Chapter 1

Being Gluten-Free from A to Z

In This Chapter

Getting a grip on gluten

Uncovering the advantages of the gluten-free lifestyle

Making the most of meals

Going from gluten-gobbler to gluten-free forager — and loving it

Hitting the ground running in your first two weeks

M argaret found herself at last in the dim recesses of the Menzies Library at the Australian National University. ‘My condition, vividly described, was on page 448 of a huge, dusty medical reference book. Lethargy, tiredness, chronic diarrhoea, painful mouth ulcers, weight loss. There was even a photograph of a child that reminded me sharply of one of my childhood photos. Me as a pale, skinny three-year-old, with stick arms and legs and a huge pot belly, at the beach in my first swimming costume.’

‘I’d gone to the library, desperate for answers in the interminably long nine-week wait to see a gastroenterologist — nine weeks when I began to think I was losing the plot. I existed on weak black tea, dry toast with Vegemite and the occasional soft-boiled egg. I secured my clothes with big safety pins and worried that one day my undies would slip right down and land in a crumpled, mortifying heap around my ankles. I didn’t allow myself to go back into the bedroom after I was up and dressed, because the mere sight of my bed made me want to sink into the soft covers “just for a little rest”, with dire consequences for the day’s work. I knew something was seriously wrong with me, but my GP clearly thought otherwise, only reluctantly referring me to a specialist. Maybe he was right and I was just another hypochondriac?’

‘Several weeks later, prodded and probed, blood tested and biopsied, I had my answer. I had the strange condition called coeliac disease, but I would get better if I stopped eating bread and other things that contained gluten.’

‘But what on earth was gluten? Now this was last century, way back in 1980 and, although I’d heard of gluten, I knew as much about it as I know about the mysterious workings of my lovely laptop: Less than zilch. Forget Google — the internet didn’t exist. I had to search for information out there in the real world, wherever I could. And in my search, I discovered a tiny cluster of other searchers, eager to share their knowledge.’

‘Little did I know how that search would grow; how more than 30 years later many thousands of Australians would also be asking the same questions, facing the same dilemmas and searching for the same gluten-free alternatives. To make the search easier for others I’ve gathered the sum total of my knowledge and experience, added a vast amount of information from The Experts and put my head together with Danna Korn, author of the US version of Living Gluten-Free For Dummies.’

‘So I start at the beginning. This chapter gives you a basic rundown of what living gluten-free is all about.’

What Is Gluten, Anyway?

Gluten has a couple of definitions; one is technically correct but not commonly used and the other is commonly used but not technically correct. You get more details on both definitions in Chapter 4, but to get you started and for the purposes of most of this book, here’s the common definition: Gluten is the elastic material of dough that has been made from wheat flour.

Gluten is quite different from glutin, a form of gelatine obtained from the skin, hoof or bone of animals, or glutinous, which describes things that are sticky and gooey. And, of course, it has nothing to do with glutton, although coeliacs who suddenly discover a new, mouth-watering, gluten-free product or recipe sometimes morph into one for a little while.

Common foods that contain gluten

You can find a lot of information about what you can and can’t eat in Chapter 4 and dietitians can provide lists of gluten-free foods. The most extensive list around is the Ingredient List published by Coeliac Australia, an organisation run by coeliacs, for coeliacs (you can find information about Coeliac Australia and how to join in Chapter 5). But you need to have a general idea of what kinds of foods have gluten in them so you know what to avoid. Things with wheat flour in them are the most common culprits when you’re avoiding gluten. The following are obvious gluten-loaded foods:

• Biscuits, cakes and most other baked goods
• Bread, bread rolls
• Crackers
• Pasta
• Pizza

But not-so-obvious suspects are around, too, like breakfast cereals, sauces, soups, licorice, confectionery, some potato chips and beer. When you’re gluten-free, you get used to reading labels and digging a little deeper to know for sure what you can and can’t eat (more on that in Chapter 4). You have to do without those foods, but you really don’t have to do without. Food manufacturers make delicious gluten-free versions of just about every food imaginable these days. We talk more about those and where to buy them in Chapter 8.

Wheat-free doesn’t mean gluten-free

You may see lots of labels proudly declaring a product to be wheat-free (some of which, like spelt and kamut, aren’t really wheat-free at all). That doesn’t mean the food is gluten-free.

