Been told by doc to go wheat free -- suggestions?

[Anonymous]

I start the elimination diet tomorrow morning. Anyone else out there that is wheat free? I don't need to be gluten free. Am not sure how I will survive without my beloved bread, pancakes, brownies etc. Breakfast is going to be especially tough I fear. Any suggestions for websites I should investigate or products I should try? TIA!

[Anonymous]

Scrambled eggs!

[Anonymous]

Seriously, though, you can find several wheat-free items at places like Whole Foods.

[Anonymous]

Try Udi's bread - its sold fresh at most Whole Foods. They also sell gluten free pancakes in the frozen food section - you can also use the GF pancakes as bread with peanut butter, etc. Eat Rice Crispies for breakfast - they are wheat-free (but not GF because they have malt). Also, several Chex cereals are GF. Any GF brownie mix will be pretty good - I like Pamela's. Also, there is a Whole Foods brownie recipe on their website that uses black beans that is naturally wheat/GF that's supposed to be really good but I haven't tried it.

Hello Cupcake has a daily GF cupcake. There are lots of gluten-free friendly restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Pamela's bread mixes
Trader Joe's frozen wheat free waffles
Bionaturea organic gluten free pasta is the best GF past I have found, it tastes just like regular pasta, DH can't even tell the difference you can get it at whole foods
Whole foods has a whole freezer full of GF baked goods that are pretty good, but expensive
you can order wheat/gluten free baking mixes online and just substitute it for flour in any recipe, it works pretty good, I have used better batter

[Anonymous]

Eating at home is much easier than eating out. I've only been GF for a week since my dx last week, and it's very hard. You kind of resign yourself to your 3rd or 4th choice of entree on the menu, because everything seems to have gluten. If you're only avoiding wheat, you'll be better off since that opens up more choices (don't have to avoid bbq, soy sauce, MSG, etc).

I was happy to try the GF cupcake at CakeLove and see that baked goods can and DO taste good gluten-free.

[Anonymous]

Larabars for quick, convenient snacks.

[Anonymous]

Triumph dining has a book of restaurants that are gluten free in each state. Also, it tells you what you can eat at a place that does not specifically cater to GF individuals.

If you eat sushi make sure you bring your own soy sauce. Wheat is in it. They have a gluten free soy sauce at whole foods. If eating Chinese food, make sure you ask if the sauce has soy in it. Chinese selections are very slim when you cannot have wheat.

I like the company EnerG for my breads. I like the tapioca bread. The breads made with white rice flour taste like a** to me. Also, since you are wheat free and not GF, you can eat breads with spelt in them. I was told to go wheat free before I found out I had Celiac Disease...and I really liked spelt bread.

If you go out for Mexican, make sure the chips are corn and not wheat. You can eat tortillas as long as they are corn and not flour.

Get used to reading labels. If going out to eat, make sure you always ask if there is wheat in something before ordering.

I suggest getting a few books and familiarizing yourself with a wheat free lifestyle. YOu could probably benefit from Gluten Free books as well. I saw a pretty decent selection at borders the other day when I was there.

That said, alternative grain products tend to be higher in calories and fat. So just watch your intake if you are worried about that. It has forced me to start eating more fresh fruits and veggies....so I look at that as a positive!

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eating at home is much easier than eating out. I've only been GF for a week since my dx last week, and it's very hard. You kind of resign yourself to your 3rd or 4th choice of entree on the menu, because everything seems to have gluten. If you're only avoiding wheat, you'll be better off since that opens up more choices (don't have to avoid bbq, soy sauce, MSG, etc).

I was happy to try the GF cupcake at CakeLove and see that baked goods can and DO taste good gluten-free.

Be careful about soy sauce - many do contain wheat, but not all.

