Gluten and dairy free...HELP

there are so many fantastic web sites... don't be afraid to google. I have gluten and fructose intolerance, and even though its a pain to have to learn what else to eat, the pain of eating what you cant have isn't worth it!!

We drink soy, coconut, or almond milk. We eat tons of meat and veggies and fruit. Kinda boring I guess, I'm a horrible cook. Just google paleo recipes, that's what I did till I got too lazy to make fancy meals, lol. I'm fine with chicken and veggies!

I am gluten free and dairy free. I think it's better for you anyways in my humble opinion.
I use almond milk. I thicken sauces with corn starch,I eat gluten free bread( I have only just started eating bread again) for cheese I substitute with nutritional yeast. You can do many things. It just takes time.
Don't worry,you'll find your groove and it won't be so hard. The first few weeks are always so hard.
Good luck with it all and stay healthy

Go for it and try hard NOT to cheat for at least two weeks. This will help "clear" your system, and then if you want you can try small samples of foods to check for reactions, one food at a time.
On the dairy, lactose intolerance will sometimes allow you to eat some cheese and yogurt; an allergy to milk proteins probably won't. Be very careful of cheese substitutes if you are allergic to the proteins.. many of them include whey or casein ( the protein most often involved) to get the right consistency, and are actually intended for lactose intolerant people. One exception is Daiya, which I believe is what Amy's uses when they go dairy free.
On the gluten, Google "Celiac disease" (check my spelling first).. there are a couple of good web sites that warn you what to watch for "hidden" gluten. If you feel the need for treats, I'm fond of the brand "Enjoy Life" for both treats and breakfast cereals.
In general, the suggestion on Paleo diets is very good.
This can be a hard change to make at first, but keep trying. In addition to losing the tummy problems, you may find improvements in your normal mood and energy levels, and almost everyone I know who went gluten free dropped 10 to 20 pounds. Including me.

I react badly to both gluten and dairy, too. Believe me, I'm not starving by having to eliminate them from my diet. And I'm soooo much healthier. The problem for me is that sometimes I forget to read the fine print - or it's so tiny that I can't read it at the store and I accidentally buy something that has traces of one problem food or another. For example yesterday I bought probiotic capsules at Whole Foods but they didn't have my usual brand so I tried a different one. Couldn't read the fine print and didn't think it was a big deal because all the bottles I could read said gluten-free, dairy-free... FAIL.

Within half an hour I started having a reaction and wondered what the heck... the only thing I could think of that was different from my usual "safe" foods was the probiotic Finally got out the magnifying glass and read the ingredients and sure enough it contained "traces of milk". And those "traces" unfortunately were enough to trigger muscle spasms, a headache, and sick stomach for the rest of the day.

Some of my favorite alternatives:

Almond or cashew milk. Easy to make at home if you don't like the store bought options.

Daiya cheeses - I especially like their cheddar and mozzarella

Pamela's gluten-free bread mix - I mostly use it to make my own sandwich/hamburger buns, which come out so good even wheat-eaters love them

So Delicious coconut milk ice creams - but be careful not to get the ice cream sandwiches because they have gluten! (I made that mistake a couple of weeks ago. It didn't end well for me.)

Coconut butter instead of real butter. Margarine is ok too, for me.

Almond flour instead of regular flour. (Obviously a no-no for anyone who has problems with nuts, but I can eat nuts all day and am fine.)

I actually have quite a collection of alternative flours in my fridge, including teff, oat, rice, amaranth and sweet sorghum. If you like to bake there's a whole new world out there. But proceed with caution because a lot of people who react to gluten might also react to teff and oat. I seem to be okay with those. I frequently make an almond flour based sweet bread that may include banana, walnuts, dried cranberries, chocolate chunks (the kind with coconut butter instead of dairy) and other fun stuff.

I highly recommend http://www.elanaspantry.com/

Also http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/

And there are so many others!

This can be done. And if it makes you healthier, in my opinion it's totally worth it.

BLue Diamond's Hint of Sea Salt almond crackers are wonderful. I also like the Blue Diamond Vanilla Almond milk, but due to the high cards, am trying to mix 1/2 c of that with a 1/2 c of the unsweetened almond milk. Not too bad, will get used to it. In regards to cheese alternatives, Go Veggie brand tastes fine, however (and am sure this holds true to all versions of cheese alternatives) it is VERY high in sodium, so just keep that in mind. This is a challenge, but I think you will find there are a lot of options out there. Good luck!


BTW - I am friends with the person above me ^^^, she does have an excellent food diary everyday, you will most likely benefit from her logging.

Be leary of margaine butters, I have yet to find one that was milk free, and if it's not dairy free we react. So we stick with the earth balance butter.

Also when cooking with flours, until you get the hang of gluten free baking, I'd still with the gluten free all purpose flours with Xanthum gum already added...it makes your world SOO much easier. ;-)

Get used to sticking to simple foods and / or preparing everything you eat from scratch. Navigating ingredients on packaged foods is pretty much a nightmare. Unless you want to read every ingredient on every label in the supermarket, and still maybe only find one thing you can eat, it's much easier to just buy whole foods: nuts, fruits, veggies, rice, tubers, and meat, and prepare it yourself. Also, toss premade sauces and condiments while your at it. Once you get used to the simplified diet, start experimenting with some gluten free / dairy free baking. If you start trying to recreate the kind of foods you might be used to eating right off the bat, you're probably going to get overwhelmed and frustrated by all the work it might entail or the cost of sourcing and buying specialty foods, and the difference in taste and texture.

You can look at my diary. Gluten, dairy, corn, sugar, and IBS trigger free. Exactly what I'm eating might not be clear though because I tend not to log low cal veggies (which I eat a lot of), and I log individual ingredients rather than the names of dishes.

Get used to sticking to simple foods and / or preparing everything you eat from scratch. Navigating ingredients on packaged foods is pretty much a nightmare. Unless you want to read every ingredient on every label in the supermarket, and still maybe only find one thing you can eat, it's much easier to just buy whole foods: nuts, fruits, veggies, rice, tubers, and meat, and prepare it yourself. Also, toss premade sauces and condiments while your at it. Once you get used to the simplified diet, start experimenting with some gluten free / dairy free baking. If you start trying to recreate the kind of foods you might be used to eating right off the bat, you're probably going to get overwhelmed and frustrated by all the work it might entail or the cost of sourcing and buying specialty foods, and the difference in taste and texture.

You can look at my diary. Gluten, dairy, corn, sugar, and IBS trigger free. Exactly what I'm eating might not be clear though because I tend not to log low cal veggies (which I eat a lot of), and I log individual ingredients rather than the names of dishes.

I totally agree with this. Eat clean and simple. I very rarely have pre made sauces or condiments. Or if I do, I have inspected the label very carefully. There are many names for dairy and gluten and wheat. I bought a book on food allergies, which tells you which foods to eat and which to avoid and is layed out by supermarket layout.

But preparing and eating whole natural foods is easiest to start for sure. You will feel better soon and it will be worth it. Honestly I miss dairy and egg more than anything.