I'm Liana and I am a recovering Gluten-aholic!
Today I am going to share with you tips and tricks for living a Gluten-Free life. as well as share with you 3 Gluten-Free brands, that I have found to have tasty quality food, that makes you wish you had started eating Gluten-Free years ago!
There recently has been a lot of research conducted on a topic referred to, by many, as Gluten Intolerance or Gluten Sensitivity. It was initially believed that only 6% to 7% percent of society was affected by Gluten intake, however scientific researcher Dr. Ford, a pediatrician in New Zealand, now predicts that number is most likely much larger, being closer to 30% or 50%. Gluten sensitivity is when someone has trouble digesting Gluten, which can result in a wide variety of uncomfortable symptoms.
When I learned, for the first time, that my chronic fatigue, chronic bad aches and unusually excoriating cramps were due to Gluten Sensitivity, I was less than thrilled. How the hell was I suppose to never eat normal bread, pasta, or chocolate ever again? Those were what I considered the staples of my diet! It was impossible (or so it felt like at the time.) However, it has now been a year since my discovery and I have been pleasantly surprised to find out that in today's society, eating Gluten-Free (or eating very limited amounts of Gluten) isn't as daunting, or scary as it may, at first, seem. Especially, now with all the quality Gluten-Free brands out there, eating Gluten Free is only a grocery store trip away!
My best advice for anyone trying to start eating less Gluten, or completely cutting it out of their diet, is eating lots of fresh foods. Foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, that never initially even contained Gluten. However, even with that piece of advice in mind, I can guarantee you will still have frequent cravings for the Gluten-filled foods you once loved. There will come that morning when you wake up and long for the taste of a warm pancakes in your mouth, long to feel the melted butter and syrup run down your throat or that afternoon when you desire to bite into a gorgeous leafy green salad and feel the crunch of homemade croutons under your teeth. What do you do then? Do you resist the temptation or do you give in and deal with the unfortunate consequences? With Gluten-Free Brands available to you, you no longer, have to be faced with such a hard decision.
Below I have included a collected list of what I personally have found to be the best Gluten-Free brands.
Glutino
Glutino is a Gluten-Free brand that makes a wide variety of almost 100 different products. I have only tried a small number of these products, however I have been throughly impressed and amazed at both the quality, and the taste of every single one I have tried. They instantly became one of my favorite brands when the recipes they used tasted BETTER than the original products containing Gluten. I have found the pretzels (regular, yogurt covered, yogurt peppermint covered and chocolate covered) to be my favorite of all their products. They are crunchy, tasty and the rice flour and potato starch supplement gives them a uniquely amazing flavor that makes them more addicting to consume than just your normal bag of pretzels. (Although they are less known for their Gluten-Free products, Synders also makes pretty good Gluten-Free Pretzels.) A short, incomplete, summary of Glutino products includes breakfast cereal, cookie mix, crackers, english muffins, toaster pastries, turkey stuffing, pie crust, bread, cake mix, breakfast bars, bagel chips, pizzas, meatball sandwich, brownie mix, chocolate and lemon wafer cookies, oreos and many many other products that are worth checking into.
Udi's
Udi's is known quite well around the world for its Gluten-Free produce. There is even a small Udi's restaurant in the terminal at the Denver Colorado airport that serves predominately Udi's products to its customers. Udi's focuses on selling mostly bread products such as muffins, cinnamon buns, french dinner rolls, pizza, bagels, french baguettes, and of course loafs of bread. However they also sell products such as granola, salted carmel cookies, chips, snicker doodles, brownie bites, italian sausage lasagna, maple pecan cookies, cheese penne and a huge variety of other meal and snack options! My personal favorite product from them is, by far, their blueberry muffins, they are seriously too die for! A small sprinkle of crystalized sugar on top of a moist Gluten-Free blueberry filled muffin, honestly, what could be better than that?
Ian's
Ian's is a very natural, health based, Gluten-Free brand. They use absolutely no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. Ian's is a healthy take on Gluten Free fast food items. There is also no trans fats, bleached flours, hydrogenated oils, refined sugars, hormones or tripolphyosphates in any of their products. Some of their most popular items include chicken nuggets, onion rings, fish sticks, chicken patties, chicken tenders, Alphatots (which are tatortots in the shape of letters), french toast sticks, mac & cheese, cheesey french bread, pepperoni french bread, popcorn turkey dogs, snicker doodle or chocolate chip cookie bites, sweet potato fries, barbecue chicken nuggets, and a large variety of Pancrepes to choose from.
Those are just a few of the insane number of Gluten-Free brands out there available to purchase! There are still so many more brands out there to try. Just to name a few, Gluten-Free Pantry, Pamala's Products, Enjoy Life, Gluten Freeda Foods, Funky Monkey, Kinnikick Foods, Cheerybrook Kitchen, Mi-Del, Glow Gluten Free, Bakeworks, and Katz, are a small amount of the numerous brands purely focused on making Gluten-Free cuisine available at your fingertips.
We always love to hear from our readers! The question for you today, is specificially, geared toward my Gluten-Free buddies out there (and of course anyone else who feels inclined to answer), what is your favorite Gluten-Free brand? Please comment below with your answer!
Bisous,
Emily & Liana (Limly)
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