I have now been eating gluten free for over a month now. I do not want to overwhelm my site with gluten free information, but I thought it would be a good time to post some of my thoughts about it so far. I have many thoughts, some good and some bad.
To be honest I have had days where I have tried to make something gluten free only to throw it in the trash, it was so bad. I have been overwhelmed, unsure, ready to give up, and more. But, the majority of the time I realize this is worth it. I realize I can do this, I will make it.
(The picture is of some gluten free cheese biscuits I made last week. Recipe coming soon)
So let’s start with the negatives:
- This has been hard on my family. They miss gluten, bread, cookies, muffins, etc. I did not realize how much I cooked and bake until I took the gluten out of my diet.
- I miss baking. Baking for me was a stress reliever. I find it relaxing. When I have a bad day or get stressed, I bake. I don’t necessarily eat it, I just love to cook and bake things.
- Cooking and eating gluten free is expensive. I live in Oklahoma, we have very few health food type stores. What I can find is very expensive.
- I have always known that cooking involves science, but gluten free cooking is taking the science behind food to a whole new level. I used to enjoy the science behind food, but right now it is a bit overwhelming.
- I have thrown out more food in the last month because of cooking disasters than I ever have before.
- I am struggling to find more healthy gluten free flours. Most of the flours I have available to me are the rice flours and potato flours that have a high glycemic index. My husband and one of my daughters has a tendency towards hypoglycemia. Because of this I am going to have to watch the gluten free flours that I use. I am in the process of ordering some millet and sorghum to begin experimenting with those.
- My husband and son are hungry. They do not feel full eating gluten free. I am trying to figure out how to add some things, including more gluten back into their diet to solve this.
Now the positives:
- Many things that we already ate were gluten free or could easily be made gluten free. We already ate a lot of Mexican or rice type dishes, they are naturally gluten free. It took me awhile to step back and realize how true this is. It is really just the baked good that I have to figure out. The rest of what we ate is basically fine with minor adjustments. You can eat gluten free and still eat relatively normal.
- We are eating less processed foods. I am making more things from scratch, which I think is healthier. This is also giving me more things to post about.
- I feel so much better.
- I don’t miss gluten because I feel better.
- I think overall we will eat healthier. Because I am baking less, we are eating less desserts and sweets. We are eating more fruits and vegetables in our diet.
- If you are a long time reader of my site you know my daughter has had some health problems, including severe asthma. Since, I am eating gluten free and the rest of the family is eating mainly gluten free, we have put her on a gluten free diet to see what happens. She seems a little better, and she is willing to continue to try it because she thinks it is helping. If it helps her health issues, it will be so worth it. If I can help her avoid some of the health issues that I have had, eating gluten free will be so worth it.
- I am experimenting more in cooking. I am being more creative and thinking outside the box when it comes to cooking. I am enjoying this and am realizing that I will have disasters in order to find what works. I am beginning to be fine with that.
- Have I mentioned that I feel so much better? I really do feel like a new person. Right now as I type this it is 10:00 at night. A few months ago I would have been exhausted, ready to go to bed, and I could have slept 12 hours. The trouble was I did not sleep well. I woke up four, five, even six times a night with severe reflux. Now, I sleep. I sleep seven or eight hours straight, and it is so nice. I never remember doing that in my whole life. Even now when I only get six hours sleep, I wake up feeling rested, because I actually did rest.
- I did not realize how bad I felt before, and I never want to feel that way again if I can help it. The fact that I feel so much better, makes all the negative things about going gluten free worth it.
My aunt is also on a gluten-free diet. She has luck finding certain food items on amazon.com. Only problem is she has to usually buy a case or so. You have a bigger family so that might be ok for you guys. Good Luck!!!
So glad to hear that the struggles are worth it. I hope to never have to go gluten-free, but I’m thrilled that others “have gone before me” if I need to do it.
where did you get your info on how to be gluten free? i might try it myself for reflux issues but i would not have a clue where to start. any books, websites etc?
@anna, Anna, trying gluten free was a last resort type thing. I have suffered with reflux and other issues since I was a child. I had tried everything else. Over the last few years my esph and stomach have become severely damaged. Nothing including meds have worked. So, varios research on my own and after talking to my Dr about trying different things and GF being the only thing I had not tried, we tried it. It only made sense that something I was eating was causing it because I had tried everything else and a bunch of other diets to help me and GF was the only thing that has. My relfux was also not your average reflux. I am not sure what issues you have, but mine has been really severe.
