Gluten allergy or celiac disease means you have to stop eating gluten and eat something else instead. You have to get used to new food. Gluten free diet hints.
Starting a strict gluten-free diet is daunting for most people. Eating feels like crossing a mine field, you have to avoid many foods, some of which are not obviously containing gluten, and you have to find new foods to replace the ones you can no longer eat.
The first thing you have to do is know what gluten-containing foods you must avoid. This is necessary, but it is also a rather negative and depressing way to look at the important task of eating. It takes the joy out of it.
The next thing to look at is gluten-free food you can eat. It is important to realize that there is a huge variety of food you can eat. You already eat a lot of it. It may be prepared in a way you can eat, or you may have to find a new gluten-free method for preparing it. Take apple pie for example. You can still eat the apples, you just need a gluten free pie crust.
True, this takes a little getting used to. For some people this is easy, for others hard. The fact is that you have to stay healthy, and to do that you have to avoid gluten. It is a lot easier to get used to new foods when you’re getting used to feeling well, having a stomach that doesn’t hurt, no brain fog and lots of energy!
Finally, you will do well to go beyond the foods you are already used to and explore new gluten-free food horizons!
Avoiding gluten is becoming easier than it ever was as restaurants and food manufacturers cater to the gluten free diet. That’s great, but there is a down side. Processed food is unhealthy, and one advantage of going on a gluten free diet used to be that it forced you to eat healthy. Now, thanks to the food industry’s catering to your gluten free diet, you can eat crap just like everyone else!
It is convenient to be able to purchase prepared gluten free food. Go ahead and enjoy the convenience. I hope you will take the opportunity offered by your gluten free diet to explore new foods you have never tired before and make sure that your diet is healthy. You’ll feel better, and that’s what its all about. That’s why you’re avoiding gluten in the first place.
Do you have a story about getting used to new foods on your gluten free diet? Leave a comment and share your story with others on a a gluten free diet. Newbies need the encouragement!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I’ve always been big on experimenting with new foods, I was brought up that way. So my challenge was not trying new foods nearly so much as getting used to not eating wheat-containing foods. Wheat is everywhere!
The habit of trying new foods did make it easier to find new foods to substitute gluten-containing foods. Still, it was hard at first, and 25 years ago there was no internet to help with the research.
I no longer miss wheat or other gluten-containing foods, although avoiding this universal poison is still a pain!