Gluten is in wheat, but it’s also in rye, barley and oats. So something can be wheat-free but still have other gluten-containing ingredients, like malt, which is usually derived from barley. In that case, the product’s wheat-free, but it’s not gluten-free.

Discovering the Benefits of a Gluten-Free Lifestyle

Being gluten-free involves much more than just cutting gluten out of your diet. It affects other aspects of your life, from how you handle ordering at restaurants to attending social functions and dealing with emotional challenges.

We believe it’s important to take control of the diet or, if it’s your kids who are gluten-free, help them gain control. Going gluten-free also gives you an opportunity to reach out and help others who may need to embark on the wonderful world of gluten-freedom, as well as a chance to discover more about nutrition and what you’re actually putting in your body on a daily basis. If that sounds like a lot of work, relax. We’ll guide you through it. And not only can you feel better, but you can also feel better about yourself!

This book is the resource you need — wade your way through it and dog-ear the pages you want to come back to when you need some practical or emotional reminders on how to deal with difficult issues. If you have an optimistic but realistic approach, you’ll encounter fewer obstacles along the way.

You have a lot of company. Coeliac disease is now being diagnosed at a faster rate than any other disease and the number of people diagnosed with gluten intolerance is also on the rise. Changing both your diet and lifestyle is neither quick nor easy, but the benefits of going gluten-free can be fantastic — no surgery or medication required!

If time is a problem, or you’re not much of a read-everything-in-one-go type, flip to the end of this chapter for a guide to getting through the first two weeks of living gluten-free. But don’t forget to come back and poke around the rest of the book to make sure you’re equipped to enjoy your new lifestyle to the full!

Eating isn’t supposed to hurt

Food is supposed to give you energy and make you feel good, not make you hurt. But when you eat things that your body doesn’t like for one reason or another, your body has a sometimes not-so-subtle way of telling you to knock it off. Food that your body objects to can cause gas, bloating, diarrhoea, constipation and nausea — and even things that don’t seem to be associated with the gastrointestinal tract, like headaches, fatigue, depression, joint pain and respiratory distress.

The great thing about all this is that when you find out, through medical tests, that your body can’t tolerate gluten, you can stop eating it and then your body stops being so ‘precious’. In fact, feed it right and it can make you feel great in many different ways.

Making nutrition your mission: Head-to-toe health benefits

The 12th-century physician Maimonides said, ‘Man should strive to have his intestines relaxed all the days of his life’. No doubt! When your intestines aren’t relaxed — or when they’re downright edgy or uptight — they affect all your other parts, too. It’s like when you’re in a really good mood and your best friend is grumpy — the situation can make you grumpy, too. One cantankerous intestine can be a party-pooper for the entire body.

In a way, the body’s reaction to gluten doesn’t compute. In some people, eating gluten can cause headaches, fatigue, joint pain, depression or infertility; at first those types of symptoms may seem unrelated to something going on in your gut, much less something you eat — much less something as common as wheat in your diet.

But those — and about 250 others — can be symptoms of coeliac disease and gluten intolerance. People with coeliac disease or gluten intolerance often have gastrointestinal symptoms, but sometimes the symptoms are extraintestinal, meaning they take place outside the intestinal tract.

If you’re diagnosed with coeliac disease, a gluten-free diet should relieve many symptoms, such as:

• Anaemia
• Fatigue
• Gastrointestinal distress (gas, bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, vomiting, heartburn and acid reflux)

It may also help with some other conditions, such as:

• Depression
• Headaches (including migraines)
• Inability to concentrate
• Infertility
• Joint, bone or muscle pain
• Osteoporosis
• Respiratory problems
• Weight gain or weight loss

The list’s impressive, isn’t it? The idea that eliminating one thing from your diet — gluten — could improve a range of seemingly unconnected conditions is hard to believe. Yet it’s true — and it really makes sense when you realise that if the food you’re eating is toxic to your body, your body’s going to scream. Obviously gluten isn’t the answer to all medical problems. Some of the symptoms on the list are due to other conditions and gluten won’t help with those.

For people with gluten intolerance, eating gluten may make the symptoms of some psychiatric conditions worse. (We talk more about that in Chapter 2.) Some researchers think removing gluten from the diet can improve the behaviours of some people with:

• Attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder (ADD/ADHD)
• Autism
• Schizophrenia and other mood disorders

Some people find that eliminating wheat not only relieves their main symptoms but also has other benefits as well, such as reducing PMT or menopausal symptoms.

