What CAN I eat? Bread edition

Some gluten-free bread made from Pamela's Bread Mix in our bread machine

When talking to someone first embarking on the gluten-free lifestyle, one of the first questions is invariably, "What about bread???!?" Usually the tone of this question contains a certain amount of trepidation and even out-right fear.  Understandably.  Bread is the basis of so much our cultural eating - regardless of where you are in the world.  We "break bread," talk about our livings as our "bread and butter," and refer to cool inventions as the "greatest thing since sliced bread."  Bread seems to be at the very core of our existence, so taking bread out of the diet equation can seem daunting.

When we discovered youngest's gluten sensitivity, bread and other baked goods became one of our primary concerns.  We ate a lot of sandwiches.  And toast.  And bread or homemade biscuits with dinner.  Youngest LOVED all things bread so just eliminating it completely from his diet was asking for some serious mealtime struggles.  At the time we started our gluten free quest, gf baking options, while available, were a little more limited than they are now.  And most of the gluten free breads on the market were small, expensive loaves that made a pretty fair imitation of cardboard.  Seriously, most were Bad with a capital B.  For the first few years, I mostly made bread from scratch and then would dole it out in paper thin slices to make it last longer.  But in the past few years as gluten free foods have taken off as marketable commodities, more and more GOOD options have come available on the market.  Here are our favorites:

Pamela's Amazing Bread Mix:  this is our hands-down favorite in terms of ease, taste and close proximity to "real" bread.  Both flavor and mouth feel is superior to just about any other gf bread or mix out there.  Plus this mix is super easy to make if you have a bread machine (or even if you don't) - just add eggs, oil and water.  I usually buy this by the case using Amazon's Subscribe and Save program.   We also use it for making pizza crusts, rolls, and hamburger buns.

Bob's Red Mill Wonderful Bread Mix:  this mix comes in as a close second to Pamela's.

Udi's Sandwich Bread:  for a premade, sliced bread, Udi's makes a pretty good product (no cardboard here).  For me personally, I'm not as big a fan for straight up sandwiches, but youngest and oldest like it just fine (and since I don't eat bread my vote doesn't really count).  It makes great toast and also works well in French toast.

There are several other purveyors of gluten free bread products such as Namaste, King Arthur, and Gluten Free Pantry but before trying a case of any product, I would recommend getting just one package and giving it a test run.  In the world of gluten free bread, there are definitely champs vs. a whole bunch of pretenders.

If you would like to make your own gluten free bread from scratch my favorite recipes come from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  They have several gluten free recipes (all of which are good) as well as recipes for other gf baked goods such as cinnamon rolls.  You can also see some of their recipes on their website.




*We received no compensation for the unsolicited recommendations in this blog post.  Some of the links are affiliate links.

What CAN I eat? Rice... or maybe not

Consumer Reports Arsenic in Rice Investigation

When people make the move to gluten-free eating, the focus tends to be on what can't be eaten as opposed to what can.  Bread products are out.  Crackers are a no-no.  Wheat-based pastas go the way of the dinosaur.  And let's not even talk about desserts!  Thankfully, there are many quality substitute products in the gluten-free world that can take the place of those longed for foods or snacks we're missing.  If you're an avid ingredient reader like me (and if you're eating gluten-free you just about have to be), you probably have noticed that rice in one of it's many forms is often on the list.  Rice, rice flour, brown rice flour, sweet white rice flour, rice syrup, rice bran, etc. etc. etc.  Rice is a healthy alternative, right?  I mean, just think how many cultures in the world use rice as THE main staples of their diets... the majority of the world population can't be wrong!  For us personally, we're a big rice eating family and many of the gluten-free products we enjoy also contain mainly rice plus I bake heavily with rice flours.  We choose to use mostly brown rice and brown rice flour because all the bran is good for you and the bleaching process of white rices is supposedly a little suspect. 

So here I sat feeling smugly superior about our family's healthy diet... until early this month when Consumer Reports investigations released their findings about the levels of high arsenic in various kinds and brands of rice and in rice based products.  Take that smug superior feeling!  Little did we know in our push to eat as healthy a gluten-free diet as possible we might actually be slowly poisoning ourselves with arsenic.  Brilliant! 

