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.

Over the last year, Blue Saucer’s owner, Billie Bryan, has been testing out local gluten free desserts and baked goods by several different local vendors. Her current vendors are Dolce Lou, who provide the shop with delicious sweet breads, cakes, and now sandwich bread; Sister Souls GF Bakers, who provide mini loaves, currently lemon poppyseed, double chocolate and sour cream coffee cake; and Dancing Women Catering and Meal Delivery Service who provide delicious peanut butter cookies (these frequently sell out in a day).

If you live in the Seattle area, Blue Saucer is the kind of home-grown coffee shop that you want to spend time in. The employees and owner remember your name and what you like to drink/eat. Speaking of which, they have an expansive array of herbal and caffeinated black teas, along with coffee drinks, juices, smoothies, lunch and breakfast items – all well-made and delicious.

Blue Saucer will be participating in Maple Leaf’s Art Walk along with many other Maple Leaf businesses, including mine, maoStudios. Come down to the Maple Leaf area on May 11, 2012 from 6-9 pm to view local artists, artisans, eat food, and drinks! Our office will have jewelry from Yoj Healing Crystals and Bijoudally.

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 30 Minutes

4 Chickens Breasts (Sliced down the middle, but not completely through)
Butter
1 Garlic Clove (Chopped)
1 Cup Leeks (Chopped)
1/4 Cup Mushrooms (Chopped)
1 Cup Gluten Free Bread Crumbs (Udi’s Bread is great for big bread chunks)
1/4 Cup of Romano Cheese (Grated)
1.5 tsp Parsley (Chopped)
1.5 tsp Rosemary (Chopped)
1.5 tsp Sage (Chopped)
1.5 tsp Thyme (Chopped)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Melt 2 TBS of butter or sub in olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, cook until soft. Add leeks and cook until soft. Add mushrooms, cook until soft. Remove from heat and stir in bread crumbs, cheese, and all the spices.

In a medium sized ceramic baking dish, arrange all 4 chicken breast so the are open faced. Slice butter and put a 1/2 TBS in the open faced of the chicken. Stuff with filling until the filling is gone. Drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 20 minutes covered with aluminum foil. Then bake another 20 minutes without a cover or until chicken is cooked through and stuffing has browned. Let cool and then serve your gluten free dinner!

One of my close friends took me to Thrive one afternoon for a healthy lunch. We both got a buddha bowl (delicious bowl with brown rice, quinoa, raw kale, nuts, mushrooms, cashew cream, dehydrated kale, buddha burger, and cucumber to name a few) and chai tea, both were absolutely delicious. Thrive has found a way to make raw kale taste amazing with the use of cashew cream, nuts, dehydrated garnish, and other yummy seasoning.

Thrive is not only a Seattle gluten free restaurant, they are also dairy free, vegan, organic, low sugar, and try to buy local produce. I’ve recently started going to Thrive when I don’t have time to make vegetable juice, a feat they perfect, served up in a completely compostable plastic cup with straw.

They have inspired me to cut out dairy for the most part and also cater to diabetics or sugar intolerant folks like me who can’t eat very much sugar at all. Thrive uses Agave nectar and other alternative sweeteners that are low on the glycemic index.

If you are looking for a healthy meal and education, Thrive is Seattle gluten free central station. I haven’t seen any use of soy either, which is a nice change for a vegan restaurant.

A ‘Spanish Tortilla‘ is usually an omelette or quiche like dish, with potatoes and without a crust.

Serves 6 people.
Time: 40 minutes.

Ingredients:

3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup precooked diced red potatoes, (see Tip)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
6 large eggs
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup shredded Manchego, or Jack cheese
3 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 Avocado
2 Tablespoons of Salsa
2 Tablespoons of Sour Cream

Technique:

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add potatoes, thyme and paprika and cook for 2 minutes more.

Lightly whisk eggs and egg whites in a large bowl. Gently stir the potato mixture into the eggs along with cheese, spinach, salt and pepper until combined. Wipe the pan clean; add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and heat over medium heat. Pour in the egg mixture, cover and cook until the edges are set and the bottom is browned, 4 to 5 minutes (it will still be moist in the center).

