I have been asked numerous times how I was diagnosed gluten intolerant so here is my story.
A few years ago I had read a book called The Ultra Mind Solution: The Simple Way to Defeat Depression, Overcome Anxiety, and Sharpen Your Mind by Mark M.D. Hyman. Dr. Hyman talks about functional medicine in his book. I was very interested in this type of medicine as it looks at the body as a whole and not just try to fix a symptom. In other words if you have stomach problems a doctor may diagnose you with irritable bowl syndrome. Dr Hyman would go further and find out why you have IBS. What is going on in your whole body to create this? Are you sensitive to foods? Have you been introduced to a microorganism that likes you a lot but your body doesn't really want to be friends with? After reading his book I decided to find a doctor that also believed in this type of medicine.
I found a chiropractor that was also a homeopathic doctor. Homeopathy is very interesting but that is another subject. This doctor did a nutrition evaluation and the only thing that show up was a response to gluten inflammation. She suggested I try going gluten free. Because I had read Dr. Hyman's book I knew a little about gluten.
When I got home I started researching gluten sensitivity and Celiacs disease. Through my research I found out I had so many of the symptoms associated with gluten intolerance. My symptoms included the following
Abdominal bloating
Alternating Bouts of Diarrhea and Constipation
Nausea
Fatigue
Depression
Anxiety
Hair loss
Hypoglycemia
Numbness or tingling in my hands and feet
Year round allergies. I always had sinus congestion.
About a month after I completely stopped eating gluten I started noticing how much better I was feeling. I was no longer wanting to take a nap every day. I didn't have to go to bed at 8:00 every night. I lost 7 pounds right away. I believe that was because I was no longer bloating. After several months of being gluten free I noticed I no longer had sinus congestion. Last year during allergy season I had a few days that were terrible and I couldn't go outside. Compared to years past when I would be miserable for weeks. I have had bad allergies my whole life and for once I didn't need medication to keep my nose dry and my eyes from itching. I believe it is because my body is no longer trying to fight off the effects of gluten.
It has been over a year and half since I went gluten free. I have been able to cut my depression/anxiety medication in half! I have the energy to exercise now that I never had before and have since taken up running. I am doing my first marathon in a month. Pre gluten-free I don't know that I would have had the energy to even start!
Being gluten free is not easy but after a while it becomes a way of life. If you are feeling yucky I say give it a try. If it doesn't help then it doesn't and you can go back to the way you were eating before. But if it does help it can change your life.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Peanut Butter Cookies!
I love cookies. When I was first changing my diet to gluten free I tried pre-packaged gluten free cookies. After trying several I was afraid there was no hope for cookies. Now that I have found a flour blend that I like there is hope again.
I made these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies last week on our "cheat" day. My husband and I have designated Sunday as "cheat" day. We pay attention to what we eat all week. We stay away from sugar, processed foods, pasta and bread. Then on Sunday we eat what we want and as much as we want. I, of course, continue to stay off gluten. On "cheat" day though I usually make a yummy goody like cookies, and we tend to have pizza for dinner.
Last week my husband was out of town for business on cheat day and my girls and I had dinner at my sister's house. I decided to take over these cookies as desert. My brother in law couldn't believe they were gluten free.
My family has realized that gluten free does not mean taste free. I will concede that my first several attempts were not exactly something to have the taste buds singing! In fact my cookies came out flat, gritty and tasting somewhat like beans. Yuck! My cakes were heavy, crumbly and tasted like (in the words of my husband) the bottom of my shoe. Now that I have things figured out my baked goods are super yummy.
Here is the recipe for those yummy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix together in a bowl:
3/4 cup fine ground brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour (starch)
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1 tsp xanthum gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Blend together in a separate bowl until creamy:
1/2 cup shortening (butter makes the cookies flat)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup of peanut butter
Beat in:
1 extra large egg
1/2 tsp gluten free vanilla(Costco's vanilla is g-free)
Slowly add in flour blend
Once everything is mixed together add chocolate chips. I usually add about 1 cup.
Bake for about 13 minutes in 375 degree oven.
I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as my family!
I made these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies last week on our "cheat" day. My husband and I have designated Sunday as "cheat" day. We pay attention to what we eat all week. We stay away from sugar, processed foods, pasta and bread. Then on Sunday we eat what we want and as much as we want. I, of course, continue to stay off gluten. On "cheat" day though I usually make a yummy goody like cookies, and we tend to have pizza for dinner.
Last week my husband was out of town for business on cheat day and my girls and I had dinner at my sister's house. I decided to take over these cookies as desert. My brother in law couldn't believe they were gluten free.
