Last month, I posted a couple of foody pictures announcing that I was trialling a dairy free diet for a month. Well it turned out to make not a jot of difference to my health concerns but it was an interesting month in the shoes of an allergy sufferer. I was idly thinking about spending a year trying different attempts to fix health with food and blogging my experiences when before I knew it, I had decided to exclude gluten for a month and see if that had any discernible effect.
So here I am, at the end of week one gluten free. Last night whilst eating out at Zizzi's, my food all arrived with big red stickers on the plate saying NO GLUTEN. However at lunchtime, having completed our business with the State Bank of India (long story) and spent a while in the Guildhall viewing art, we made our way to Spitalfields Market in the East End. My non gluten lunch was in the form of Ethiopian food and this completes my week of texture in black and white.
@maggiemae what I found by cutting dairy, is that I am far more conscious of when I am consuming dairy and more likely to keep it balanced than before. Hopefully the same for gluten - I will have found a few more non gluten ideas up my sleeve for lunch times.
That looks an interesting plate of food and great textures for the challenge! I shall be interested to know whether the Gluten free makes any difference.
Love the healthy textures here! I find it much easier to be gluten free than dairy free. And there are so many products out there now for folks who are trying to avoid it. Jeff and I have discovered several gluten free recipes that we really like and I make them quite often now. Nice shot!
A great textural shot.
My daughter has coeliac disease and I mostly eat gluten-free also for health reasons. These days it's so much easier to do compared to when she was first diagnosed.
Good luck with the gluten-free. My husband tries to avoid it as much as possible, so I'm more aware than I had been. Not an easy diet to maintain, but he says he feels better with it. And, re your image -- great contrasting textures.
Interesting textures. I agree with Maggie balance is the answer. It is good that you have discovered gluten isn't the problem though. It is just a process of elimination isn't it. I have discovered some foods I can't eat by this method. Bacon and onions are two things I have to avoid. Orange juice and grilled tomatoes aren't good either. Who would think it. Hope you find the culprits son
So interesting how food can influence our lives. Ethiopian food, I love it. did you eat a kind of pancake made out of Teff? Njeera? I love that especially when it comes with spicy tomatoe/spinache sauce and chicken! For almost a year niw we ‘foster’ a 22year old Ethiopian refugee. Quite an interesting and often rewarding challenge ;) especially because at the momenthe’s in a ‘belated pubertyphase’ ;)
@stimuloog so interesting your experience with the young Ethiopian refugee. Is there some kind of organization to find families willing to help? It is such a big problem now, ethical and political i’d Love to know more if you don’t mind
Why Helen have you decided to become a gluten avoider? quality evidence supporting gluten avoidance for physical symptoms or diseases other than those specifically known to be caused by immune-mediated responses to gluten is neither robust nor convincing. Unless you have symptoms of IBS. But we don’t want to know😊. Great textures btw
@caterina Hi there! Probably every country has it’s own organisations for helping refugees. We are supporting ‘our’ boy through a local organisation that works on a small scale. About a 100 volunteers (like my husband and I) support once a week refugee families. The organisation is called: Samen Oplopen ( Walking Together). Sometimes it’s hard not to play the role of a ‘savior’ because the implications of positive changes/things are so much more rewarding and profound when they have their starting point inside the refugee himself!
I am being remiss in not even responding to those of you who are asking me questions. So i'm just quickly going to address a couple of points from this thread: @maggiemae balance is my end goal! @olivetreeann it is good to have some gluten free recipes and know what works and what doesn't. Im hoping to add a few more to my collection. @dide glad that you have found that gluten free works for you. I agree, it is easier to determine whats what with gluten free than with dairy free. @onewing thank you. I have a number of things up my sleeve to try which if nothing else should led me to be more conscious about what I am eating and drinking and achieve a more thoughtful balance without going to extremes. @stimuloog first time I have ever encountered Ethiopian food for sale. We just bought the takeaway non-gluten plate which I photographed. So didn't try the pancake this time. Great to hear that you are 'fostering' a refugee. That is totally admirable and I hope immensely rewarding despite the challenges. Im loosely involved in a Friends of Refugees charity locally here. There are some very kind hearted and giving people around and you are clearly one of them. @caterina I hope you find a local group supporting refugees that you can link to. I think it so important to show that we are not all as hostile as they might think and to give some support. As regards the gluten free, I couldn't possibly answer the question why, without writing an essay. But I appreciate your comments and information. There are possible health improvements that I am looking for, but a large part of this exercise is about putting myself in other people's shoes and being more empathetic to those I know with food intolerances. It is also about developing a bit of self-discipline. It is just four weeks, and then I will move onto something different - next month I am tackling caffeine intake.
My daughter has coeliac disease and I mostly eat gluten-free also for health reasons. These days it's so much easier to do compared to when she was first diagnosed.
@maggiemae balance is my end goal!
@olivetreeann it is good to have some gluten free recipes and know what works and what doesn't. Im hoping to add a few more to my collection.
@dide glad that you have found that gluten free works for you. I agree, it is easier to determine whats what with gluten free than with dairy free.
@onewing thank you. I have a number of things up my sleeve to try which if nothing else should led me to be more conscious about what I am eating and drinking and achieve a more thoughtful balance without going to extremes.
@stimuloog first time I have ever encountered Ethiopian food for sale. We just bought the takeaway non-gluten plate which I photographed. So didn't try the pancake this time. Great to hear that you are 'fostering' a refugee. That is totally admirable and I hope immensely rewarding despite the challenges. Im loosely involved in a Friends of Refugees charity locally here. There are some very kind hearted and giving people around and you are clearly one of them.
@caterina I hope you find a local group supporting refugees that you can link to. I think it so important to show that we are not all as hostile as they might think and to give some support. As regards the gluten free, I couldn't possibly answer the question why, without writing an essay. But I appreciate your comments and information. There are possible health improvements that I am looking for, but a large part of this exercise is about putting myself in other people's shoes and being more empathetic to those I know with food intolerances. It is also about developing a bit of self-discipline. It is just four weeks, and then I will move onto something different - next month I am tackling caffeine intake.