okay we are going gluten free!

[LBMarie9]

okay so I have decided to trial going off Gluten. honestly my hubby has decided to do the south beach diet for 2 weeks (I know--oh boy) because all his family is doing it--anyway I told him he still had to merge out diet with his (as in he can't be having cheese and stuff--lots of veggies, etc)--but he can't have grains etc---so I thought--why not try a gluten free diet now (he's the major one that was complaining every time i brought it up and if there's not bread out of the house my son WILL want it!)-

so what grains do not have gluten that I and my son CAN have? Quinoa right?
also what are other things that I wouldn't know had gluten in them--like soy sauce does right? 9we are eliminating that too)--do vinegars have it? just don't want to miss anything! thanks!!!--will it say gluten or do I need to know all the grains that have gluten in them. can we have oats?

ideas for eating would be great too!
we are also off dairy/egg/soy and I think I am going to take out tomato also as his face gets red when he has it...might as well do a lot for 2 weeks right?
THANKS everyone!

[changingseasons]

Yes, vinegars can have gluten. Actually no, distilled vinegars shouldn't... I think. Too many things to remember. Check out this site for gluten/gluten-free foods.

You could have rice (as long as it's not cross-contaminated; I think that Lundberg is a safe brand??), quinoa, millet, teff, amaranth, and my favorite- buckwheat! Oats are really hard (or maybe impossible) to find without gluten x-con.

I use buckwheat flour to make waffles, and they are not too bad. You can use buckwheat and rice flour in a lot of baking too.

[staceyshoe]

I'm just a couple of weeks ahead of you on this journey. We are now gluten, dairy, egg, soy, and corn free as we try to identify food triggers. I'm hoping for a good couple of weeks and then slowly re-introduce foods to find out exactly which foods are the problem.

I am big time into online food sites like Allrecipes and have about a zillion bookmarks. I went through my bookmarks and put the meals we can still eat into a special folder for when I need inspiration. You can also make up a quick list of fav meals that you can still eat. It's handy for when you feel like there is nothing left to eat!

The other thing I did that was super helpful was get a couple of GF cookbooks from the library. They tend to have a rather lengthy informative section in the beginning including lists of Safe and Forbidden foods, snack ideas, substitutions, etc.

[LBMarie9]

buckwheat waffles--great idea- do you do them with eggs or just pancakes without?

WHAT a great to get a cook book from the library- I need to get a card here where we just moved (okay 5 mo ago!)

so oats aren't gluten? no one has found a safe brand?
---I was thinking we couldn't have rice--I've seen that brand you named at costco--hooray!

what's the difference between gluten and wheat free? I guess some people can only be allergic to wheat right? is that a top allergen or all gluten?

are the gluten free breads worth buying or yucky? THANNKS

[healthyfishies]

There are some Gluten Free oats out there... Try Bob's Red Mill, they do offer some that are GF, but be sure to read the labels! I also use a lot of BarryFarms flours, they label gluten free very well.

I use alot of different flours in my cooking and baking. There are some commercial brands of Pre-made mixes like Pamela's - but I prefer to mix my own flours to get the best results.

There are very few pre-made breads that i like, but some do like the rice breads you can find commercially made.

[nalo]

Originally Posted by healthyfishies

There are some Gluten Free oats out there... Try Bob's Red Mill, they do offer some that are GF, but be sure to read the labels! I also use a lot of BarryFarms flours, they label gluten free very well.

I use alot of different flours in my cooking and baking. There are some commercial brands of Pre-made mixes like Pamela's - but I prefer to mix my own flours to get the best results.

There are very few pre-made breads that i like, but some do like the rice breads you can find commercially made.

Bob's no longer makes GF oats but there are other brands that do. They still offer tons of GF flours and mixes though. GF breads are all pretty disgusting. I wouldn't waste my money. I shifted to PB and J on rice cakes and deconstructed sandwiches.

[healthyfishies]

Originally Posted by DoulaMary

Bob's no longer makes GF oats but there are other brands that do. They still offer tons of GF flours and mixes though. GF breads are all pretty disgusting. I wouldn't waste my money. I shifted to PB and J on rice cakes and deconstructed sandwiches.

oh no
That is a bummer about Bob's not doing GF oats :

I do agree on the store bought GF breads though : bleh! My sister likes them, but I could not do it. I had to learn to bake my own -yum.

