Eating Healthy and Gluten-Free

So you were sick as a dog, found out you were a celiac, and now you feel great, right?  One mistake many celiacs make is the assumption that now that their stomachs are no longer giving them problems, as long as they stick to gluten-free food they no longer need to watch what they eat.  This is the attitude that leads to a lifetime of poor eating habits which nobody can afford, especially celiacs.

Swedish researchers have studied celiacs who were diagnosed ten years prior, and stuck to their gluten-free diets, and found that half of them had nutritional deficiencies.  The nutritional deficiencies could not be blamed on gluten ingestion because all of the people in their study underwent endoscopes which revealed that their intestines were healthy.  Ultimately it boiled down to their food choices.  According to Nancy Lapid (of about.com), gluten-free food is often deficient in B vitamins, vitamin D, calcium,  iron, zinc, magnesium, and fiber. And very few gluten-free products are enriched with these essential nutrients.  So what’s a celiac to do?  We have asked Ivan Nikolov, of Viitals Specialty Baking, to give us some tips on healthy gluten-free eating.  Here is what he had to say:

* Cut back on low-fiber, low-protein flours like corn and rice flours and starches. Replace with bean, sorghum, millet flours.

* Cut back on the fat by adding applesauce, dried plum puree, moisture-retaining fibers like flax meal

* Replace table sugar with agave syrup (low GI – fructose – it does not cause blood sugar spikes and subsequent energy crash), erythritol (0-cal natural sweetener from fruit and some fermented foods). Do not use artificial sweeteners like splenda, aspartame (the blue package), saccharin (pink package).

* Add more protein (it’s what’s missing or not present in sufficient quantities especially in the GF foods) by using vegetable proteins, or even whey (if you don’t care about creating vegan baked goods). A good source is rice protein (careful because in large quantities it holds a lot of moisture).

In general, 1) try to balance your baked goods nutritionally by cutting back on the fats, carbs and the refined ingredients, and adding more fiber and protein; 2) refrain from using modified and highly-processed ingredients.

Finally, try to enjoy even healthy baked goods in moderation. No matter how hard we try healthy baked goods won’t replace raw natural foods any time soon.

Yours,

Ivan Nikolov (http://www.viitals.com/)

Thanks for the great advice Ivan!



3 Responsesto “Eating Healthy and Gluten-Free”

1. Gluten-Free Guide says:

   December 31, 2009 at 9:14 am

   Great advice from Ivan. I especailly agree with the point about the flours. I really prefer using the bean and higher proten flours that also tend to be higher in fiber too.
2. Marylouise Luecke says:

   July 7, 2010 at 5:35 am

   Wow! Great informations.Why don’t you add more articles?It maybe guide more people to read.
3. Jen says:

   July 12, 2010 at 6:22 pm

   Good suggestion, Marylouise. More articles are on there way!