Macaroni and Cheese, tater-tot casserole, cookies, sandwiches, etc.; think of your favorite meal of all times; now think how you can make that meal gluten free. You may be thinking, what the heck is gluten. Gluten is a protein that is in many different kinds of grains and other items such as; seasoning and sauces. I am now living the gluten free way of life, at least for the most part, because my partner Jessica is gluten intolerant. This is one of the hardest things I have done in a long time. People, even I, don’t realize how much gluten a person consumes every day. Gluten is found in everything, even foods that don’t need a reason to have gluten. I have found that it is in the wax that is on produce to keep it fresh, soy sauce, seasonings, natural flavorings, medicine, and many other items. We just can’t get away from gluten.
Jessica and I have been trying our best to keep gluten out of our diet for about a year and a half now. I have done tons and tons or research to see what products contain gluten. Sometimes it’s impossible for us to get everything gluten free. There are tons of websites that help people out with gluten free questions or curiosity. A big reason as to why it is so hard for us is because of the prices. Gluten free products are super expensive, a regular bag of pretzels may cost $2.00 and a gluten free bag may cost $7.00; prices have come down some and I think if the economy keeps getting better someday gluten free products will be cheaper. There are many stores now that are carrying gluten free products and they label them for convenience. This helps out a bunch because I have to read the back of everything I buy to make sure it doesn’t contain gluten.
This gluten free adventure all started when Jessica could not pinpoint why she was always tired and sick to her stomach. She talked to a friend Kelsey, whom she works with, and described some of her symptoms. Her symptoms involved; bloating, nausea, fatigue, and other symptoms that someone may feel when they have the flu. Kelsey told her that it sounds like she may be gluten intolerant, Kelsey herself has celiac disease. She gave Jessica some pointers on what to look for and products to stay away from. Kelsey has really helped us in figuring out what we can eat and what we can’t.
Meals are getting easier for us to prepare now that we have been cutting gluten out for a while. When we first started we ate some pretty nasty foods. Bread was one of the first things we looked for and that was worse than the dreaded fruit cake a Christmas time. We have found items that taste good and work for us. Cutting gluten out is getting much easier and tastier. There are some gluten free foods that I like better than the regular foods; Tinkyada’s gluten free brown rice pasta and Jessica’s gluten free apple crisp are a couple of examples of very tasty gluten free foods. There are tons of great recipes that you can find on the internet, in cookbooks, or even by word of mouth.
With all the long, hard, time consuming research, trial and error, and other experiments we have done, of trying to conquer the gluten free world have defiantly paid off. Jessica is much happier now, she has tons more energy, and she doesn’t lie around the house all day, and so on. Even the animals are happier because they get to go out and play more since we now can be more active with Jessica feeling better. Being gluten free has had its ups and downs, but when it comes down to it, eating gluten free is much healthier and a better lifestyle for us, and after a while it’s not too difficult. Even if you are not gluten intolerant, it is interesting to research about it and see how bad it is for people. Gluten is not only bad for humans; it is also not the best for animals as well. If you are ever interested there are tons of sites to look at with lots of information. It never hurts to be a little more educated about multiple categories.