But I thought wheat was good for me!

Of course you did. Anyone who’s spent more than a day on planet Earth has been barraged with messages hailing the virtues of wheat — especially in its whole form! It and other grains hog much of the food pyramid(s), suggesting you should eat loads of it, and it’s touted as a good source of fibre and nutrients. Wheat does provide some health benefits, but you can find them in other food sources, too. So how can wheat be at the root of so many health problems? This section covers some of the reasons wheat may not be good for everyone.

Wheat was invented yesterday

Wheat wasn’t introduced until the Agricultural Revolution, about 10,000 years ago. Before that, people ate lean meats, fish, seafood, non-starchy vegetables and fruits.

When wheat came on the scene, it was completely foreign. Human bodies had to adapt in order to tolerate it and some researchers believe that many people don’t tolerate it well at all.

Humans don’t fully digest wheat

Humans have only one stomach — and one just isn’t enough to digest wheat. Cows have four stomachs (actually, four chambers within one stomach). That’s why Bessie the Bovine is okay with wheat. It goes from one stomach to another and another and — well, you get the picture. By the time it reaches tummy number four, it’s fully digested and Bessie’s feeling fine. Humans have a tougher time digesting wheat.

Mastering the Meals

If you’ve just been diagnosed as a coeliac and you’re afraid you’ll have to wake up at 4.00 am to bake gluten-free bread and make pasta from scratch, turn off the alarm and go back to sleep. Plenty of ready-made gluten-free foods are available to take the place of all your old favourites.

And if you’re as happy as a red-back in a gumboot when you’re surrounded by recipe books, wooden spoons and culinary challenges, go right ahead. We’ll be waiting outside for you to create the perfect gluten-free Anzac biscuit.

Whether you’re a kitchenphobe or a foodie, you’ll find a steadily increasing selection of gluten-free foods and ingredients to choose from.

Planning and preparing

Putting together healthy and delicious gluten-free meals is a lot easier if you plan ahead. Wandering through a supermarket, perusing restaurant menus, or (gasp!) sitting in a bakery with a growling tummy isn’t exactly conducive to making good food choices.

Give yourself a healthy advantage by planning and even preparing meals in advance, especially if your busy schedule has you eating away from home frequently. If you know you’re pressed for time at breakfast or lunch, make your meals the night before and pack healthy gluten-free snacks in resealable plastic bags.

Shopping shrewdly

The healthiest way to enjoy a gluten-free lifestyle is to eat things you can find at any supermarket or even a farmer’s market: meat, fish, seafood, fruits and vegetables (see Chapter 6). If you want to add canned, processed and even junk foods to your shopping list, you can still do most of your shopping at a supermarket.

If you hope to enjoy the delicious gluten-free commercial products that are available these days, you can find them in health food aisles, in the supermarket freezers or at health food shops. Or you can shop in your PJs on one of the internet sites specialising in gluten-free products (if you’re using your library’s internet or an internet cafe to shop online, you may want to change out of the PJs).

Some people worry about the cost of gluten-free food, but less-expensive ways of doing it are possible. We talk about eating gluten-free more affordably in Chapter 8.

Kitchen considerations

For the most part, a gluten-free kitchen looks the same as any other kitchen — without the gluten, of course. You don’t need to go out and buy special gadgets and tools. If you’re sharing a kitchen with gluten, you need to be aware of some contamination issues so you don’t inadvertently contaminate a perfectly good gluten-free meal with gluten. Getting people to keep their crumbs to themselves isn’t just a matter of hygiene, but can mean the difference between a meal you can eat and one you can’t.

Some people find having separate areas or coloured containers or labels in the pantry or cupboards for their gluten-free products helpful, especially snack foods. This is an especially good idea if you have gluten-free kids in the house, because they can see that they always have lots of things to eat and can quickly grab their favourite gluten-free goodies from the special area.

Cooking outside the recipe box

You’ll discover that you can make most things gluten-free. All you need is a little creativity and some basic guidelines for using gluten-free substitutions, which you can find in Chapter 9.

If you’re a die-hard recipe fan, never fear — we include loads of recipes in Chapters 10 to 15. Most of them are easy to follow but leave your family or guests with the impression that you spent all day in the kitchen (and being thus indebted, may volunteer to do the dishes).