To flip the tortilla, run a spatula gently around the edges to loosen them. Invert a large plate over the pan and turn out the tortilla onto it (the middle usually isn’t cooked, so be careful not to loose the egg batter). Slide the tortilla back into the pan and continue cooking until completely set in the middle, 3 to 6 minutes. Garnish with avocado, salsa, and sour cream. Serve warm or cold.

Adapted from EatingWell.com

As I sit here admiring the the rare but rewarding day of sun in Seattle, I can’t help but recall the pitch black winter I experienced in Norway. Before I traveled to Norway, I had never been to a place darker (aside from Alaska, but I was there in summer when it was light out 22 hours a day) than my home town. Norway in December, is only light (twilight) from 11 am to 1 pm and is pitch black the rest of the day and night. This makes for excellent Northern Light viewing if it’s not cloudy, but also extreme hibernation.

To my surprise and delight, the little town we lodged in, Lyngseidet, Norway, had more gluten free options in their one tiny grocery store (it’s actually a chain found in Sweden, Norway, & Denmark), than the entire city of Copenhagen. Just to give you an idea of how small this town is, there were no restaurants, no bars, just a grocery store, church, and retirement home for the 800 people who live in the area. We flew into Tromso and then drove to a ferry, which got us to this magical little place.

The Lyngen Alps are truly majestic mountains, rising high and white. Lyngseidet sits in one of the many Fjords the glaciers cut out centuries ago.

My first order of business (required for all gluten free travel) when I get into foreign cities is to hit the grocery stores and pharmacies to see if and what gluten free options are available. The grocery store/chain in Lyngseidet is called REMA 1000. I found gluten free potato flours, almond flours, and a whole dedicated gluten free section for all sorts of gluten free mixes, cookies, crackers, breads, and pasta. They also had an entire freezer section of frozen gluten free almond flour cakes, brownies, and breads. So despite there not be one restaurant (that we knew of anyway), we ate very well on our trip.

So what did we learn? Gluten Free in Norwegian is Glutenfri (The Norwegian language is almost identical to Danish, just pronounced differently). When you are reading the ingredients of products if it has wheat flour or Hvetemel, it is usually the first ingredient listed. Uten Siktet Hvetemel translates to ‘without wheat flour.’ Other ingredients to look out for, Potet, is potato and Mandel is almond, both are common gluten free flours used in gluten free goods. Mostly you will see glutenfri listed on the front, but these tips will help further investigation.

We had many adventures in Lyngseidet, our first being dog sledding. In my head I had a much more romantic expectation of what this looked like, maybe a large sleigh, pulled by 20 large huskies through the alps for hours. When we got there we realized it was more like 5-6 scrawny (and poorly cared for) little husky mixes pulling 2 people for an hour with a guide. At first I was sad to see hundreds of dogs yelping and living outside, but after I realized they were excited to go for a run and it’s what they love to do.

We also managed to get out and hike in the afternoon (when it was pitch black). It was dangerous to do that, so we didn’t make it that far unprepared, but we managed to overlook the entire town and Fjords of the Lyngen Alps.

Our group stayed through the New Year, dancing, eating, and playing games in our cabin waiting for the Aurora Borealis to come out and play (and it did!). It was a fun little trip and a place I’d like to visit again during the warmer months.

If you are gluten free and looking to travel internationally, Gluten Free Hotels for Celiacs has a robust list of hotels all around the world who can accommodate you.

If you are gluten free and looking to travel internationally, Gluten Free Hotels for Celiacs has a robust list of hotels all around the world who can accommodate you.

If you like what you read on this gluten free blog, support and follow us!

Related articles

• Gluten Free in Copenhagen (guidetoglutenfree.com)

Cafe Piccolo is a sweet little Italian restaurant, nestled in a residential area of Seattle called Maple Leaf serving gourmet comfort Italian food and a new favorite of this Seattle gluten free blog!

When we first moved to the area (This gluten free girl is lucky enough to live just around the corner and work right next door) last year and tried out Cafe Piccolo they had a few Seattle gluten free options like bread, fettucine, and all the meat dishes could be made gluten free. I was still happy for they were catering to the Seattle gluten free community, but always hoped they’d bring in more.

Now they have, courtesy of a local gluten free Seattle pasta maker. Cafe Piccolo is now serving gluten free lasagna, spaghetti, ravioli, fettucines, bread, and various other gluten free meat dishes.

