You Can Eat Gluten-Free and Enjoy It

It has been estimated that approximately 1 in 133 people in the United States are gluten intolerant. This malady, known as celiac disease, is not an allergy; it is a problem of the auto-immune system. Many people who have this problem do not even know it! If you are gluten intolerant, the ingestion of gluten can damage your small intestine and prevent the nutrients in your food from being absorbed by the body.

What is gluten? It is a protein found in certain foods such as wheat, barley, rye, and malt. Some people are also sensitive to oats. The only way to treat the disease is to eliminate gluten totally from your diet. This can be a daunting task, and you may feel like you have been left on your own to figure things out. This is how I felt in 2002 when I was diagnosed and told by my doctor to find a good dietitian and to read everything I could find about celiac disease. Luckily, I ran to the nearest Health Food Store and found a staff member who was knowledgeable about the condition. There are all sorts of ready-to-eat gluten free foods in both health food stores and regular supermarkets. Some markets also have a staff dietitian who would be glad to give you advice. Supermarkets will generally have an area sectioned off which contains gluten-free foods. These products are expensive and I have learned over time to experiment with my own baking and cooking at home. There are new product information guidelines which require manufacturers to include information about offending foods, but you must learn how to read labels and to recognize forbidden foods when they are listed. If you look carefully, many regular products will be marked "gluten-free". Wal-Mart's Good Value store brand is especially good about marking things as gluten-free.

It's important to buy some good gluten-free cookbooks. One of my favorite is, "I Can't Believe It's Gluten Free!". Using this cookbook has made my life almost normal again! You should become familiar with reliable online sources of information, such as celiac.com or glutenfree.com. There are many others that can be found with a simple online search. Many of my favorite recipes have come from the blogs of gluten-free cooks. The Celiac Sprue Association of America also has a very helpful website at www.csaceliacs.org. If you visit their site, you can order helpful materials from them. One of the best things I ordered was a supermarket handbook which contains listings of "safe" foods, including over-the-counter medicines.

I have tried many new things over the last seven years, and have come up with some favorite products. Two that I would recommend as the very best are any of the Tinkyada brown rice pasta products and Glutino's gluten-free pretzels. A new development for people with gluten intolerance is gluten-free Rice Chex and Corn Chex! They previously contained a malt product which made them unsafe for people with celiac disease. Bob's Red Mill has an entire line of delicious gluten-free brownie and cake mixes. There are many from which to choose, and having these things in your kitchen can make your life almost as normal as before you were diagnosed!

Cooking gluten-free is a challenge at the beginning, but it can become as normal as cooking regular food and can make your life so much healthier and more comfortable. All that's required is that you arm yourself with lots of good information!