Getting Excited about Your Gluten-Free Future

Most people who embark on a gluten-free diet are doing so because of health issues — and that means they have no choice in the matter. When people are forced to make changes in their routine, especially changes that affect what they can and can’t eat, they’re not always so quick to see the joy in the adjustments.

If you’re a little gloomy about going from gluten-gobbler to gluten-freebie, we understand. But prepare yourself to read about all the good reasons to be positive about the gluten-free lifestyle (impatient types, feel free to skip to Chapters 19 and 20 for a jump-start on all the pluses).

‘A’ is for adapting your perspective on food

If you’ve been eating gluten for a long time — say, for most of your life — giving up foods as you know them may seem like a tough transition at first. Besides the obvious practical challenges of learning to ferret out gluten, you have to deal with emotional, physical, social and even financial challenges.

You have to do only one thing in order to love the gluten-free lifestyle and that’s to adjust your perspective on food just a tinge. You really don’t have to give up anything; you just have to make some modifications. The foods that used to be your favourites can still be your favourites if you want them to be, just in a slightly different form. And be prepared for the delights of discovering new favourites, for you certainly will. Your palate is pretty agreeable, if you let it, to enjoying new tastes and textures.

Or you may want to consider what may be a new and extra-healthy approach for you: making lean meats, fresh fruits and non-starchy vegetables the main components of your diet. We talk more about creating a really healthy, balanced gluten-free diet in Chapter 6.

Savouring gluten-free flavours

People who are new to the concept of being gluten-free sometimes comment that the diet is boring. If you ask what they’re eating, they’ve usually found a few meals that are gluten-free and they stick to those, day in and day out. Instead of seeking out gluten-free breads that they like, they chomp through a daily ration of rice cakes. Who wouldn’t grow bored with that? That type of a diet is downright depressing.

A nutritious, gluten-free diet doesn’t have to be boring or restrictive. You don’t need to limit your diet to a few absolutely safe foods. If you do prefer bland foods, terrific. But if you have always enjoyed a rich variety of tasty foods, you can keep right on enjoying. No way does gluten-free have to be flavour-free.

Getting out and about

You don’t have to let your gluten-free diet hold you back from doing anything you want to do. Well, okay, you can’t do some things — like eat a pizza from every pizza place, or devour a plate of gluten-laden Tim Tams. But as far as your activities and lifestyle are concerned, you can — and should — get out and about as you always have.

For the most part, ordering out isn’t as easy as walking into a restaurant and asking for a gluten-free menu (dream on). But eating at restaurants is definitely do-able; you just need to discover how to order and be aware of contamination issues. Travelling is a bit more challenging and requires a little more flexibility about what you eat and when in the day you eat it. But finding suitable meals adds spice to the travel adventure as you grapple with gluten-free in another language. Thousands who try it agree that it’s much easier than they expected. Going to social events often requires a little advance planning, and holidays may barely faze you — after you get the hang of getting out and about gluten-free style. Chapter 16 gives you more information on this.

Raising kids to love their food

The news that your child will have to be gluten-free for the rest of his life often unleashes a flood of emotions, many of them not pleasant. At first, you feel burdened and overcome with grief and frustration and long for the perfectly healthy little baby or child you thought you were entitled to. It’s easy to focus on what you’ve lost and all that you have to change in your lives. But making adjustments doesn’t take long and soon you discover that life isn’t so different after all. The transformation in your child’s health and behaviour compensates for the realisation that you need to be a bit more organised, a bit more watchful and a little less spontaneous when you go out.

Most importantly, you want your child to be happy about the adjustments. After all, it’s their diet, their life, their future that is most affected. Thankfully, almost all kids take dietary changes in their stride and just get on with enjoying life as they did before.

A few issues are central in raising happy, healthy, gluten-free kids. Some of the highlights include

• Giving them an appropriate level of control of their diet as early as possible
• Always having yummy gluten-free treats on hand
• Reinforcing the benefits of a gluten-free diet (if you need inspiration, see Chapter 19)
• Always remembering that they’re learning how to feel about their diet from you

Promoting an optimistic outlook can instil a positive approach in kids. Chapter 17 deals in detail with raising kids to love the gluten-free lifestyle and for more practical advice, help is at hand through Coeliac Australia in your state. In Chapter 5, we also provide a list of books you may want to look out for.