Randomly the night before last I was in for a meal and asked if they had made any changes to their gluten free menu (you have to ask) and they replied with enthusiasm that they have heavily upgraded it. I couldn’t believe my luck when they told me what they now offer!

The only other place in Seattle where you can get gluten free lasagna and ravioli is at Razzi’s in Greenwood. Razzi’s is a typical family style Italian restaurant (also very good), whereas Cafe Piccolo is on the gourmet side, with gourmet prices. Well worth it if you ask me. They do gluten free so well, you’d never know it was gluten free! I was supremely full by the time I left and even as I write this I’m excited to visit them again and taste their delicious food.

Thanks Cafe Piccolo for becoming one of the top gluten free Seattle restaurants!

I’ve been on a gluten free travel holiday the last 2 and a half weeks celebrating Christmas and New Years with my sister and her Beau in Copenhagen, Denmark. It’s been a colorful experience, not having too high of expectations of the city I came here ready for anything and anything was what I got.

Copenhagen has a similar climate to Seattle, i.e. cloudy, rainy, but considerably more windy. It also gets dark around 3 pm, so daylight is a sacred resource. They actually prescribe Vitamin D to people here during the winter, in my opinion they should prescribe one month vacation to a tropical, sunny place, where it’s warm and the sand toasts your feet.

The people are tall, white fossil-like models with cold blue eyes and sculpted faces. Some of them are light brown in coloring as well, but most tower above my husband and I in cool observation. You’d think Danes would follow-up their mysterious appearance with even more icy personalities, but they don’t. In fact, they are some of the most warm-hearted and friendly people I have met (aside from Spaniards). 99% of Danes also speak VERY GOOD English and don’t hate Americans, but are more curious about us than stand-offish. Who knew?

Gluten is a main staple in the Danish diet, like many other countries in Europe (sucks to be eating gluten free), the most common being rye bread used in smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches). I, like many others gluten free folks cannot feast on curried herring (oh darn) and other pickled fishies nestled atop hard-boiled eggs, dill, and mayo. But I could if I really wanted to because the local natural food chain (Irma) carries a gluten free bread that resembles and even smells like rye. They also carry Schar gluten free cookies, rice cakes, and cereals. So eating gluten free wasn’t too hard.

Gluten free in Danish is Glutenfrit and if you go to any restaurants most are very aware of the allergy and what contains gluten, to the point where you will probably get no sauce or flavoring at all, but it will be free of gluten. økologisk means organic, so any store that claims to have organic food, most likely has gluten free foods as well.

Irma (Natural Food Grocery Store)
- Grocery chain that carries a gluten free rye bread substitute, gluten free cereals, gluten free cookies, and other organic grocery items. $$$
Naturbageriet (Bakery that makes gluten free baked goods – not dedicated)
- Not the best gluten free baked goods I have had, but I do live in Seattle, which is one of the best cities to live in for this allergy. They were decent though and if you catch them earlier in the day they will have more options. $$$
Urtehuset (Natural supplement, grains, beauty product stores)
- Carry supplements, gluten free grains, gluten free baked goods, gluten free raw treats, cookies, and more. Check out their site as well, it’s interesting. $$$
Natur Poteket (Natural supplement, grains, beauty product stores)
- Another natural food store, gluten free grains, gluten free baked goods, gluten free raw treats, cookies, and more. $$$
Hvidovre Kommune (Very good hospital, long wait though)
- If you get sick, go here. It’s FREE.

If you think the city you live in is expensive, you will think Copenhagen is exorbitant. I paid $20 for a cup of chilli at a cafe in a shopping mall called Magasin Du Nord (think Nordstrom). A sandwich for my non-allergic husband was also $20. The grocery store is a little more reasonable, so we opted to eat at home with my sister most meals.

I will add that while it is expensive to travel (and probably live) to Denmark, healthcare is free. I came down with a particularly virulent flu I caught from my friend here, who sat next to someone on the plane who was coughing excessively. We all were sick in a matter of days. My fever was so high, I was partially responsive and I also happen to get a severely painful ovarian cyst, so to the hospital I was rushed by my dear husband and sister. Hvidovre Kommune (very good hospital just outside of Copenhagen) set up a temporary social security card for me and admitted me over night for observation…something I DID NOT want to do.