My family has realized that gluten free does not mean taste free. I will concede that my first several attempts were not exactly something to have the taste buds singing! In fact my cookies came out flat, gritty and tasting somewhat like beans. Yuck! My cakes were heavy, crumbly and tasted like (in the words of my husband) the bottom of my shoe. Now that I have things figured out my baked goods are super yummy.
Here is the recipe for those yummy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix together in a bowl:
3/4 cup fine ground brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour (starch)
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1 tsp xanthum gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Blend together in a separate bowl until creamy:
1/2 cup shortening (butter makes the cookies flat)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup of peanut butter
Beat in:
1 extra large egg
1/2 tsp gluten free vanilla(Costco's vanilla is g-free)
Slowly add in flour blend
Once everything is mixed together add chocolate chips. I usually add about 1 cup.
Bake for about 13 minutes in 375 degree oven.
I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as my family!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
If you don't use wheat flour what do you use?
I get asked this question all the time. It is a great question but there is not just one answer. I don't use one type of flour when I bake. When I first started on this journey I went to the library and checked out several gluten free baking books. What I learned very quickly is that there are numerous flour blends that people use and prefer. The first blend was a bean flour blend. It calls for garfava bean flour (no that is not a made up word, it's garbonzo bean and fava bean flour mixed) , sorghum flour, corn starch, and tapioca flour. When I used this flour blend my baked goods turned out dense, think chocolate chip cookies that weigh as much as a cantaloupe, and with an aftertaste that was distinctly bean. Needless to say I did not use this blend for long.
The next blend I tested was Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour. When I use this flour I add sweet rice flour to the blend, to make the cohesion of the mix more like regular flour. Sweet rice is also called "glutinous" rice. It does not have gluten in it but it makes the dough stick together like gluten does in wheat flour. If a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour I will use 1 3/4 cups of Bob's and then 1/4 cup of sweet rice flour. I have found this to be a pretty good blend for chocolate chip cookies. When my extended family was together recently my sister made her fabulous chocolate chip cookies using this blend. Everybody ranted and raved about how good her cookies were. When she told them they were g-free they were shocked, "But they are so good" was the common response. Well yeah, I don't want anything to do with baked goods if they taste like dog biscuits!
Speaking of pets I have a cautionary tale to tell. When I started making my flour blends I bought a lot of different flours. I bought most of them in the bulk food section at our local co-op store. I had white rice flour, brown rice flour, sorghum flour, garbanzo flour, tapioca flour, cornstarch, potato flour and potato starch. All of these flours were in their own bulk food baggy. My cat, Dora, loves baggies and everything that she thinks she might find in baggies. She likes to claw at them to see what will happen. One day, after hours of baking, I went to pick up my kids. I tied up all the bags and left them in a pile on the counter. My husband got home before me and when we came in the door he was standing in the middle of the kitchen with baggies and flour everywhere. So the moral of the story is lots of flour+cat = big mess. Oh and also my husband really wants to get rid of the cat, or maybe me.
After a lot of mixing of different flours and a lot of baking I have decided on the following for my basic baking flour.
3 parts rice flour (either brown or white, the key is to get one that has a super fine grind)
1 part tapioca flour or starch (they are the same thing)
1 part potato starch (not flour, they are NOT the same thing)
1 part sweet rice flour
If I don't have potato starch or tapioca I will substitute cornstarch. I make this in a big batch and store it in a container in the refrigerator. When I know I am going to bake I take it out and let it sit to warm up.
When I want to try my hand at bread from scratch I will add quinoa flour. If it calls for 2 cups of flour 1/4 cup of it will be the quinoa flour. This adds a little more nutritional value to the bread.
After a lot of flour, and a lot of mess, I finally make baked goods that are pretty darn close to the wheat ones I use to make. My most discerning taste testers, my beautiful daughters, love to eat my cookies, cakes and brownies now and really that is all that matters!
The next blend I tested was Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour. When I use this flour I add sweet rice flour to the blend, to make the cohesion of the mix more like regular flour. Sweet rice is also called "glutinous" rice. It does not have gluten in it but it makes the dough stick together like gluten does in wheat flour. If a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour I will use 1 3/4 cups of Bob's and then 1/4 cup of sweet rice flour. I have found this to be a pretty good blend for chocolate chip cookies. When my extended family was together recently my sister made her fabulous chocolate chip cookies using this blend. Everybody ranted and raved about how good her cookies were. When she told them they were g-free they were shocked, "But they are so good" was the common response. Well yeah, I don't want anything to do with baked goods if they taste like dog biscuits!
