Tag: gluten-free

Losing Weight While Living Gluten Free

Sometimes I read articles that, on the surface, seem logical, but don’t hold up upon close reading. One such article was posted on Glutenfreeworks and entitled “How to Lose Weight on the Gluten-Free Diet“. I’m guessing this was a linkbait headline.

The core premise of the article is that celiac disease creates different levels of malnourishment. For some people, this means unexplained weight loss; for others, weight gain. I fell into the latter group. I remember my doctor murmuring something about “getting enough nutrition”, though in retrospect, it was the wrong nutrition. Continue reading “Losing Weight While Living Gluten Free”

Clean Eating, or Just Another Way of Saying “Real Food”

There is a lot of chatter about clean eating, and, to be honest, it’s just another way of saying “eat real food“. This is something I advocate on many levels — not only does it help with weight loss, but also helps to maintain a rich and satisfying gluten-free diet. With three obvious exceptions (wheat, rye, and barley…and any products made with these items), real foods are the cornerstone of a gluten-free diet. Continue reading “Clean Eating, or Just Another Way of Saying “Real Food””

Gluten-Free Product Review: EVOL Cups

As I recovered from gallbladder surgery, my desire to cook was a bit lagging. Conveniently, I had a freezer stocked with items I’d cooked, and, happily, a supply of the Cups from EVOL. These freezer-to-microwave products are the perfect “I need something fast and easy” products, with meals geared toward breakfast and lunch.

Plus, they are all gluten free.

(Disclosure: EVOL sent a large sample of Cups to me to try and review, if I desired. This review is based on those free samples.) Continue reading “Gluten-Free Product Review: EVOL Cups”

Shakshuka-Style Greens and Eggs

I’ve never been a huge fan of tomatoes, though I am trying (and finding them to be less, well, icky than I tell myself). But when I tried an Israeli shakshuka — a dish traditionally made with tomatoes and peppers — in a restaurant, I fell in love. It’s a breakfast dish, but I’d eat it any time of day or night.

One evening, I was playing with tomatillos and greens, considering a chile verde type dish. I didn’t have a plan, and I didn’t have any pork handy. I did have eggs, and it made sense to add the eggs to the dish. Voila! Later, I poked around the Internet for ideas to improve this dish; weirdly, what I found came out as a cross between one of my favorite ways to prepare greens and this final dish. The real difference is the tomatillo, which adds a lot of tanginess to the dish (and makes it a bit juicier than the greens alone).

Serve this to vegetarians and they will think you’re a genius. Serve it for brunch. For dinner. Take leftovers for lunch. You will thank yourself. I promise.

Allergy versus Intolerance

As mentioned, I read an article recently that left me thinking about labels and how they help us communicate. In the article, the authors was very clear that she considers her issue with gluten to be an allergy. That’s fine — she knows her body best.

(This article has inspired two pieces from me as there were two key points I took away. Here’s the other one, where I discuss communicating with restaurant staff.)

In the article comments, there was a lot of interesting back and forth (yeah, I broke the “don’t read the comments” rule, but this is a topic that interests me!), but there was one comment that really took me by surprise. One person took great exception to the author’s labeling her gluten issue as an allergy. Continue reading “Allergy versus Intolerance”

Restaurants. Again.

I read articles about how others handle their gluten-free lives with great interest, though, in all honesty, most of those articles have common themes. However, every now and then, a point jumps out at me, or a sentence helps coalesce my thinking about a particular issue.

A recent article got me thinking a lot about communicating our gluten free-ness with others. The author of the article made it clear she considers her gluten issue an allergy, and that lead me to think a lot about how restaurant staff look at an order of “gluten free”. Continue reading “Restaurants. Again.”

Gluten-Free Product Review: Banza Pasta

As you know, I’m not huge on most gluten-free speciality items. They tend to be overpriced, and, often, just not that good. I do make exceptions for pasta as it can’t be beat for fast weeknight meals. And gluten-free pastas tend to be reasonably priced and reliable.

Okay, that final statement was a bit of lie. You have to buy quality gluten-free pasta. I cannot count the number of times I’ve had cheap pastas — often made from rice (white or brown) — go from not-quite-there to well-it’s-time-to-fall-apart in a blink of an eye. Bad gluten-free pastas give the whole genre a bad name. Continue reading “Gluten-Free Product Review: Banza Pasta”