Category Archives: Healthy Snacks

Eating Gluten Free: Counting the healthy and the unhealthy ways.

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Many people ask me if it’s healthier to be gluten free because they heard it was and were considering a change, despite having an allergy. My answer is usually yes and no, depending on how you go about it. Sure, it’s healthier if you cut down the amount of starches and carbohydrates you are eating and replace those with more vegetable and protein-rich foods. It’s also great to not have an allergic reaction if you are allergic. But often times the change from eating gluten to eating gluten free goes from eating regular gluten packaged goods to gluten free packaged goods. You get what I’m saying? Carbs to carbs isn’t healthier.

The Unhealthy Gluten Free Diet

1) Bread. Instead of eating a regular sandwich every day for lunch, you now eat a gluten free sandwich with gluten free bread made of potato, rice, and tapioca flour. IT IS healthier if you are allergic, because now you will not have the allergic reaction, but you are still eating a starchy, food-coma inducing sandwich. Most gluten free sliced bread like Udi’s and Rudi’s are 80 calories per slice.

2) Pasta. Instead of eating regular spaghetti, lasagna, and ravioli, you now eat the gluten free versions plus the same amount of cheese that come with these dishes. Italian food is probably the most fattening and carb-heavy food you can eat, aside from American cuisine. So while yes, you are not having the allergic reaction to gluten, you are still working on increasing your cholesterol and overall body fat.

3) Cookies and Crackers. Gluten free manufacturers LOVE to make gluten free cookies, you know why? Because with enough sugar anything tastes good and you know what sells best over just about anything in the world? Sugar. So again no gluten reaction, but it’s still a high sugar, high fat, high carb cookie. Crackers are just less the sugar. A lot of gluten free cookie and cracker manufacturers like to use cream, milk, and eggs in their products as well, which also makes these little snacks a high-dairy treat.

The Healthy Gluten Free Diet

1) Bread. Instead of eating a sandwich every day for lunch, how about a salad with lots of fiber and protein? Kale, spinach, brown rice, quinoa, cashews, almonds, kale chips, tuna, chicken, turkey, olives, cucumbers, carrots are a few of my favorite ingredients for a complex and filling mid-day lunch. I also like to make lettuce wraps with meat and rice cheese, along with vegetables, which is easy to make and definitely filling.

2) Pasta. I don’t eat a lot of Italian food and yes, it’s hard to replace the ingredient of many Italian dishes and actually make it delicious. Egg plant is a great replacement to lasagna noodles and spaghetti squash or shredded zucchini is a healthy replacement for spaghetti. I use alternative cheeses like almond or rice cheese instead of regular cheese, to lower fat content.

3) Cookies. I don’t eat cookies, plain and simple. I can’t handle most sugar anyhow, so it’s good to cut it out. If I do occasionally eat a cookie or a treat I look to Skydottir Cookies or Jodee’s Desserts for a treat. Both bakers are vegan and use high fiber, low fat, and low-glycemic index alternative sweeteners in their products.

4) Crackers. There are many delicious gluten free cracker brands out there as well, but I just recently turned to a new brand I found called Go Raw Flax Snax, crackers made of flax, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds flavored like pizza other herbs. They are so good! They also have a cookie that is made out of raw coconut and ginger, also very good.

5) Vegetables. All in all it’s important to eat more vegetables. One way I am able to do this is juice every other morning. I like to make juices that are strictly low sugar vegetables, so carrots and beets are usually not on my list. I do use tomatoes which have some sugar, but mostly cucumbers, celery, kale, spinach, lemon, and ginger. Combinations of all these with a little apple or carrot definitely makes them taste better, but after awhile you get used to the taste and feel amazing to boot.

Don’t get me wrong, I still eat gluten free breads, pastas, and crackers on occasion, mostly once or twice a week when I really want it, but for the most part I try to cut out the carbs, fat, and sugars for an all around healthier and more nutritional diet. Eating gluten free can definitely be healthier and I can only hope celebrities or gluten free advocates in the public sphere educate people about what is actually healthy and what is not when it comes to eating gluten free.

