Regaining Health on a Gluten Free Diet

When you find out you have celiac diease, it often opens a can of worms health-wise. You don't always know the effects that eating gluten has had.

My doctor told me the results of blood tests soon after being diagnosed with celiac disease and the results were not good. They showed I was anemic, extremely low on minerals and vitamins, most worryingly iron, B12 and D.

So after spending a small fortune on vitamin and mineral supplements did I feel any different? The answer is 'no' as I had been pretty asymtomatic eating gluten and didn't feel the tiredness that my mineral and vitamin levels indicated. Whether I felt tired or not, the fact was that my body needed nutrients.

Intestines damaged after years of eating gluten, take time to heal, and they won't suddenly be okay. In fact they are very sensitive and inflamed and not just as a result of eating gluten. That's when other intolerances and bad eating habits rear their ugly head. Many people with celiac disease also have diabetes, nightshade intolerance, lactose intolerance and so on. Some intolerances may go when the intestines heal, others are ongoing. As if avoiding gluten isn't enough!

Your stomach just may not like all this new gluten free food, mine didn't. The doctors advice? - just to avoid gluten and take vitamin and mineral supplements. There must be something else to help the healing process. What's the point of taking supplements that can't be absorbed?

That's when I stumbled on this article: http://www.celiac.com/articles/21803/1/-Life-in-the-TrenchesRecovering-from-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html

My order of Glutagenics is on it's way and it's not cheap but then when it comes to health it needs to take the priority.

After being malnourished for years and new to a gluten free diet you CRAVE calories, stodge, sweet foods, fat! It just might not be the best thing to eat! You might have detox reactions too, in my case I got teenage skin again and headaches. I also lost weight, not that I was over weight, but there is another myth. People with celiac disease are not always underweight. It makes sense that your metabolism would be slow due to being malnourished. Also the body being starved of nutrients effects the thyroid function. So there is now new connection emerging between celiac disease and obesity - http://www.celiac.com/articles/1033/1/Celiac-Disease-and-ObesityThere-is-a-Connection-by-Melissa-Croda-q/Page1.html

The best mineral supplements to take are high quality liquid forms, as they are most easily absorbed. Good brands will state on the label if they are gluten free.

Whether these supplements will be absorbed will be revealed in the next blood test, in 6 months time. So it will be interesting to see the results, as this will indicate that the healing has begun.

Gluten Free Coconut bread

So for this I found a recipe online, which was basically 6 eggs and coconut flour, coconut oil and salt.

The result - this wins as the worst bread I've made so far, almost had to throw it away. In the end froze it and ate it toasted with lots of butter and jam and it was just about edible.

What I learnt is that coconut flour is VERY dry as it has ALL the oil and moisture taken out of it.. The kind of dryness that saps every drop of moisture from your mouth. So is definitely best used in moderation with other flour.

The taste was egg mostly and very dry coconut and it was really hard to swallow.

I'll try some other recipes and post the results..

Pros - high protein, filling.
Cons - tastes like egg, too dry.

Gluten Free White Bread

It was my first try of Pamela's Gluten-Free Bread Mix. It's easy and makes a good size loaf.

This is great sandwich bread and the consistency is impressive. Very much like a white wheat loaf. It would probably make wonderful garlic bread as well, as it has that doughy texture.

It tastes sweet and you can taste the tapioca flour, but it goes well with savoury or sweet spreads and toppings, and is quite versatile.

It's best frozen after a few days in individual slices to be taken out when needed.

Pros: Easy to make. Great sandwich bread for picnics and packed lunches. Good alternative to wheat white bread.

Cons: It's not organic. It contains sugar. It's low in fibre and protein. It has a tree nut allergy warning.

Gluten Free Sunflower Flax Bread & Bun Mix

This mix was recommended to me at a local health store as being a customer favourite: Kinnikinnick Foods Gluten Free Kinni-kwik Sunflower Flax Bread & Bun Mix

It's very quick and easy to make and the result is a two small sized loaves which have a pretty good bread-like consistency. The flavour is ok, it tastes nothing like wheat bread but is vaguely reminiscent. It's sweet and you can taste the tapioca starch.

It needs to be kept in the fridge and eaten within a few days and is best frozen in individual slices and taken out when needed and toasted.

Pros: It's convenient and quick to make. Good sandwich bread, good for picnics and lunches out. It contains a good amount of fibre and protein and more nutrients than most gluten free breads.

Cons: It's not organic. In the ingredients, white rice flour is 1st on the list, potato starch is 3rd and sugar is 5th. It tastes too sweet. It has a tree nut allergy warning.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread

So far this is the only fruit bread mix I've tried - Bob's Mill Cinnamon Raisin Bread Mix

The smell is amazing when it's in the oven! - it tastes great too spread with butter when warm. It has a good consistency and it handy for packed lunches and picnics. The mix makes a good large - sized loaf.

It is best sliced a little thinner and buttered generously and it soon dries out. It can be frozen as individual slices and then toasted.

Pros - A great tasting fruit bread, with good consistency. Handy for snacks.

Cons - It's not organic. Can get a bit dry. Contains mostly potato starch.

Gluten Free Wholegrain Bread!

It's not easy on a gluten free diet to find bread that even remotely resembles wholegrain. My days of eating that dark german bread I so loved are over..but recently I made a discovery: Bobs Redmill Hearty Whole Grain Bread Mix.

This mix makes a large and substantial loaf and which is the probably the closest thing to that german rye bread you'll find, and even looks like it. It's a great sandwich bread and goes very well with cheeses and savoury spreads. It actually tastes very much like a wheat bread and so could almost fool wheat eaters!

As with most gluten free breads it is best kept in the fridge and eaten within a few days, or you can freeze slices and take out as needed.

The ingredients list is 23 items long, with everything from cocoa powder to onion powder. It must have taken a while to develop this recipe and it's really not an easy task!

Pros: Great sandwich bread, tastes almost as good as german rye bread, good sized loaf. It's more nutritious than most gluten free breads.

Cons: It's not organic, contains sugar (9th on ingredient list), potato flour and may contain traces of tree nuts.

The Best Gluten Free Brownies!

This won hands down for one of the best Gluten free brownie mixes I've tried so far - 'Namaste Foods Gluten Free Brownie Mix'.

It would be really hard to beat these brownies. The are extremely chocolatey and could fool the pickiest wheat eaters into thinking they were regular wheat ones!

I added a generous amount of Hersheys chocolate chips to these and wow, this makes for something so chocolate-tastic it's dangerous.

They are also free of other common allergens like nuts and potato.

Tip: To keep them fresh freeze them and defrost as required they taste just as good!

Warning: It's hard to stop eating them.