpot, brats without a bun, grilled salmon, chicken bacon bites, and tacos with corn tortillas. These are also great meals to bring to church potluck (so everyone can eat them), when you’re bringing a meal to a gluten/dairy free family, having a family over for dinner that’s gluten and dairy free and of course for your own family!
All this being said, you can always work up to the point of wanting to make a gluten free version of your favorite dish. Let’s say you want to make meatloaf for instance, you can use crispy rice cereal or frito style corn chips crushed up instead of the breadcrumbs and it will still turn out delicious. It may not taste exactly the same as the original version, but it’s still good!! That leads me to the next tip and encouragement.
#3 Your taste buds will change
If you are on this gluten free journey long-term, (like me and my family), you will find that your taste buds will change. Common to the misconception that it takes 7 years for tastebuds to change, they actually change and regenerate every 10-14 days. Over time, you won’t remember what certain foods taste like anymore. Really. You also will learn to like new foods. For example, I haven’t had any tomatoes or tomato-based products since 2014. I literally don’t remember what tomatoes taste like anymore. Do I miss them? In the beginning, like the first few months I did miss them. But not anymore because I have learned to love other foods instead. For my version of pizza, I put olive oil, crushed garlic and chunky Celtic sea salt with smoked salami on my homemade pizza crust. No, it’s not true pizza, but I still love it. It’s savory and satiating.
And that’s where you have to shift your perspective on food. Food is meant to nourish our bodies and it’s also meant to be enjoyed. I want to encourage you to try new foods, you may like them or learn to like them!! Really! People will tell you that gluten free equals taste free, but that is simply not true! Gluten free can and should be delicious, healthy and satisfying! I have learned to like numerous foods that are on my can list, like roasted sweet potatoes and roasted beets. I would have never tried them before I became gluten free. Or wrapped chicken in bacon and covered it with a sweet and spicy seasoning. Yum! This leads me to my next tip.
#4 Learn to make your own favorites
Since you know your taste buds will change, and you have the expectation that it won’t taste the same as the original wheat version, try making a “new” version of your favorite dish. You may love it, but don’t come in with the expectation that it will taste the same. It also comes with some trial of your taste buds. Let’s say you are gluten free and dairy free for example: do you like dairy free cheese? If you don’t, then I wouldn’t try to make the dairy free cheese the center of your meal (like mac and cheese) because the flavor may overpower the dish. Do you like brown rice noodles with your spaghetti? You may like corn noodles more. Or quinoa noodles instead. Play around with what you like.
I’ve mostly been talking about the main meals, like dinner, but let’s talk about breads. These are the most likely foods that you will make from scratch, likely from taste, cost or ingredients. I have only found one gluten free bread that my kids actually like and it’s so expensive, so I hardly ever buy it. I can’t justify buying a teeny tiny loaf for $6-8. That’s nuts! It’s also not organic and has eggs, which means that I can’t eat it. (I can only eat duck eggs) So, I either make bread myself (hello bread machine!!) or we go without bread until I make some myself.
Quick breads and muffins are fairly easy to make gluten free and dairy free thanks to the 1 to 1 gluten free flour blends on the market. That has been a game changer since I started in 2014. Tip: Make sure you spray the pan and muffin tins well or line the muffin cups with parchment paper liners because gluten free breads and muffins stick to the pans and those regular paper muffin liners.
Now, desserts can be tricker because texture and flavor matter more. Flat dense cake? No thanks. I want my cake light and fluffy! Brownies that appear to be liquid still, even after baking them for 45 minutes? Nope, I like them fudgy, but not like a brownie smoothie. Gross! LOL! I have had many-a-flop in the recipe department. Sometimes, I laughed and sometimes I cried. Like, I really wanted those brownies, but not molten liquid brownies. LOL! Every recipe here on gluten free with love has been tested multiple times over the years. I don’t want you to have the flops that I had in the beginning.
As for boxed cake mixes: the GF cake mixes from the store have been pretty good from our experience. My family has a few favorite boxed mixes, but I still prefer to make mine from scratch as much as possible. I like to use organic sugar and gf flour for the health benefits, yes even in desserts. 🙂 However, I use boxed mixes when we have birthday parties and I want to mass-produce cupcakes in a flash. 🙂
#5 Focus on how you feel without gluten
I remember someone saying to me during that time of transition of going completely gluten, dairy and nightshade free that they would DIE if they couldn’t have gluten or cheese or tomatoes. To which I politely said, “well…. I’m not dead, so I guess I’m living proof that it’s possible!” I think people mean well, but often say the wrong thing. LOL!
I should preface this, that I am not a doctor. However, I do love to geek-out on researching the effects of gluten and the mind-gut connection. So, let’s look at why you are going gluten free or currently gluten free? For: Health reasons? Digestive problems? Depression? Avoiding Glyphosate? Eczema? Thyroid problems? IBS? There are many reasons people have to be gluten free. Obviously, I’m not a doctor, but from my experience eliminating gluten has helped me in so many ways! I feel like I experienced a new life since 2014. My energy soared when I completely removed gluten from my diet. I also no longer felt depressed. I was the most surprised by that. The mind-gut connection is REAL!! I had struggled with low level depression my whole entire life, even feeling constantly “blue” as a little kid. For me, I don’t ever want to “cheat” because I will feel depressed the next day. I have 5 children to take care of, a household to run and an Etsy business, I don’t have time to be depressed! I need all the energy that I can get! No more depression once I was completely gluten free.
I also no longer have the digestive problems that came with gluten. Oh boy, was I miserable and didn’t even know the difference until I went 100% gluten free. And, I didn’t mention the eczema that I had….It was horrible!! So red and itchy. No creams helped me because the problem was the food that I was constantly eating. I was floored when my eczema completely went away when I took out gluten, eggs, tomatoes and citrus from my diet.
So, I’m not sure where you are in your gluten free journey, but if you are just at the beginning, I would encourage you not to “cheat”. I know it’s tempting in the beginning to just “pay for it” for that slice of pizza or whatever it is. Cheating is not worth it because you are causing damage to your body if you are having a reaction to it. And causing damage is not healing to your whole body. It’s just creating more inflammation. Also, if your skin is a mess (like eczema or psoriasis), that’s actually an intestinal/gut issue. Your body is trying to tell you that something deeper is going on and your skin is the largest organ on your body and is used to get rid of the inflammation that the food is causing to your body.
So, why am I sharing all of this with you? I want to encourage you in your gluten free journey. It’s not easy at first, but know there is a community and more and more people out there on this journey with you. You are not alone and it will get easier. I go to a small church, maybe 200 people and we have church potluck once a month. I bring gluten free and dairy free brownies every time. It’s my signature dish, LOL! And everyone raves about them, even the gluten-eaters! There are several families, one with 8 kids who are also all gluten and dairy free, and they tell me nearly every month how they really appreciate that there is a dessert that everyone can eat! The more people you talk to about being gluten free, the more people will say, oh yeah, I am gluten free too. Or my son needs to be gluten free. Or my grandson is gluten free. It’s more common than you think. You are not alone.
Keep focusing on the positive, like truly nourishing your body with whole, unprocessed foods. The way that God created them. Focus on the can foods and keeping your mind and body healthy. You got this!
With love, Hannah