Speaking of pets I have a cautionary tale to tell. When I started making my flour blends I bought a lot of different flours. I bought most of them in the bulk food section at our local co-op store. I had white rice flour, brown rice flour, sorghum flour, garbanzo flour, tapioca flour, cornstarch, potato flour and potato starch. All of these flours were in their own bulk food baggy. My cat, Dora, loves baggies and everything that she thinks she might find in baggies. She likes to claw at them to see what will happen. One day, after hours of baking, I went to pick up my kids. I tied up all the bags and left them in a pile on the counter. My husband got home before me and when we came in the door he was standing in the middle of the kitchen with baggies and flour everywhere. So the moral of the story is lots of flour+cat = big mess. Oh and also my husband really wants to get rid of the cat, or maybe me.
After a lot of mixing of different flours and a lot of baking I have decided on the following for my basic baking flour.
3 parts rice flour (either brown or white, the key is to get one that has a super fine grind)
1 part tapioca flour or starch (they are the same thing)
1 part potato starch (not flour, they are NOT the same thing)
1 part sweet rice flour
If I don't have potato starch or tapioca I will substitute cornstarch. I make this in a big batch and store it in a container in the refrigerator. When I know I am going to bake I take it out and let it sit to warm up.
When I want to try my hand at bread from scratch I will add quinoa flour. If it calls for 2 cups of flour 1/4 cup of it will be the quinoa flour. This adds a little more nutritional value to the bread.
After a lot of flour, and a lot of mess, I finally make baked goods that are pretty darn close to the wheat ones I use to make. My most discerning taste testers, my beautiful daughters, love to eat my cookies, cakes and brownies now and really that is all that matters!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
What is gluten anyway?
Usually when I am with people and food is involved I politely decline eating any of it. If they try to insist I say "no, really, I just ate", or "I had dinner with my family before I came". Most of the time that is enough. Sometimes though it isn't and I have to explain that I cannot eat it. Then the questions start. I explain that I am gluten intolerant and therefore do not eat anything with gluten in it. A lot of people say "oh, okay" and leave it at that. Once in a while I get "oh, you are on that diet kick too? It seems like everyone is doing that." Um...no, I just don't feel like eating something that will make me feel miserable for three days.
What is gluten anyway? Gluten is a protein found in all forms of wheat. This includes durum, semolina, spelt, einkorn, kamut and faro. It is also in grains related to wheat like barley, rye and triticale.
Gluten is insoluble in water. When the starch is washed from the wheat grain gluten remains and can be used as additive to other foods in order to increase the protein content. Gluten is what makes bread products have the texture they do. The higher the gluten content the chewier the finished product is. Bread flour has more gluten in it than cake flour. That is why the white bread that kids like so much is so fluffy and chewy. That bread is made from flour with more gluten in it.
Gluten is not only in foods made from flour. Manufacturers use gluten for many things. It can be used as the basis for imitation meats. Why would a wheat protein be found in my vanilla extract? If the alcohol used to in the extract is made from wheat there will be gluten in it. Spices can have gluten hidden in it to keep them from clumping. Most soups have gluten in it because they use flour as the thickener. These are just a few examples of where gluten can be found.
It is a chore every time I go to the grocery store. I have to read labels every single time I want to buy something to make sure there is not any gluten in it. If I am not sure I don't buy it. If we have cookies or crackers or granola bars in the house it is because I have made them. I make cupcakes for Hallie if a child in her class is having a birthday so she is not left out of the celebration. She has to give me any candy she gets so I can make sure it is on the safe list.
If Hallie accidentally ingests gluten we have a rough couple of days. Just this week something sneaked into her diet. I have not figured out what yet but I have an idea. We had gluten free pizza last night and it probably was handled by someone that had been working with the regular pizza. Today she was very sensitive. She was constantly in tears and when asked why she would wail "Caden and Jamie are being mean to me". We are all in the same house together and they have not been any different than any other time they play together. She also has had tummy issues all day. I know from past times that she may not sleep well tonight and tomorrow could be another rough day. Fortunately after Tuesday we should be back to normal!
I have printed out lists to have on hand and I visit websites constantly to look up ingredients. Here are a couple of websites I frequent that may help anyone else that is staying away from gluten.
http://gluteningredients.com/
http://www.celiac.com/
http://www.glutenfreeliving.com/ingredient.php
I hope this helps families with a starting place to gather information about where gluten can be hiding. I didn't want to go deep into the science of gluten and make this even harder to understand. If you do want to research gluten or celiac disease more a good place to start is http://www.celiac.org/. They have a button labeled "Resources" with links to science reports and experts.
What is gluten anyway? Gluten is a protein found in all forms of wheat. This includes durum, semolina, spelt, einkorn, kamut and faro. It is also in grains related to wheat like barley, rye and triticale.