Vegetable Chips: A Healthy Crunch!

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I just love it when food manufacturers get creative. Case in point, Terra, maker of exotic vegetable chips. I can’t think of a better way to eat vegetables other than blending them all up and baking a cake out of them.

Terra makes a chip out of the beet, sweet potato, parsnip, taro, carrot, and blue potato.  They claim their vegetable chips ‘contain a full serving of vegetables and no trans fats, and are cooked only in expeller pressed oils.’ Pretty impressive for a chip and super intriguing to a person (like me) who stays away from regular carb heavy potatoes and corn.

This new trend of making chips out of vegetables hasn’t caught on entirely beyond Terra, but I have noticed Whole Foods carrying their own brand of Japanese pumpkin chips (yes, I bought some and devoured them) and other veggie chips.

Discover Bulk Foods did a side by side comparison with veggie chips versus regular potato chips and found they are actually healthier, leading with no trans fats, no cholesterol, and no saturated fats. They seem to have the same amount of calories from oils, with half as much salt and they still retain some of their nutrients.

Now we all know eating raw vegetables is probably the best way to go if you are seeking optimum health and veggie chips should NOT be a replacement, but if we couldn’t do something fancy with vegetables then what’s the point of enjoying food?

Gluten-Free Snacks: What’s your favorite?

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There have been countless times where I’ve been STARVING between meals and I’m ready to grab just about anything to fervently stuff in my mouth. Unfortunately, if I don’t have snacks on hand what is usually consumed is more along the lines of cookies, fries, or baked goods….of the gluten-free variety of course.

In my case, I still struggle with eating to many carbs, even if they don’t have gluten. I also have PCOS, which is a condition similar to diabetes that requires me to eat lots of protein.

Let’s consider some healthy, gluten-free snacks that won’t leave you wasted with low blood sugar.

Almonds
These little guys go a long way. It only takes a few to satisfy hunger cravings, but heck you could have more than a few and throw in a few other nuts for a nice (filling) afternoon snack. My other favorite nuts are walnuts, cashews, pistachios, and macadamia nuts. The latter few are higher in fat, but if you get all of these in the raw it’s not a bad snack.

Turkey Jerky
Whole Foods and PCC both sell store branded turkey jerky. It’s all natural, free-range meat, however there is a small amount of sugar and soy used in the sauce, especially the teriyaki flavored ones. That said, the bags are perfect to shove in your purse. When I am on the go, I grab a piece of meat from my bag and don’t lose control of my blood sugar.

Plain Yogurt
I just love plain yogurt! Nancy’s is the best brand out there for plain, I’ve been eating their yogurt since I was a little girl! The only sugars are very low amounts of milk sugars, otherwise there is plenty of protein. Mix in fresh blueberries and almonds – you’ve got the perfect snack made fancy.

Protein Smoothies
Protein powders can be tricky because a lot of brands use all sorts of sugars like maltitol, sucralose, evaporated cane juice, fructose, the list goes on and on. Another problem is whey, I just don’t feel good from a smoothie with whey protein and most people living on alternative diets avoid dairy. Good alternatives to whey are egg and soy proteins, but again I haven’t had great results or taste from either. My favorite (newer) protein is Vega Protein. Derived from vegetable proteins, this nutritional protein blend also has fiber, essential fatty acids, supplements, and best of all it’s sweetened with Stevia. My favorite flavor is vanilla chai, what’s better is it tastes good enough just to mix directly with almond milk and nothing else. I typically have a Vega protein smoothie for dessert or before a work out, adding in frozen mixed berries, almond butter, bananas, dates, and almond milk.

Lunch Meat Roll-Ups
A what? Yeah it’s what you think it is…lunch meat (of the natural variety), rolled up. How many days this little roll-up has saved me I could never say. It’s easy; throw in some rice cheese and mustard and you’ve got a low-carb sandwich. Even better three of these make a satisfying lunch if paired with fruits and veggies.

Have more healthy snack ideas? Leave a comment and share!