Natural Food Resources

It was a sunny day with a cool breeze blowing in off the Strait - a typical spring morning. The day had been rather quiet with only few customers so far. The smell from the kitchen was inviting to any who entered and the produce department was a riot of color. What inviting fruit and vegetables they had for sale. The sale on the big mangoes was unbelievable.

In to this quiet, lazy atmosphere Joanie came in with a very perturbed look on her face. Something had clearly upset her! It didn’t take long for her to inform us what was wrong. It seems she had been to the doctor and he had told her to stay away from all gluten. Either the doctor did not explain to her what gluten is or she didn’t hear what he said. We told her we knew who could help her learn what gluten is and what she could still eat. Of course, we reassured her she would learn about gluten and find there are many non-gluten foods available.

By this time Ruth had arrived and we heard Ruth asking what Joanie had for breakfast, lunch and dinner, As usual we were betting Joanie was eating wheat at least 3 times a day, and by her admission every day. We were right. Well, she was about to learn about gluten.

First, Joanie learned gluten is the protein part of a certain group of grains and wheat especially, but also in rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut and triticale. In some people the intestinal tract is irritated by the gluten causing diarrhea, pain, bleeding and inability to absorb food very well. It shows up in other ways to, but Joannie can only take in so much at once. More about the ways gluten affects some people another time.

Joannie did remember the doctor had said her case was not too bad so she did not have all those symptoms.

Now it is time to look for what she can eat. Frequently people get in the habit of eating only a few items of food. Joannie will want to learn to eat and prepare some new foods

to replace the grains she can no longer eat.

It seems she is a chocoholic so she will have to read the package more carefully. American made chocolates and chocolate bars often have some wheat in them. On the other hand the European chocolates tend not to have flour in them. So a careful reading of the packaging will help until you know which brands you can still eat.

There are Scottie-shaped licorice made with potato starch rather than flour

Joanie likes cereal for breakfast so we will introduce here to several products. Perky’s cereal is a great cold cereal with a good flavor made with rice. It is best described as a cross between Grapenuts and puffed rice. Rice, millet and corn are puffed and eaten as another cold cereal. Hot cereals include rice, buckwheat groats, millet, quinoa and amaranth. All these grains can be used like you would rice for the evening meal. If you make some extra it can just be heated up for breakfast. Any or all of these can be eaten with butter, cream, milk and some added raisins, chopped dried fruit, fresh fruits of any kind and/or chopped nuts. Cream of rice or buckwheat and polenta can be cooked as cereals. Some people like fried left over polenta for breakfast.

If she would like toast and butter there are some tapioca breads by E-nergy, millet bread and rice breads with raisins and nuts. Hmm…and a slice of cheese! Some nut butter or plain butter would be tasty. If you are in the mood for gluten free waffles there are several kinds. One waffle is from buckwheat.

If sandwiches are a must for lunch use one of the breads. They are good either plain or toasted with butter, nut butter, cheese, meat, eggs or tofu. Add lettuce and/or tomato, mustard or catsup, pickle and enjoy. Make sure your mustard and mayonnaise are wheat free.

Your evening meal could be one of the rice crust pizzas or spaghetti sauce on any of the rice pastas. Try a root vegetable like carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, potato or sweet potato, yams or winter squash in place of pasta. Add butter or a favorite sauce and perhaps some grated cheese. Some cooked greens or a salad will finish off the meal. Add whatever kind of protein you chose.

The last area where Joanie ate gluten was in snacks. Try a piece of seasonal fresh fruit, with a handful of nuts or seeds, cheese, left over meat, carrot, celery sticks or jicama with nut butter of choice. Dried fruit may be substituted for fresh. A glass of milk is satisfying.

Joanie comment was, “I thought I would be starving when the doctor told me no more gluten but now I have new options. I better go shop.”

(c) 2008 Ruth Bascom