Gluten free cooking can taste good
// Filed in: Lyme Disease Diet|Lyme Disease Symptoms
Gluten is the protein in grains that makes bread chewy, the glue that makes it rise and holds it together. Increasingly, people dealing with Lyme disease symptoms are adopting a gluten free diet. Some LLMDs recommend it, based on the rise of increased gluten sensitivity seen in Lyme patients.
If you’re in an acute stage, it might be worth a try to eliminate gluten products for awhile. Avoid baked goods made from wheat, spelt, kamut, barley, triticale (a hybrid of barley and wheat) and rye. Especially if your stomach aches after you eat these foods.
However, bread is the staff of life. Changing your bread-eating habits can be an emotional, not simply a nutritional, issue. My partner makes the best french toast this side of the Mississippi. Since we struggled through our Lyme journey, he only makes it as a rare treat, and any resistance is futile. I sweeten it with fresh blueberries or strawberries instead of maple syrup (okay, maybe a dribble of maple syrup). I wouldn’t use sugar or syrup (sorry folks) if you’re experiencing symptoms. But I’ve discovered that if I only eat french toast as a treat, I can get away with it. These days, six years past my acute stage, I’ve returned to an old habit of relying on pasta for a yummy dish that cooks up quick after a long workday. I’m a vegetable fanatic, so my pasta sauce is crowded with fresh organic veggies whenever possible. Even though my symptoms are gone and my health is vastly improved, I’m still very careful when it comes to choosing what to put on my plate. Adopting a largely gluten free diet seems to work well for my whole family. Just takes a bit of adjusting, which is easy these days.
A few years ago, it wasn’t easy to find quick alternatives to gluteny products. Nowadays a lot of name brands offer GF products in the grocery store. Boxed mixes may tempt you because they’re fast and easy, but boxed food tends to contain too much salt, sugar, or other ingredients you may be sensitive to. If you possibly can, buy bulk from your grocery store. Try some of the alternative grains that you used to pass by in favor of the more familiar ones. I know I used to pass them by, simply because I was in a groove (more like a rut) and a little bit lazy when it came to trying new foods.
Recently I’ve been experimenting with more organic whole grains such as millet, amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa in our dinners. Couscous is traditionally made from semolina wheat, so it’s not gluten free. However, there is a brown rice couscous on the market which is indeed GF.
One of my favorites so far is quinoa, which cooks up extraordinarily quickly. I also love cooking in a wok, which takes very little time and transforms the air with the smell of hot, fresh veggies and warm spices. Pairing quinoa with stir-fried vegetables is fast and satisfying. It’s amazing, but lifelong habits actually can be transformed, and we can change our old emotional associations with that piece of buttered rye toast or whole wheat sandwich. It just takes a little doing. But the effort it takes to live a pain free, post-Lyme life where we are finally liberated from symptoms is worth its weight in gold.
Learn more about Lyme disease diet.
What’s your favorite gluten free diet food? If you eat mostly gluten free, have you seen, or felt an improvement in your health? Please feel free to share recipes! I’d love to hear from you.
If you’re in an acute stage, it might be worth a try to eliminate gluten products for awhile. Avoid baked goods made from wheat, spelt, kamut, barley, triticale (a hybrid of barley and wheat) and rye. Especially if your stomach aches after you eat these foods.
However, bread is the staff of life. Changing your bread-eating habits can be an emotional, not simply a nutritional, issue. My partner makes the best french toast this side of the Mississippi. Since we struggled through our Lyme journey, he only makes it as a rare treat, and any resistance is futile. I sweeten it with fresh blueberries or strawberries instead of maple syrup (okay, maybe a dribble of maple syrup). I wouldn’t use sugar or syrup (sorry folks) if you’re experiencing symptoms. But I’ve discovered that if I only eat french toast as a treat, I can get away with it. These days, six years past my acute stage, I’ve returned to an old habit of relying on pasta for a yummy dish that cooks up quick after a long workday. I’m a vegetable fanatic, so my pasta sauce is crowded with fresh organic veggies whenever possible. Even though my symptoms are gone and my health is vastly improved, I’m still very careful when it comes to choosing what to put on my plate. Adopting a largely gluten free diet seems to work well for my whole family. Just takes a bit of adjusting, which is easy these days.
A few years ago, it wasn’t easy to find quick alternatives to gluteny products. Nowadays a lot of name brands offer GF products in the grocery store. Boxed mixes may tempt you because they’re fast and easy, but boxed food tends to contain too much salt, sugar, or other ingredients you may be sensitive to. If you possibly can, buy bulk from your grocery store. Try some of the alternative grains that you used to pass by in favor of the more familiar ones. I know I used to pass them by, simply because I was in a groove (more like a rut) and a little bit lazy when it came to trying new foods.
Recently I’ve been experimenting with more organic whole grains such as millet, amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa in our dinners. Couscous is traditionally made from semolina wheat, so it’s not gluten free. However, there is a brown rice couscous on the market which is indeed GF.
One of my favorites so far is quinoa, which cooks up extraordinarily quickly. I also love cooking in a wok, which takes very little time and transforms the air with the smell of hot, fresh veggies and warm spices. Pairing quinoa with stir-fried vegetables is fast and satisfying. It’s amazing, but lifelong habits actually can be transformed, and we can change our old emotional associations with that piece of buttered rye toast or whole wheat sandwich. It just takes a little doing. But the effort it takes to live a pain free, post-Lyme life where we are finally liberated from symptoms is worth its weight in gold.
Learn more about Lyme disease diet.
What’s your favorite gluten free diet food? If you eat mostly gluten free, have you seen, or felt an improvement in your health? Please feel free to share recipes! I’d love to hear from you.
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