Going gluten-free, any suggestions?

I'd say stir fries if you don't mind making your own. You'll want to get San-J's Gluten free Soy Sauce for that though. It's really good.

I don't know if you have access to a bread by Julian's Bakery. My best friend swears by it. I'm going to have my sister stop and pick me up a loaf next week on the way back from Tampa. Unfortunately, no one near me has them.

I do know that breakfast is easy: cereals and tons of waffle selections (either buy a mix and follow the directions or eat Van's or one of the other Gluten free ones).

Lunch - go with rice or you can try Udi's for bread. Ideally, it's best toasted so if you're work place has a toaster oven, I'd keep the wet ingredients separate - toast the bread and combine them. You can also get a small sandwich press. Remember though, it gets hot so you'll need a place to store it.

You can also make rice rolls. They sell giant sheets of rice paper (check to see they are really rice paper - some of the regular grocery stuff isn't). You just put it in hot water and let it soften. Supposedly, the longer it absorbs, the stronger it becomes. I would go to youtube and find something showing how to make them. That's how I'm going to deal with my sandwiches. It's easy and I can add veggies and just bring a dipping sauce or make my own.

To make it easy, here's a quick link that shows using rice paper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L6soEjARq4&feature=player_embedded

Check everything you eat for awhile until you know what you can and can't have. Gluten can hide in weird places. Like chips, seasonings, sauces, ice cream, medications/supplements, canned soup, candy and lunch meats.

Be very careful with anything pre-made. Frozen hamburger patties might look tasty, but they might also have wheat in them as a binder. Anything breaded is probably out, and "wheat free" does not mean "gluten free".

Oh, and one thing I keep hearing is that you can't have any gluten. Including rice gluten. That is NOT true. The gluten in rice is nothing like the gluten in wheat and is 100% safe.

Whole Foods will most likely have Rice Paper wrappers. They are really easy to use and you can even pan fry them. Make sure that your food says Gluten free. I know my rice paper didn't but I'm pretty sure it gluten free (and that stuff is hard to find unless you've got one of those places that's sorta international and carries oriental foodstuffs). My best friend loved the almond gluten free bread and the coconut gluten free bread. She said they are so good you can eat them without toasting them. The one that is more moist is the coconut one (luckily - it's apparently softer).

FYI - The coconut one is way lower in calories. The almond is like double in calories so if you're trying to reduce weight - go for the coconut one. They also have one that's gluten free called Carb Zero. She loved all three though.

They do sell great Gluten free bread crumb toppings. My favorite is Gillian's. I've made fried pork chops (though it makes for a small meal on my calorie intake). I have that and 6 broccoli florets and I'm done. Either way, I had missed breaded foods and actually prefer my chops in Gillian's over regular bread crumbs.

Here's the link for them: http://www.gilliansfoodsglutenfree.com/products/index.php?cPath=29&osCsid=7edbd3da6066c033f32f38772868d8d2

I've had the original, not the Italian. Oh, Whole Foods in my area carries them so you'll probably get them there.

As for gluten free snacks? My favorite is Enjoy Life "Beach Bash" trail mix. My daughter's favorite it "Mountain Mambo."

For awhile when I was concerned I might have gluten intolerance, I mourned the loss of sandwiches - in particular, I eat a lot of light tuna salad, light chicken salad... you get the idea. Try rice cakes at least once to see if you like them - I was surprised that I did, and still swap out bread for rice cakes every now and then to meet a calorie goal.

If your doctor suggests gluten free, then do it...if not...there is absolutely no point, really...Unless you have a MEDICAL reason, there really isn't a reason for it...Just because it's the latest hype doesn't mean it's going to make some crazy difference in your life (unless its medical, once again)

I love Food for Life brown rice tortillas and Mary's Gone Crackers.

Nature Valley Gluten free Granola Bars are pretty good as are the gluten free pretzels - not sure the brand but in a dark blue bag.

It's not the latest hype or fad, gluten wheat free diets have been around for over 30 years. I know because I started looking for products when I was in high school. Back then, I was a bit more limited so I was stuck with very bland meals and the recipe books focused on constantly shifting foods to reduce reactions which made my eating habits super impossible. They didn't have all the gluten free sauces and stuff. Pretty much I lived on rice, potato and oatmeal as that was all I could find and all my foods were bland. I did eat the wheat for a while (ocassionally) but I've always felt kinda sick on it and I'd always have to stop for a few months or go to a doctor if the skin rashes got too bad (I'm also allergic to trees, grasses - anything that's in the environment).

I'm highly allergic - to the point where my doc said I can't ever go through immune therapy to stop the allergic reactions to wheat. They managed to control the ones to the environment and now I religiously use Zyrtec and Zantac as both help with skin rashes from the environment (thank goodness for modern meds).

While eating wheat, I get migraines, massive skin rashes, sinus stuffiness, and I've noticed that I feel sluggish and sick when I'm eating wheat - I did notice my stomach was bloating and I had, um, intestinal issues sometimes. I finally went cold turkey and decided no more about 10 days ago and I've never felt better. Gluten isn't a requirement to live, you can go without it. Luckily, they've improved the items out there and you can actually lead a pretty normal lifestyle now without it. Not all the foods are expensive. It's just a big change in how you eat.

Unfortunately, the testing for it requires you eat a ton of wheat and then go have a biopsy done of your internal intestines. Frankly, that sounds painful to me. It's a whole lot easier to just not eat gluten for a month and see what happens. If you feel great and some issues vanish - than Yee Hawww! You succeeded. If no difference, then go back to normal eating.

I know for a lot of people the most common issues come from gluten, dairy, eggs, and sometimes corn. I have read up that the hybridization of wheat has caused the gluten in it to increase by drastic amounts. Also, previous diets in the past were more of a mix of grains. They didn't eat like we do and they weren't always eating just plain wheat. It was cut with other foods. Heck, if you were poor - you probably couldn't afford wheat and ate potatoes. Hence, the potato famine that led to so many Irish coming to America.

P.S. Spelt is from the wheat family. It's not recommended for celiacs or wheat allergies. It used to be touted that way but now they have to mark most packaging. I know I reacted really badly to it so I know I'm allergic. Ancient grain my foot, it's just another form of wheat. Also, be careful of Quinoa. It's also one of those questionable grains. The safest ones are usually marked gluten free. If you're lucky, you might be able to eat Quinoa but I'd recommend staying away from it at first. Stick to the ones that say Gluten free.

Oops. I should have said that Quinoa is NOT a grain BUT they've recently run into issues where it causes a gluten type reaction. They are still investigating so you need to be careful. I think I put some links about that on another post.