So what's a health-conscious, gluten-free eating person to do?  Here are a few of our suggestions and things we're implementing in our family's diet to decrease arsenic exposure.

1.  This may seem obvious but eat rice varieties and brands with lower arsenic levels.  For us, this meant switching from brown rice to white basmati or jasmine rices.  Our first choice is to buy organic rice from California and at the very least, avoid rice from the southern United States.  We also limit the number of servings of rice we eat in a week and we rinse and soak our rice thoroughly before eating.

2.  Avoid highly processed rice based products such as cereals, crackers, and other snack foods.  Something about the processing seems to concentrate the arsenic.  Even though many of these products were below the "safe" level used by Consumer Reports, the accumulative effect of eating many of these products could lead to a higher level of arsenic exposure.  Plus anything processed is probably not that great for you anyway (high sugars, the chance of containing GMO, various evil additives, etc.) ~ better just to avoid or limit.

3.  Switch from rice pasta to another kind of gf pasta.  We've eaten Trader Joe's rice pasta for years because it cooks up nicely, holds a sauce well, tastes good and is one of the cheapest on the market.  Gotta like more bang for your buck especially when you're getting a quality product - except when it's higher in arsenic.  Unfortunately, rice noodles have some of the highest levels in CR's tests so we're choosing to use another kind of gf pasta.  We've switched to Trader Joe's corn noodles which are GMO free (made in Romania!), tasty and inexpensive.  If you do switch to another kind of noodle, do read the ingredients because many of the so-called quinoa or other kinds of pasta still have rice flour as a main ingredient.

4.  Use other sides instead of rice.  Potatoes.  Quinoa.  More veggies.  The possibilities are endless.

5.  If you use a dairy substitute for milk, choose something other than rice milk.  There are lots of other options if you're avoiding dairy including various nut, coconut and soy milks. 

6.  Use alternative gluten-free flours besides rice flours and limit rice based gf baking and bread mixes.   Since going "primal" in my eating style I've been experimenting with a lot more almond and coconut flours in my baking (sometimes to my family's chagrin).  Other options include tapioca flour, quinoa flour, various nut flours, potato flour, bean flours and many other choices ~ I'm looking at it as an opportunity to be adventuresome.  We still use Pamela's Bread Mix and Pamela's Baking Mix which both contain quite a bit of rice flour, but I limit how often we eat these things.

7.  We don't drink apple juice.  I know, what does that have to do with rice?  In case you missed it, here is Consumer Reports investigation on arsenic levels in apple juice.

8.  Just don't eat rice.  Go primal.  Or paleo.  Or just say no to rice.

For more suggestions and an excellent condensed explanation of the CR article see the Environmental Work Group's blog post on Getting Arsenic out of Your (and Your Kids') Diets.

So, what CAN I eat???

Oh, gentle reader, rejoice, eating gluten-free is not a hopeless endeavor!  So many more foods are gluten-free than gluten-full that your choices are legion.  In addition, more and more gluten-free substitutions exist now than in previous years so your desire to eat a bag of salty pretzels or have an amazing birthday cake will not be in vain.

Probably the best advice we can give those embarking on the gluten-free adventure is to start with whole foods.  Veggies, fruits, meats, seafood, and many grains are naturally gluten-free.   Many dairy products are also gluten-free (though watch for fillers and thickeners).  By filling the majority of you diet from these basic choices you'll find that eating gluten-free is easier ~ as well as healthier ~ then you previously realized.

Once you've identified the huge number of options available to you from a whole foods diet, next consider those things which you cannot live without.  Is it breads and rolls?  A favorite morning cereal?  Crackers?  Birthday cake?  Once you've found those things, see if you can find a gluten-free substitute.  A good place to start looking is the grocery section of Amazon.com by simply searching the item you're searching for and adding the tag "gluten-free." Another good place to start is in the natural foods section of your local grocer; for those of you in the NW, Fred Meyer has a well put together gluten-free section and has also labelled many other gluten-free products throughout their stores.  Natural food stores and specialty markets may also care gluten-free products - it's worth a look or a call to see what might be available to you.

In the coming weeks, we'll be sharing some of our favorite gluten-free choices and other options for common gluten-full products starting with the obvious first choice, bread.   We'll also make suggestions on where to find these products.  Keep an eye out for more installments in our "What CAN I eat" series.