Tuesday, March 3, 2009

First Post - General GF Info and a Microwaveable Chocolate Cake

Good morning!

Six years of Celiac disease and countless trips around North America has brought me to create a blog dedicated to helping others with celiac disease (and other allergies) find restaurants, information and support in one place. I have done research on Vegan diets, Alkaline Diets, Sugar free diets.... you name, I've tried it, along with being Celiac. I figured I needed a place to let others know what has worked for me and what hasn't so here it is! I will continue to update this site, and hope you will add your comments to help get this information out there.

So you've been told you have Celiac... sucks doesn't it! Lucky for you I've already gone through the withdrawals, cravings and horrible feeling of being the odd girl with weird food. Keep on reading to find out what little tricks helped me in the beginning.


Tips and Tricks:

1) Go buy a bread maker!! GF bread tastes really bad if bought from the store, but there are frozen breads that are good. El Peto, and O-Dough's are great here in Canada. Otherwise, I always made my own bread, and then you can tweak it to add fiber, and fruit, etc. to make it healthier.

2) Cooking with bean flours, and buckwheat and quinoa will add a lot of fiber and protein. It saves you from having to eat processed white rice flour and corn starch, which are in most pre-made gluten free mixes.

3) Overall, the diet can be hard to get used to, but taking the time to make good snacks, will make is so much easier to transition. Owning a great cook book, and going to Bulk Barn and Scoop and Save to stock up on GF flours and mixes is really the key! I say this, because the pre-made GF breads are not good, and will make you think that Celiac's is the end of the world (I know it happened to me, and it wasn't funny trying to deal with the way my body reacted to eating gluten, after being GF for 3 months).

4) Cheating: As I mentioned above, cheating is not a great idea, even if you only get slightly ill when you eat gluten. Its a lifelong disease, and the secondary effects, such as stomach cancer, osteoporosis, etc. are very real. It also takes a while for your body to heal, it took me two years, and therefore patience is also key to not going insane!

5) Supplements! Buying a good multi-vitamin and using protein powder are two staples to my diet. I love the stuff from : http://sequelnaturals.com/vega. (I will post a fibre filled granola recupe tomorrow)

6) finally, here is a website that lists what companies have GF options:http://www.celiac.com. You can browse this website for information!

7) oh and I forgot to mention that there is GF beer, called "La Mesagere" and you can get it at the liquor store downtown, or order it!

As promised in my title, here is the recipe for an awesome mid day treat to share with co-workers who think that your disease is just plain weird....
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Microwaveable Chocolate Cake:

3 tbsp GF cake mix, I really like the El Peto products
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg
3 tbsp milk ( i use almond milk to make it lactose free)
3 tbsp oil

mix in a mug, microwave on high for 3 minutes. Surprise, you have a spongy GF chocolate cake

Enjoy!

Watch out for tomorrow's recipe and blog about fiber and celiac disease

Cheers:)

Ally

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