How To Go Gluten Free!

One Woman’s Gluten Free Journey

Julie Rabinovitz was once told by a doctor that he refused to test her for Celiac because it was such a “rare” disease and it was “impossible” that her mother had been diagnosed.  Believe it or not, this was within the last ten years.

Julie was eventually diagnosed as having Celiac (by another doctor) although she admits to putting off the diagnosis.  I think many of us can relate to the “I don’t want to know because if I know then I will need to change how I am living” mentality.  But when that gets weighed against the risk of digestive cancers, not to mention continuing to live with the day-to-day symptoms, it is better to know and change then to not know and suffer.

Julie’s symptoms were not the usual digestive issues.  Her mother had pretty classic symptoms including serious weight loss and it took about a year for her to get diagnosed.  Julie’s symptoms were more around depression, fatigue, and a daily headache.  She just figured that was what she would be living with, “each day I’ll have a headache;” when she went gluten-free her daily headaches went away.

I met Julie because she recently started offering gluten-free baked goods for sale in the Ann Arbor area.  It is such a treat to have a fresh-made cookie that I didn’t need to bake myself!  She is currently working out of her home kitchen (it’s certified) and hoping that she will be able to have an actual bakery location in the future.  Imagine how nice that will be to go someplace and be able to select any number of goodies from the shelves.  For the gluten-free, that is a fantasy 99.99% of the time. 

In the meantime you can try Julie’s lovely peanut butter cookies or summer fruit tarts by finding her at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market in Kerrytown on Wednesdays from 7 AM to 3 PM.  On Thursdays during warm months she is at the Zingerman’s Roadhouse Farmer’s Market (near Jackson and Maple/Miller) from 3 – 7 PM. 

I wanted to share Julie’s story for two reasons:

1. I want everyone to know that we have this wonderful resource now so you can take advantage of getting some home-made goodies without the work (and she does have a lovely assortment of treats including a variety of cookies, fruit tarts, and scones).
2. I want you to hear other examples of people who have been diagnosed with Celiac or gluten-free so if you are hearing about a friend suffering from daily headaches, fatigue, or depression, they may want to get themselves checked.  It could make a world of difference in their lives.

Not only are Julie’s “Tasty Bakery” treats gluten-free, they are also organic.   I really enjoy the peanut butter cookies and the lemon cookies.  Which ones are your favorite?

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Being Gluten-Free on the Fly

How can I substitute on the fly?  You may have figured out by now that life is a bit more complex being gluten-free.  Pre-planning is very important, especially for those times when life gets really busy.  Substitute on the fly by keeping a little stockpile of easy gluten-free snacks and foods in your car, your desk at work, and your pantry (put it in the back so you don’t eat all your “easy” foods when you actually have the time to cook).  I also like to freeze extras of big meals that I make so I have options and I don’t need to cook from scratch every day.

If things are especially busy for you try to keep your meals as simple as possible, whether in a restaurant or someone else’s home.  For example:

• Ask if you can have your sandwich wrapped in romaine lettuce leaves instead of bread (and prepared on it’s own plate rather than the regular prep area that has all kinds of cross contamination).  Get condiments on the side.
• Use frozen gluten-free waffles, pancakes, or corn tortillas to substitute as bread or in recipes calling for bread.
• In a restaurant, try to go with the house-made dressing because the chef will know all the ingredients and can tell you with certainty if it has an gluten-containing ingredients in it.
• Instead of using pita pieces or crackers for dips and cheese, use corn chips or potato chips (read the bags to make sure they are gluten-free).
• Choose the most simple and natural form of food available.  Select the fresh fruit salad rather than the fruit crisp (almost certainly contains gluten) or go with the steamed veggies rather than the veggie casserole (highly likely that it contains bread crumbs, noodles, and/or creamed soup).
• Know what chain restaurants are the most gluten-free friendly.  Outback and Chilis both have gluten-free menus available and more restaurants are adding them everyday.  Keep in mind your order may take a little longer than others.
• Snack on fresh popped popcorn with a good cheddar cheese.

If you are highly sensitive OR you have Celiac, you need to be much more careful about cross contamination and be more thorough on your ingredients.  It is remarkable to me as I watch people serve themselves food how easy it is for cross-contamination to happen.  You need to look out for yourself so you don’t end up in a world of hurt.