Facing the GLUTEN-FREE giant...

So if you have wandered onto this blog, bleary-eyed from hours or days of reading everything you can get your hands on about this whole gluten-free/sugar-free thing, chances are you are feeling overwhelmed, depressed, panicked, or maybe a little bit of all three. I don't blame you. I have been there and I know exactly how you feel.

I remember bursting into tears after reading the labels on 20 different kinds of cereal at the supermarket. Every single one of them either had gluten or refined sugar, the two ingredients that I was trying to avoid. That may sound silly to most people, but when you take for granted that you will have something quick to serve your kids early in the morning before school, and then suddenly that option is removed, it can leave even the most unflappable personality, floundering. The way that we eat in America, the habits we have formed, do not lend themselves to those with special dietary needs. Pick up any random selection of items at the supermarket (excluding anything raw, such as veggies, fruits and meats) and 99% of those items will contain either gluten or refined sugar in some form or another, and most items will have both.

Having relied on cereal (we are not talking Fruit Loops and HoneySmacks here, just good, whole grain stuff like Wheaties and Cheerios) for breakfast 5 days a week, and kids who are seriously in love with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I was terrified that our new lifestyle would either starve us to death or leave us eating little more than rice cakes and cardboard. Honestly, going gluten and refined sugar free opened my eyes to a very ugly truth: as much as I tried to feed my family healthy food, all 4 of us had a serious addiction to bread and pasta.

In truth, gluten foods are NOT bad, in and of themselves, for most people, especially if they truly are made from whole-grains. But for those of us who have experienced the effects of gluten intolerance and/or allergies, they are a major problem and can even be deadly.  And Americans have had a love affair with gluten foods for quite some time. Most of my peers and even my mother and grandmother grew up with gluten foods as a staple in their pantries.

But there is hope. Right now it may seem like a MONUMENTAL task to try and eliminate these things from your diet. But with a few minor tweaks to your shopping list and some bravery on your part, I hope to share some of the things I have learned on this journey that have made all the difference for my family.