It’s a tricky topic, grain-free eating is.
Everyone has an opinion on gluten. Some have done research, most have not. Gluten should be looked at on a molecular level, and when you get to talking about this, people depart from the conversation, roll their eyes, and write you off as an extremist. Grain-free eating includes the elimination of rice and corn. When someone goes grain-free, everyone close to them is affected, and this really sucks.
I won’t go into the nitty gritty details but there are two things to explain:
My youngest son was chronically constipated and has had bowel issues since he was 3 weeks old. At 16 months old, he tested positive for gluten intolerance (the results were very very positive. As in, his tests showed an intense allergic reaction). I removed grains from his diet and BOOM, he was 100% fine within days and has been so since. Amazing, right?
Although not recently, I have had adverse reactions to gluten in the past. Auto-immune diseases abound in my genetic line and, basically, the presence of gluten in someone who is intolerant can very much cause auto immune diseases to emerge. And I’m just not keen to live a life with fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis (or anything else). So, with my son, I’m also eating a grain-free diet.
And so here we are, 2 months down the line. It has been excruciatingly difficult to make this shift, especially since it all happened around Christmas time, when life in the our household revolves around good food.
I’ve not gone without help. In fact, Sherrie Koen’s Tanner Mill is just down the road from me, where I can buy chickpea flour, a grain-free porridge/cake/biscuit mix, peanut butter and various other things to help my pantry. There have been one or two others who have sat me down for a good talk, or sympathized with the struggle, or sent me recipes. And I’m so grateful.
But for the sake of our budget, I’ve needed to figure out how to make a lot of my own ‘easy access’ food. Feeding a toddler is tricky when you need snacks on-hand but you better believe I’ve thanked God hundreds of times for bananas.
So far, I’ve made:
Butter,
Mayonnaise (I haven’t figured out a good tangy recipe yet)
Tomato sauce
Tomato puree
Beef/chicken/vegetable stock
Crackers
Spaghetti
Lasagna Sheets
White Sauce
Bread (Mix and recipe from Tanner Mill)
Strawberry Jam
Garlic-Chili Mayonnaise
Sweet Chili Sauce
Cheese (still needs tweaks)
Feta Cheese
Yoghurt
Chickpea pizza base (to replace my much-loved sourdough one) (still needs tweaks)
Dried herbs
Chocolate bark with cranberries, raisins, coconut flakes and nuts
Ice cream (without a machine)
Fruit lollies
Dry-Lemon Cordial
Granadilla-Lemon Cordial (amazing with soda water)
Strawberry gummies (need to find a way better recipe, or my taste buds need to change)
But when I boil it down and have a long hard look at what we need to eat for us to be a healthy and nourished family, these are our core elements: meat (from a good source), vegetables, water, herbs, and my free-range eggs are what keep us ticking. And the rest? Well, those give variety and quick snacks.
Now I might need to talk to you. Chronic constipation is an issue in our home. Sigh…. I haven't wanted to fight the battle but we might need to make a switch too… I gave up flour and sugar years ago, but I might need to slowly make the transition away from gluten for my family too. Thanks for sharing your experience.