Gluten Free: The Way to Be?

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  • lope
    lope Posts: 53 Member
    Agribusiness = farmers

    I was in agribusiness for over 20 yrs. Have friends who have served on the USDA. They are the folks who decide that is on the food pyramid, my plate, etc.
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
    I have been gluten free for around 18 months on my doctors advise due to dreadful stomach pains which practically vanished overnight once I stopped eating gluten and return immediately if I eat it !
    I really missed bread to begin with but am not bothered anymore. I am just careful to read all labels and I find that gluten free pasta tastes no different and we enjoy eating pasta based meals as a family and no one knows the difference. Gluten free menus in restaurants are rare here in the UK but whilst in the USA I found some great menus from well known chain restaurants . Stacks gluten free pancakes in Hilton Head were delicious and the whole family enjoyed the gluten free menu at PF Changs in Chicago. Also I found NCL to be fantastic when we cruised with them nothing was to much trouble and they were very helpful in helping with menu choice. I find you have to be very careful when eating airline food as on two occasions I have ordered Gluten free meals and it is either very good or very bad. Virgin Altantic gave me a lovely meal on the outward flight including gluten free bread and lovely tasty pudding on the inbound flight it was a completely different story croutons in the salad non gluten free bread and what looked like roasted peppers with nothing else as a main! Then a rice cake as a snack! On the same flight my son had more compost than lettuce in his salad so maybe they were just having a bad day!

    I NEVER had luck on flights. I was always promised foods, but then we'd be in the air for hours and I was told that no one knew about me and didn't pack the foods for me. Good thing I never relied on anyone to feed me. I used to go to parties where I was promised I would get plain meat with plain rice, and inevitably I got a steak marinated in some gluten-filled yummy flavouring. At one Christmas party, I sent the host a page-long email with foods I could not eat and suggestions of that I could. I got there and she had NOTHING for me. Why send me an email and ask if I'm going to be blatantly ignored anyway? Then I got a gingerbread house for a parting gift. Mmm. Thanks for the broccoli for dinner. Have a good night!

    ALL restaurants are amazing re: food restrictions. ALL. If you tell the waiter, the manager usually comes up, or the head chef himself and talk about what is good. I never ate better than when I was gluten-free. I went on a small work-related cruise and had to talk to the head chef the day we got there. The amazing man had special GF bread baked special for me (and a couple other people) every single day. GF options are usually cooked special and fresh when you order them. Mmmm. Weddings and GF foods were amazing too.

    To add: I was not celiac, but I had what was called and "delayed auto-immune response" to the gluten. I would eat even a minuscule bit of gluten and it took 2 DAYS for it to effect me. I would have to think back 48 hours to figure out what I ate. It was pain and bloat and D and terrible things for 5 days. I would have to take time off work because I couldn't even stand up straight I was in so much pain.

    I really feel for people who have a true intolerance or allergy. Making the decision to eat GF is good if you think it will help you, but going truly truly GF is very tricky and involves a lot of internet searches and calls to manufacturers. I couldn't even use my fave Vanilla Lipsmackers lip gloss anymore because there was gluten in it. I had to switch to Honey Burt's Bees!

    Like someone previously said, if you find going GF doesn't work, don't give up. Maybe it's in things you don't realize. But if you are just trying to cut out wheat and/or grains from what you eat, then it's a lot more easy then it looks.

    p.s. to the person who thinks that you don't need grains, you are a more diligent person than I. I needed this kinds of complex carb or I would pass out or just get plain dizzy. I needed at least potatoes and rice, because I couldn't spend enough time eating enough fruits/veg and I can't stand legumes. LOL

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/27398-list-complex-carbohydrates-foods/

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