Gluten Lite Diet

One of the ideas I’ve been applying to my diet this year is to reduce gluten. My goal is not to be ‘gluten free’ but to dramatically reduce the amount of gluten by  

  • Almost eliminating packaged wheat bread and crackers
  • When I bake - replacing half or more of the wheat flour with teff or buckwheat. This does not always work but the more highly flavored the recipe is, the more likely I will still enjoy it. Pumpkin or spice muffins and pancakes are my favorites.
  • Replacing pasta with grains that do not include grain - like brown rice or quinoa or amaranth
  • Replacing packaged breakfast cereals with oatmeal or quinoa or a mixed grain that does not include wheat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tried some gluten free pasta (it was made with corn instead of wheat). The flavor was fine but I decided that the other grains had more nutritional value and served the same role in my meal as the pasta. And it appealed to me to migrate to the less processed grains.

The results have been reasonably good so far. I’ve been staying on course toward my goal to take off some weight. An added benefit seems to be improved digestion of other foods that previously caused me some issues (beans and broccoli/cauliflower); it could be purely circumstantial but I am enjoying those foods more than I have in years.