{"id":567,"date":"2009-10-28T15:29:18","date_gmt":"2009-10-28T15:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=567"},"modified":"2009-10-28T15:29:18","modified_gmt":"2009-10-28T15:29:18","slug":"danger-in-the-gluten-free-aisle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/danger-in-the-gluten-free-aisle\/","title":{"rendered":"Danger in the Gluten-Free Aisle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hold the celebration<\/h3>\n
\"\"
These labels are a lot more common now than 20 years ago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not long ago, a news article reported on a conference to support those of us who must live without gluten.\u00a0 In a food world dominated by gluten products, lord knows we need support, as well as information on all the new gluten-free products coming to market.<\/p>\n

One aspect of this gathering gave me cause for concern, however:\u00a0 the celebration of newly created substances that better mimic white bread products.\u00a0 The news report quoted one of the speakers gushing over new white flour substitutes–things that had a lot of “modified,” “refined,” and “white” in their names.\u00a0 These modern miracles, she bubbled, could make soft, tender baked goods, just like white flour.<\/p>\n

But does this miss the point?<\/p>\n

Sure, we’re getting the technical part of the gluten free diet by eliminating the specific protein called gluten.\u00a0 But are we missing the bigger call to action:\u00a0 Eating a more healthful, whole, vividly varied diet.<\/p>\n

As the conference speaker pointed out so enthusiastically, we can now go gluten free without having to change anything:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • No need to cultivate a taste for other grains and whole grains.<\/li>\n
  • No need to expand our food horizons to include lentils, leeks, Bosc pears, eggplant, cashews, tofu and the myriad other non-gluten vegetables, nuts, fruits, meats and oils in the food kingdom.<\/li>\n
  • No need to give pause and question the quality of our meals, the sources of our food and the sanity of our eating lives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Just substitute white, gluten free pizza, bagels, French bread and cookies for their white gluten cousins.<\/p>\n

    So what’s the problem?\u00a0 Why ruin the party?<\/p>\n

    Because there’s so much to be gained from moments of crisis! <\/em> And believe it or not, moments of dietary crisis are as valuable as near-death experiences, divorces and job losses for propelling us off dead center and on to the better lives we deserve.<\/p>\n

    It’s a widely and well-known fact that we are killing ourselves at the dinner table, and this despite the fact that we come in contact with healthy eating information on a daily basis.\u00a0 It’s an ironic joke among healthy eating professionals that there’s only one sure way a client will make serious dietary change:\u00a0 by having a heart attack.<\/p>\n

    What if gluten problems are meant as teachable moments not just a medical diagnosis?\u00a0 Gluten intolerance could be a life-changing catalyst, rather than just an inconvenience to be worked around as expeditiously as possible.<\/p>\n

    This idea is not just theoretical musing.\u00a0 Twenty years ago, we received a wheat-free, diary-free diagnosis, long before “gluten” was a household world and when the number of non-wheat food products could be counted on my right hand.\u00a0 With two small children and a full-time business, a transition of this magnitude seemed impossible, and I would have given my right hand for a gluten-free Betty Crocker cake mix at birthday time.\u00a0 Yet in the way that our biggest challenges bring the greatest rewards, being forced from our comfort zone without a life vest brought unimaginable rewards:<\/p>\n

    Boring Alert <\/strong>I would never have guessed we were so boring\u2014from a culinary standpoint.\u00a0 Fully 75 percent of our diet involved some combination of white flour and cheese or milk:\u00a0 Grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, PB&Js, mac ‘n cheese, pasta & more pasta, pancakes, quesadillas, burritos . . .\u00a0 need I say more?\u00a0 While I was astounded at our monotony, my body was astounded at all the nutrients we had missed out on with such a limited food intake.<\/p>\n

    What’s a Whole Grain?<\/strong> Nor could I believe how ignorant I was.\u00a0 Despite 21 years of schooling, I didn’t know what a whole grain from a peanut, why whole grains are important, that wheat is just one grain, that wheat is in practically everything<\/em> we eat, and that there are lots of other grains that millions of people eat in other parts of the world.\u00a0 When I was growing up, Wonder Bread and Twinkies were the extent of our exposure to grains. \u00a0Now I know that dietary knowledge is power\u2014power to shape and direct my health.<\/p>\n

    Cheers to the Colorful Plate <\/strong>Forced out of my comfortable bread and cheese cocoon, my taste buds were stretched to the breaking point.\u00a0 But they were a lot tougher than I could have guessed.\u00a0 Polenta, bok choy, papaya, cannellini, lamb, buckwheat, kale and dozens of other strange-sounding foods became fast friends, adding color, flavor and delight to our meals.<\/p>\n

    No Picky Eaters Here <\/strong>Not only did my taste buds rise to the gluten free challenge.\u00a0 My kids’ taste buds did, too.\u00a0 As they got older, I never had to short-order cook, I could be as creative as I wanted, we could go out to interesting restaurants, and even to this day, our kids treasure family meal times, wholesomely interesting dishes and vegetable-rich meals.<\/p>\n

    So in a crazy way, it was good we weren’t able to simply swap white for white.\u00a0 We were forced to take advantage of a big learnable moment, and instead of just simple substitution we got a complete gastronomic transformation!\u00a0 Meal making is now an adventure.\u00a0 Eating and wellness are intimately integrated.\u00a0 New foods and cooking techniques continually beckon and keep life interesting.\u00a0 And as we learn more about strengthening our diet, we learn how to eat in a way that feels more right environmentally and socially.<\/p>\n

    Hooray for teachable moments, even if inconvenient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    New gluten-free products are making it easy to live without gluten, but are we missing the bigger, teachable moment–and rewards–of a gluten-intolerance diagnosis?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,5,8,1],"tags":[34,105,246,247,248,249,447,576,639,641,644,650],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-is-healthy-eating","category-food","category-gluten-freewheat-free-eating","category-uncategorized","tag-adapting-taste-buds","tag-celiac-diseases","tag-gluten","tag-gluten-free-diet","tag-gluten-intolerance","tag-gluten-sensitivity","tag-picky-eaters","tag-teachable-moments","tag-wheat","tag-wheat-free","tag-white-refined-flours-and-grains","tag-whole-grains","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}