Struggling with following gluten & dairy free diet

Is there any reason you must eat a diary and gluten free diet? While wheat products can be replaced with other grains like oatmeal and rice, eliminating diary eliminates your best source of calcium and a good source of protein.

Unless you have celiac disease, there's not a reason to avoid gluten as long as you keep your servings of wheat per day reasonable. Gluten free is a fad--I saw oranges advertised as gluten free. Dairy is a bit trickier, a lot of people have allergies and intolerances to dairy. Unless dairy makes you sick, there is no reason to exclude.

jeheer wrote: »

Hi,
I was wondering of anyone had any advice on how to follow a gluten/dairy free diet and still feel like they are not being deprived of stuff. I have really been struggling with this. I grew up eating a normal diet so I know what "normal" food tastes like. I will be honest some gluten free food tastes nasty and is ridiculously expensive. Any suggestions on how to eat healthy but still feel like you get to "indulge" at times? Thanks

Just my 2¢... I went gluten and dairy free for awhile, as an act of solidarity with my husband, who suspected he had allergies. Initially, I lost a lot of weight, but I had to learn to love vegetables and meat. You can find a ton of satisfying recipes on http://www.marksdailyapple.com or do a search for Paleo recipes and see what you get. Most days, it was a veggie omelet or scrambled eggs for breakfast, a salad for lunch (with meat), and various recipes for dinner. I was happy when we figured out DH could have gluten and dairy, but I really haven't made them a huge part of my diet since then. One of my favorite go-to meals to this day is a Seeds of Change Indian sauce (tikka masala, korma, etc.), mixed with chopped up chicken and poured over a bed of broccoli.

Gluten free products are a total waste of money. Just crappy tasting processed foods. It's much cheaper and not much more trouble to learn to eat real food.

it really depends on WHY you are doing it. if you have health issues which require it, i would say that feeling well and being strong internally would be motivation enough. if you are just following a fad or trying to lose weight, it will be darn near impossible to do. my daughter has a very high sensitivity to gluten and has severe stomach distress when she ingests it, so we went GF a long time ago and it's very easy for me personally. (i have some sensitivities to it as well, although not as severe as hers, but i get bloated, headaches, sometimes a rash, esp if i eat corn) **ETA yes i know corn doesn't have gluten, but it causes me to have a rash on occasion so i thought i would mention*

my advice is to go completely cold-turkey. there are tons of alternatives such as fresh fruits & veggies, meats (check labels if they are packaged meats) nuts, seeds, etc.

i personally would avoid "gluten-free" products because they usually offer little nutrition. if my daughter wants a cookie (which 6-year-old doesn't??) then i will bake some GF cookies, but for the most part, we stick to whole foods.

Going Gluten free is a totally ridiculous fad. If you have celiac disease, that's one thing. Truth is, not that many people in the general population actually have celiac disease. (Less than 1%)

Going dairy free is also not necessary unless you are lactose intolerant.

Self-diagnosis is also not a good idea. If you are suffering from weight loss, diarrhea, intestinal upset, itchy - blistering skin rashes, numbness and tingling of your feet and hands, joint pain, headaches and fatigue - then... see your doctor.

I eat gluten free because of an intolerance I have to it and I have found it very easy to do, with the exception of pizza. I do miss that. Gluten free bread is not that great but it tastes pretty darn good toasted. And yes, it is very expensive. So mostly, I opt out of eating bread and just having the meat without the bread, saves calories! I hardly eat pasta but gf pasta is pretty good when covered in a sauce :-)

As for dairy, I have coconut milk for smoothies and cereals. When I indulge in ice cream, I have good old fashion dairy, there is no replacement. I have had ice cream made with coconut milk and it is pretty good though. I don't care for almond milk.

What are your reasons for doing this?

I have been gluten, dairy, and egg free for nearly 2 years now. Not full blown coeliac, but sufficiently severe intolerances to make the change necessary. In my humble experience there is no bread like that containing gluten, so I rarely eat bread ... But I don't miss it. There's sufficient dairy free choices of spreads so that's no issue either. But, finding pre-prepared foods which are free from all 3 is very difficult. Despite all of that, my diet now is more healthy than ever before, weight loss has been good, and there are plenty of other upsides; increased clarity of thought, increased mobility and enthusiasm for life, and generally greater positivity.

It does take time to adjust, but as a life style change its a good reason to have to make the positive steps.

MrM27 wrote: »

Vegetables are a carbohydrate.

.... literally every food contains carbohydrates

We eat vegetables because they contain important nutrients. And their carbohydrate value is lower than something like bread.