[tanyalynn]

My understanding is that the protein in oats (naturally in oats, I mean) is quite similar to gluten, and some people have problems with it as well, beyond the cross-contamination issue that most oats have. We've just done without. For hot cereal, buckwheat is our choice.

I also make our own bread, although we eat much less of it now. My basic go-to meals when I have no creativity are some meat, some veggies and/or roots/tubers, and maybe a grain (we usually have quinoa, sometimes rice). Include whatever spices/wheat-free tamari/whatever and it's a meal that usually makes leftovers.

re: gluten free and wheat free... Something can be wheat-free but contain gluten (maybe it has barley malt or something like that). Although theoretically something could be gluten-free but contain wheat (if they somehow removed the protein, the gluten, but other parts of the wheat plant remained) in practice I've never seen that nor read about it. So if it says gluten-free, in practical terms it is also wheat-free.

I've never had problems with rice being cross-contaminated (that I've noticed a reaction to). We usually buy from the tall, skinny bulk bins at Whole Foods, the kind that have a downspout (not a flip-top bin).

[Chinese Pistache]

I bought my gf oats at http://www.glutenfreeoats.com/ They're priced really well compared to the ones at WF (I can't remember the brand name right now, but it's not Bob's).

We're gf, too, and I haven't ventured much into making gf versions of "normal" foods. I do have a baking mix I use for things that has a combination of rice flours, tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch. LMK if you want the amounts.

We do rice, rice pasta (Tinkyada), millet, used to do quinoa, but I thought ds was reacting (need to trial that), and a good amount of potatoes (if you're not sensitive, they're very versatile).

Kathy has buckwheat pancakes/waffles on her site www.kathysrecipebox.com

[momofmine]

We were doing GF too until a week ago, and I just recently saw GF Bob's Red Mill oats in my grocery store. Aack...maybe it was old!! But I agree with Tanya, that some just don't tolerate it anyway, and I would stay off of it at first. Even when people with celiac try oats, they caution people to wait a couple of years, until they are completely healed and trying it cautiously. I tried regular oats with my DS while we were GF and he ahd a HUGE reaction, major diarrhea, and I don't think that was just from cross-contamination. If you are going to go GF, I'd skip oats just to start at least.

[LBMarie9]

thanks about the oats--I'm really just trialing the gluten for 2 weeks or so---- so I'll stay off the oats. you all helped a lot---thanks--I'm thinking I'll just keep things simple these two weeks--lots of veggies, fruit, and quinoa.

qustion about the tamari (wheat free)---that IS soy right? I've heard some are okay with fermented soy and others aren't--is tamari soy?

[momofmine]

Originally Posted by LBMarie9

qustion about the tamari (wheat free)---that IS soy right? I've heard some are okay with fermented soy and others aren't--is tamari soy?

Yes, tamari is soy sauce made from soybeans without the wheat. I would avoid as many processed things like that as you can and just eat whole foods. It's much easier that way, IMO.

[nalo]

Originally Posted by LBMarie9

thanks about the oats--I'm really just trialing the gluten for 2 weeks or so---- so I'll stay off the oats. you all helped a lot---thanks--I'm thinking I'll just keep things simple these two weeks--lots of veggies, fruit, and quinoa.

qustion about the tamari (wheat free)---that IS soy right? I've heard some are okay with fermented soy and others aren't--is tamari soy?

You don't need to limit yourself to just quinoa if you're avoiding gluten. There are tons of non-gluten grains that are great for baking, hot cereal, etc.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by LBMarie9

buckwheat waffles--great idea- do you do them with eggs or just pancakes without?

WHAT a great to get a cook book from the library- I need to get a card here where we just moved (okay 5 mo ago!)

I can't do eggs, or much else... so my recipe is now down to buckwheat flour, water, sea salt, palm shortening (since my waffle maker decided that it would no longer release my waffles with blueberries in them and I would have to scrape them out in 200 pieces. ) But if you can do eggs, by all means use eggs!!! Just use a regular waffle recipe and sub out the wheat flour for buckwheat (and sub out any other allergens).

The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook is a good book to get if your library has it. It has a lot of information about using different grains/flours in different types of recipes, as well as some tasty allergen-free recipes!