When people ask me how to go about starting a gluten-free diet, I always tell them to keep it simple. My favorite foods are naturally gluten free—fruits and vegetables, rice, beans, nuts, seeds, seafood and poultry—foods that don’t require a label. Packaged products are fine occasionally, but you need to be a diligent label reader. Even the most minimally processed foods can contain gluten.
Ideally, home cooking should be part of every gluten-free lifestyle. When you cook, you know exactly what’s on your plate and what’s going in your body. Try one new recipe a week to build up your repertoire. There are plenty of gluten-free bloggers and cookbook authors out there ready to help!
Laura is the “Gluten Freedom” columnist for the Oregonian and author of The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen. Find her blog, “Notes from a Gluten-Free Kitchen”, at http://www.laurabrussell.com/
Since my issue was not with gluten but food allergies to wheat, oats, rye, beans, cashews and pork, gluten free was just the beginning. I started with what was safe to eat and made it at home. Organic, natural and most other food labels are meaningless. Just read every label. Believe it or not, it gets easy after a while – although I would kill for a real glazed donut.