Medicine here (at least at the state run hospital) is thorough and careful and reminiscent of American 1950′s military medicine, i.e. it’s simple. The hospital rooms aren’t retrofitted with televisions, radios, or any new equipment whatsoever like American hospitals, so you just lay in bed with your I.V. listening to the person next to you hack up a lung. I saw probably 5 different doctors and 5 different nurses in a span of 12 hours. All were very kind and clearly in it to help people. One of the doctors had me convinced he was a legitimate healer, he could read my mind by just staring into my eyes for about 5 minutes. The amount of empathy this man had for being a surgeon surprised me. The last nurse I saw checked on me every five minutes. She was very pleasant and super friendly. So I felt taken care of, despite the slowness of their diagnosis (they thought I might have appendicitis). It wasn’t pleasant, nor was it an experience I wanted, but it was free and left me unharmed. In fact, I probably recovered faster due to their antibiotics and salt water I.V.s than I would have on Ibuprofen at home.

During my time in Scandinavia, my family and I also took a trip up to Norway which was even more surprising and beautiful. That gluten free travel blog is coming up next!

One of my favorite pie spots in Seattle is a nice gluten free dessert pie shop called Jodee’s Desserts. Not only are they gluten free, they are dairy free, and low-glycemic as well. Everything is made out of coconut, fruits, and veggies, all blended and uncooked.

My favorite items are the carrot cake, pumpkin pie, key lime pie, banana cream pie, and Tiramisu. They also have chocolate mousse pie, chocolate cherry pie, chocolate malt pie, pecan praline pie, peppermint patty pie, and other seasonal flavors.

Jodee’s Desserts also hand make smoothies, coffee, chocolates, and soups.

Jodee’s takes extreme pride in hand-making raw, organic dessert pie products. They use only the purest Organic products. As a part of a complete awareness to product purity, they use the Tensui Water Filtration System (www.TensuiWater.com) in all their pie preparations. Their dessert pies are blended, without the need for baking, which sustains a nutritionally rich product. I can attest, the results are simply some of the most delicious pies I have tasted.

This Seattle gluten free location is relatively new but I’ve already lost count of how many times I’ve been in. I don’t feel like I’ve eaten too much sugar after having one of Jodee’s treats, which is something I have to think about since I’m pre-diabetic.

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• Featured Seattle Gluten-Free Bakery – Wheatless in Seattle (guidetoglutenfree.com)

I haven’t made it down to Kaili McIntyre’s Wheatless in Seattle in quite some time, but was able to make it the other day to pick up a gluten free chocolate mocha cake I ordered for my husband’s birthday.

Kaili is one of the few gluten free bakeries who does it well. So well in fact, you can hardly see or taste the difference between a gluten free item verses a gluten item. She gets creative too – maple bacon donuts, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, spinach and goat cheese pinwheels – she bakes the stuff that most regular bakers do and could never do without regular flour. That makes Kaili special.

She really has come a long way since her first little Seattle gluten free restaurant in Edmonds. I used to drive 40 minutes out of my way just to get a gluten free pizza from her. At the time (6 years ago) she was the only place who had gluten free anything.

Now she and her crew bake up the most delicious gluten free breads, donuts, sweet breads, hamburger buns, pizza crusts, cookies, and even brownie pops. Her most recent new bread flavors are cardamom for Christmas and goat cheese and carmelized onion bread (drool).

Kaili really has changed Seattle in many ways. Many local Seattle gluten free restaurants purchase wholesale breads from her. Before her influence, us gluten intolerant folks didn’t have any options. As with any original thinker come followers, so now many restaurants have a choice of what gluten free item they’d like to carry, but many remain loyal to Wheatless in Seattle to keep their dollars local.

The Wheatless in Seattle store has changed to support Kaili McIntyre’s growing wholesale business, she has shut down the retail portion of her store and now only offers special retail orders that can be picked up on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Wheatless in Seattle has recently gone rice-free and now uses Sorghum flour. Many of their products are egg, soy, dairy, and corn free.

If you like this gluten free blog, support and follow us!

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• Cafe Piccolo: New Best Seattle Gluten Free Restaurant. (guidetoglutenfree.com)