@Lynn, i have had varying degrees of reflux since i was in grade school, and i have been on and off diets as well, as well as stuff like prevacid. i also do not have celiac. i am just curious about recipes/techniques to try and see what happens.
Lynn, I feel bad for you that you are having such a time of it. But it seems like the positives out weigh the negatives. And I know having better health is terrific! I deal with back pain every day and appreciate the good days. I enjoy your site and I am going to start using some of your ideas. Just a note to say don’t give up!!!! It will get easier every day!!! chris m.
I have to eat gluten free because of Celiac disease. I still make baked goods all the time with great results. Betty Crocker now has gluten free cake mixes, brownie mixes, and a chocolate chip cookie mix. Also, Pamela’s Products have been a Godsend. Google Pamela’s to get to their website. They have a baking and pancake mix that I use to make most all of my baked goods, and their website has excellent recipes. Good luck with the gluten free, it is hard, but it is worth it!
Hi Lynn,
Hang in there with eating gluten free! It certainly seems as if you are seeing some positive health benefits. There are many, many naturally gluten free foods that are totally delicious, (as you noted that you are eating more fruits and veggies) and you won’t have to struggle so much with the “science” of baking. There are also more companies that are embracing making gluten free foods more nutrient dense as well.
Take care!
Erin
I’m glad things are going fairly well Lynn! Everyone is different with this diet, and I’m sorry its been hard on your family. In terms of baking, I’ve found this restriction to have such possibility. In fact, I bake about 5X more now then ever before! If you ever have questions about the science part of GF baking, I’ve been finding what works for me, so feel free to email, ask questions, anything! I always get excited when something works – it makes it more special being gluten free!
In terms of your boys being hungry, I have a friends grandma who was never hungry until finding out about her celiac. Seriously, she had never felt hungry once in the 75 years she lived with gluten. Ever. Anyways, not that that makes it their issue, but celiac and other dietary issues can be weird like that!
You talking about how you’re feeling brought a smile to my face. I also didn’t realize how sick I was until I felt better, can echo pretty much everything you said. Things can only get even better from here =D.
Have you ever gone to Karen’s blog – onlysometimesclever.wordpress.com? She has celiac disease so everything she makes is gluten free and she shares tons of stuff about it on her blog. Check it out if you haven’t before and you might find some ideas to help you. 🙂
I feel like we’re having a similar struggle. While we aren’t avoiding gluten, we did find out that my son is allergic to wheat (which is better than gluten because I can still use rye and barley flours) and that both of my kids are allergic to dairy (which, sadly, means that we won’t be able to try your GF cheesey biscuits). I, too, love to bake and still do but it’s been hard. Wheat flour has such perfect baking qualities and every other flour has it’s own particular qualities but none exactly like wheat. But my children both suffered from chronic ear infections/ear fluid and my son was wheezing and coughing so bad and so often they actually thought he had asthma- at the worst point I was giving him his inhaler every 4 hours religiously (and you may or may not know this, but giving an inhaler to a very strong 9-16 month old is not a fun or easy task!). Since we’ve excluded wheat and dairy both children have been in perfect health (and I had kind of forgotten what that felt like!). It kind of makes me wonder how many kids out there are diagnosed with asthma or who get a lot of ear infections actually have unknown food allergies. Food allergies/intolerance is definitely more of a problem that we previously thought. But I look forward to learning with you (since GF always = wheat free, I often just look for that).
Just found your site tonight b/c another one linked to your recipe. So…just curious-have you ever seen a nutritionist? It would take me too long to tell my story–just suffice to say, I no longer have reflux. I underwent a blood test that told all my allergies and have also eliminated them from my diet, but then she’s used supplements from Standard Process, one of which was called “Gastrex.” You may have already tried that but fyi! God Bless!!!
As a fellow gf-er, I highly recommend 2 cookbooks: Nourishing Traditions (Sally Fallon) and 1001 Gluten-Free Recipes (Carol Fenster). Also get a coffee grinder or hand-mill so you can grind your own gf flours from millet, rice& tapioca!! Saves $$ and is healthy! Adding beans and ground flaxseed meals to cornstarch & rice flour makes a fairly decent blend… Oh and “maseca” corn flour (in Hispanic section) makes for a good cheap, available heavier gf flour.