[Anonymous]

WF has a really great rice based tortilla (in the frozen foods section. You can make a yummy breakfast burrito with that. I also make great waffles with a mixture of oat and rice flour and whole oats -- much healthier than the white flour btw. I also make my own granola, great as cereal and to sprinkle on yogurt. If you are near Wegmans, they carry a brand of rice "bread crumbs" by a company called Orgran that is delicious -- use in meatballs or for breaded cutlets, etc. For noodles, try rice noodles (Asian) and the Tinkyada brand pasta is pretty decent. In a pinch, the Annies frozen rice pasta Mac and cheese is not half bad. Rice flour and/or corn starch work well as thickeners in sauces.

[Anonymous]

Breakfast won't be as hard as you think! There are great wheat-free waffles and pancakes at Wholefoods. Try the frozen food section -- Van's brand. (They have two versions -- with and without wheat, so look closely.) We've also seen them at Giant and Harris Teeter sometimes.

We found we do a lot with rice. There's rice pasta, rice tortillas (or corn tortillas, while I'm thinking of it), and crunchy rice cakes. Mexican is very big with us!

Take a walk through WholeFoods and you'll really be amazed. They label all the gluten-free products, and I bet it'll be very comforting to you. (I know you're not going gluten-free, but it's the quickest way to find wheat-free versions of regular foods you love.)

Good luck!!!

[Anonymous]

Also, it is TOTALLY possible to eat out--do not despair or feel you need to "settle". You just need to be educated and not be afraid to ask questions. Outback and PF Changs are 2 restaurants that come to mind that have GF menus, for example. Legal Seafoods is GREAT about accomodating special requests, and places like Jaleo that base a lot of their dishes with garlic/olive oil and grill things have lots of wheat free options. I live in Arlington and the owner of Delhi Club very patiently went through the ingredients in his sauces with me until I found some that I could eat (with rice, no naan) and every time I go in there he knows me and gives me my "usual" dish. And look on the bright side -- I lost 20 pounds when I went wheat free because my diet became so much healthier. And you can still eat Cape Cod potato chips!

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, not to be all creepy, but I think I know you.

Anyway, of course I have no specific suggestions, but you might head on over to My Organic Market and see if they have anything - it's just across 355 on Nicholson. We (and by we, I think you know who in my family is eating healthy) have had good luck finding vegan stuff there, and I'd bet they probably have a good selection of wheat-free items as well.

And if I don't in fact know the OP, sorry about that, but still try MoM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I start the elimination diet tomorrow morning. Anyone else out there that is wheat free? I don't need to be gluten free. Am not sure how I will survive without my beloved bread, pancakes, brownies etc. Breakfast is going to be especially tough I fear. Any suggestions for websites I should investigate or products I should try? TIA!

There are plenty of wheat free cereals. Vans has wheat free waffles which are really good. Spelt items are not gluten free but are wheat free, and they tend to be very good. I used to eat their bagels before I went gluten free. Check Whole Foods - they often have gluten free and wheat free items in their freezer section as well as scattered through the store.

I eat Bionature pasta - wheat/gluten free and it's very good. Even my non GF/wheat free friends and family will eat it. It's cheaper at Giant then Whole Foods.

Whole Foods also has some good mixes for brownies, muffins, etc. Namaste Foods has an excellent brownie mix (which is both gluten and wheat free).

A lot of it is trial and error, but I've found a lot of good stuff. I make my own banana bread, pancakes, and cookies rather then using a boxed mix because I think they come out better. Again, I eat gluten free not wheat free. But I've played with different flours (rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch flour, coconut flour as well as xanthum gum and some cornstarch are the staples when I do my own baking).

I've also made my own chicken tenders and fries (many freezer french fries have wheat or gluten in them). I used Glutino bread crumbs mixed with cornstarch and some pepper and spices to make the breading. Dipped the chicken breading, then egg, then breading again and fried in some olive oil. I also used that to make chicken parmesan.

For french fries - put some whole potatoes in the fridge for 24 hours. Slice and coat with olive oil. Bake, then salt.

[Anonymous]

10:36 here. Adding:

San-J has a wheat free soy sauce.

Also you can do a recipe search on Whole Foods for gluten free or wheat free recipes. Their recipe for baked taquitos (using corn tortillas) is really good.