Kids are flexible and resilient. Adjusting to a gluten-free diet is usually much harder for the parents than for the child.

Setting realistic expectations

Setting reasonable expectations for what things will be like when you adopt a gluten-free lifestyle is important, because you will encounter challenges, and you need to prepare to handle them well. Friends, family and loved ones may not understand. They may not accommodate your diet when you hope or expect they will. You may find social events to be overwhelming at first; or you may get confused or frustrated and feel like giving up on the diet. You can overcome these challenges and come out stronger for them.

Arming yourself with good information

The good news is that because so many people are now on a gluten-free diet a lot of information about it is floating around. The bad news is that not all of it’s accurate.

Be wary of what you hear and read and ensure it comes from a reputable source, like a government health site, Coeliac Australia or a dietitian. If you find conflicting information — and you will — dig deeper until you find out which source is right.

We list a few good sources of information in Chapter 5 and you can find more on your own. Just remember to keep a sceptical eye out for the good, the bad and the completely ludicrous.

Getting Started — A Guide for Your First Two Weeks

If you’ve just been diagnosed as a coeliac, or told to go on a gluten-free diet for other reasons, you’ll want to start right now, but you may not have time to look through this whole book. You’re right — starting right now is important, not waiting until you know everything there is to know about living gluten-free. Your body has been taking a battering from gluten and you want that to stop quick smart so you can get on the road to recovery.

The following sections help you do just that — get started straightaway. If you like, you can come back and thumb through the rest of the book once you have made a start.

A gluten-free diet seems overwhelming at first, and you may have many questions. What on earth will I eat? Can I eat out? What will other people think? Am I a freak? How can I go travelling now? Is cooking gluten-free easy? Can I afford it? If it’s your child who has been diagnosed, you’ll have a whole host of other questions about the impact this will have as they grow up. These questions and many more will race around your mind at first. But don’t panic. The diet’s really not going to totally change your life. Many thousands of Australians are living happy, healthy, full lives on a gluten-free diet, and the sky hasn’t fallen in yet. It will take a bit of time to adjust, so be patient.

Working out what you can eat

Many of the foods in your kitchen are naturally gluten-free. Meat, fish and seafood, eggs, poultry, most dairy products, rice and pulses like chickpeas and beans, and all fruits and vegetables are fine, unless they’ve been processed in some way. You can also eat nuts and seeds, dried fruits, butter, margarine, sugar, salt, spices, vinegar (but not malt vinegar), most tomato sauces, jam, honey, tea, coffee, cocoa, fruit and vegetable juices, most chocolate, most plain potato crisps, wine and spirits. You may already have maize cornflour in the pantry. The foods you’ll have to change are cereals, bread and baked products, pastas, flours and many processed and packaged foods like sauces, biscuits and snack foods. (We go into this in much more detail in Chapters 7 and 8.) In the following sections, we provide a basic shopping list to get you started and a suggested meal plan for the first two weeks.

If fast food is a major part of your diet, the change to gluten-free may hit extra hard. You’ll probably have to (gulp, yes!) dig out the old wooden spoon and chopping knife, buy yourself a pot and pan and have a go at some home cooking, because your gluten-free fast-food options simply won’t provide you with a healthy, varied diet. However, fast-food options are available to keep you fed for the first few days (see Chapter 16 for more on these options) while you make a transition to some home cooking.

Here are some starter tips:

• Organise the kitchen: Clear a space in your kitchen cupboard or pantry especially for gluten-free items, to avoid confusion and make it easier for your family members to know which items are safe for you (or themselves). Some people use particular containers for distinguishing their gluten-free food and leftovers in the fridge.
• Join the club: Join your state branch of Coeliac Australia to get up to date news about gluten-free products and a wealth of ideas and support through their quarterly magazine, The Australian Coeliac. Go to www.coeliac.org.au or call 1300 458 836.
• Find a dietitian: If your GP hasn’t suggested this, make an appointment to see an accredited practising dietitian (APD) or visit the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) website (www.daa.asn.au) to find an APD in your area. This will pay off in the long term as you discover lots more options and ensure your new diet is balanced and meets your particular needs.
• Tell your family and friends: You may get a mixed reception here, but your friends and family certainly need to know about your new food requirements to avoid misunderstandings and difficult situations down the track. These days most people have at least heard about the gluten-free diet, although they may have only vague ideas about it. Often others are just relieved to know what has been making you ill. Sometimes family members are upset about having to make changes to their routine and meal patterns, so give them time to adjust. You will need support from other family members and/or housemates so they don’t unwittingly devour the last of your gluten-free biscuits, or mix gluten-containing food in with yours.
• Find gluten-free bread: Most supermarkets now stock gluten-free bread. You can get a wider range in health food shops but these may be more expensive. Don’t go into a tailspin if the first loaf you try tastes like cardboard! There’s gluten-free bread and then there’s gluten-free bread! We all have our preferences and you will discover yours in time.
• Try some gluten-free flours: Changing your cooking and baking to use gluten-free flours isn’t complicated. To begin with, simply use your old familiar recipes, but substitute gluten-free flour for wheat flour. You can buy gluten-free plain flour and self-raising flour mixes (made up of several flours because this works best) and later on learn which alternative flours to use for different purposes. More information on this is in Chapter 9.
• Tap into useful resources: Coeliac Australia provides a comprehensive list of all foods and ingredients (the Ingredient List) and whether or not they’re gluten free. This is available to members in a handy booklet form and can also be purchased as a phone app for iPhone, Android or Windows. Other useful online sources are outlined in Chapter 5.
• Keep your chin up: You’ll likely be a bit in shock at first. Do your best to keep this change to your life in perspective. You could have ended up with plenty of other, far worse conditions rather than coeliac disease. And although your life will involve some disruptions in the short term, in the long term you will enjoy life with more vitality and better health. So don’t put it off for a few days. Go cold turkey — it will only get harder to start if you delay!

A ‘getting started’ shopping list

Diets — and tastes — very so widely it’s hard to create a shopping list to suit everyone. So this is more like a list of items for you to consider; you can add and delete to your heart’s content. If your budget won’t stretch to everything at once, run down the list and decide which sorts of items you really can’t do without, and buy those first. Keep in mind that you’re doing a once-only ‘getting started’ shop, so it may cost more than your usual weekly shop.

To begin with, shopping will take you longer because you need to read product ingredient lists carefully until you’re familiar with them. You can’t always rely on the name of the product itself. For example, ‘rice crackers’ may also contain wheat flour, and soft rice noodles may contain wheaten cornflour.

If a product states ‘Gluten-Free’ on the label it will be gluten-free. Australian food labelling standards are right up there by world standards and you can rely on them to be correct. However, you still have some confusing aspects to learn, so if unsure check out Chapter 4 — doing so could save you confusion and a lot of time. Most supermarkets have a ‘special diet’ or ‘free from’ section to save time and searching. But don’t forget many more gluten-free products will be scattered around the store.

Here are the gluten-free products you may like to include on your ‘getting started’ list:

• Biscuits, if these are part of your regular diet
• Bread — try your local supermarkets first
• Cake mix, if you have a sweet tooth — also look for gluten-free icing sugar
• Cereal or muesli
• Crackers — rice crackers are useful, but corn crackers are tastier and more substantial
• Gluten-free flours — grab a plain flour mix for making sauces and thickening dishes, and a self-raising flour mix if you’re going to bake; try the supermarket varieties first and branch out to make your own mixes as you gain confidence
• Ice-cream or custard
• Nuts and seeds — these will likely assume more importance in your diet because they make great gluten-free snacks
• Pasta — available in most supermarkets; rice noodles or rice sticks are another option
• Pizza mix or pizza bases — most tomato paste is gluten-free, although not usually those in a squeeze bottle
• Rice and/or quinoa if you’re familiar with it
• Sauces — you should be able to find gluten-free alternatives for mayonnaise, soy sauce and other sauces and toppings; tomato sauce is usually gluten-free
• Soup — most canned varieties contain gluten but tomato soup is usually gluten-free; also look for packet soup in your health food shop; many prepared soups are now gluten-free, although expensive
• Spreads — most are gluten-free except for Vegemite; several gluten-free alternatives are available

See Chapter 8 for more information.

A two-week meal plan

You may choose to simply convert your usual meals into gluten-free versions, or use this opportunity to acquire a whole new repertoire. Most people sit somewhere in the middle, which seems to work well.

The meal plan shown in Table 1-1 provides that mix, with some new recipes from later chapters in this book, as well as suggestions for converting your old favourites to make them gluten-free.

Table 1-1 Two-Week Gluten-Free Meal Plan