Gluten is insoluble in water. When the starch is washed from the wheat grain gluten remains and can be used as additive to other foods in order to increase the protein content. Gluten is what makes bread products have the texture they do. The higher the gluten content the chewier the finished product is. Bread flour has more gluten in it than cake flour. That is why the white bread that kids like so much is so fluffy and chewy. That bread is made from flour with more gluten in it.
Gluten is not only in foods made from flour. Manufacturers use gluten for many things. It can be used as the basis for imitation meats. Why would a wheat protein be found in my vanilla extract? If the alcohol used to in the extract is made from wheat there will be gluten in it. Spices can have gluten hidden in it to keep them from clumping. Most soups have gluten in it because they use flour as the thickener. These are just a few examples of where gluten can be found.
It is a chore every time I go to the grocery store. I have to read labels every single time I want to buy something to make sure there is not any gluten in it. If I am not sure I don't buy it. If we have cookies or crackers or granola bars in the house it is because I have made them. I make cupcakes for Hallie if a child in her class is having a birthday so she is not left out of the celebration. She has to give me any candy she gets so I can make sure it is on the safe list.
If Hallie accidentally ingests gluten we have a rough couple of days. Just this week something sneaked into her diet. I have not figured out what yet but I have an idea. We had gluten free pizza last night and it probably was handled by someone that had been working with the regular pizza. Today she was very sensitive. She was constantly in tears and when asked why she would wail "Caden and Jamie are being mean to me". We are all in the same house together and they have not been any different than any other time they play together. She also has had tummy issues all day. I know from past times that she may not sleep well tonight and tomorrow could be another rough day. Fortunately after Tuesday we should be back to normal!
I have printed out lists to have on hand and I visit websites constantly to look up ingredients. Here are a couple of websites I frequent that may help anyone else that is staying away from gluten.
http://gluteningredients.com/
http://www.celiac.com/
http://www.glutenfreeliving.com/ingredient.php
I hope this helps families with a starting place to gather information about where gluten can be hiding. I didn't want to go deep into the science of gluten and make this even harder to understand. If you do want to research gluten or celiac disease more a good place to start is http://www.celiac.org/. They have a button labeled "Resources" with links to science reports and experts.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Favorite Gluten Free Bread
I have decided to blog about my family's gluten free life. Six months ago I was diagnosed gluten intolerant by a wonderful doctor. She started me on my journey, and ultimately my family's journey, of a gluten free life. With the papers she gave me I went home and started researching gluten and what it meant to be "g-free". Wow! I was shocked. I had so many symptoms I never would have thought could be related to something I ate. I thought it was all genetics. My symptoms included, fatigue, constipation or diarrhea and other issues dealing with that part of my body, bloating, anxiety (even with medication), chronic nasal allergies, mood swings, cravings for bread and pasta even after I ate them, and an overall sense of feeling like garbage.During my discoveries I realized that my oldest daughter had many symptoms as well. Hallie is a wonderfully energetic, caring, smart, and fun 5 year old girl. I had been a little concerned, however, because she was moody and at times aggressive. She still had "accidents" daily and we were going through two or more outfit changes a day. She had hyperkeratosis pilaris (chicken bumps) on her arms, legs and cheeks that we could never get cleared up. She was also always constipated and had been since she was about a year old.
After a lot of research I decided to make my house gluten free. My husband was extremely supportive of this decision. We threw away or gave away everything in our house that had gluten in it. The obvious; bread, pasta, cereal, crackers, cookies and the not so obvious; soups, spices, granola bars and everything else that had gluten in it.
After about one week on our new way of eating I had lost seven pounds and three inches in my tummy. This was a wonderful benefit I had not anticipated. I was not bloated any more, had what I consider to be normal bathroom habits. I had more energy too, I was not ready to go to bed at 3:00 in the afternoon. I was feeling so much better. Hallie is a happier little girl too. She stopped having accidents about one week into the change. Her hyperkeratosis pilaris is better. She does not have them on her legs or face anymore and the ones on her arms are less. She is not moody or aggressive. If Hallie does ingest gluten she has a bad couple of days. She is very moody, weepy, aggressive and hyper. She now questions everything she puts in her mouth because she told me "mommy, I don't want to have bad days anymore".
The biggest challenge in our life was bread. How could I make the favorite pb & j sandwiches without bread? After trying many recipes and all failing I have settled on Pamela's Products Wheat-Free & Gluten-Free Bread Mix, 19-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6). Until I have the time to test out bread recipes from scratch I will continue to use this bread mix. I use a bread machine and once a week make up this bread. My girls love it for their pb & j sandwiches. I follow the directions on the bag and use either 2 extra large eggs at room temperature or 3 large eggs. I also use the rapid white setting on my Breadman Pro. This is not the least expensive way to make bread but the most convenient. For now this is the bread for us.
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