Gluten soy free - Dare we do dairy?

When I first began to research what it meant to be gluten free, I kept reading about the notion that maybe it was a good idea to cut out dairy at the same time.  This was something I had been resistant to.  I loved butter!  I loved cream!  I loved whole milk yogurt!  Although I wasn't a big milk drinker, I believed that giving up dairy would be difficult for me.

From what I read, gluten intolerance and lactose intolerance often go together.  The reason given was that the gluten reaction can actually damage the ability of the gut to produce lactase which is needed to break down the lactose in dairy.  Without lactase, the gut is irritated by drinking milk, consuming ice cream, or anything containing milk.

I hadn't noticed a violent reaction to dairy although sometimes I did feel a bit queasy so I took a deep breath and decided to suck up the fact that maybe the dairy had to go as well.

My first experiment was with soy milk.  A great taste - I actually liked it.  A few weeks later however, I discovered my soy allergy and that had to go.  It wasn't hard for me to find a substitute.  I absolutely adore almonds and anything made with them.  In fact, I think I'd eat a cardboard box if it was almond flavored!  So almond milk was my next trial.  It was okay and actually didn't taste very almondy but it was awfully sweet and I really don't like sweet drinks.  I'm probably the only English person who doesn't like sugar in tea.

It took me a while to realize it but almond milk comes in several forms.  First there is "original".  I believe this label refers to the fact that it isn't flavored but it is, however, sweetened.  The labeling misled me I must admit.  I wouldn't have assumed that something that pretended to be milk would be sweetened without saying so but apparently it is.  I eventually discovered that there is also "original unsweetened".  Much better!  No cloying sweet taste and less calories to boot.  There is also vanilla flavored in both "original" and "unsweetened".  Not very vanillary (if there is such a word!) but a bit of a different taste.

The long and the short of it is that I now use almond milk exclusively in either unsweetened form.  It seems to perform reasonably well in recipes, sauces, custards etc., although it doesn't have the fat content of milk and therefore doesn't provide that creamy taste - but I can live with that.  My favorite brand is Almond Breeze , some of the others appear to me to have a weird slimey feel to them but that might just be me.....  Oh yes and a bonus is that almond milk actually has more calcium than regular milk.  Who'd have thought?

Substituting for butter was much more challenging and took a lot of store trolling and label reading.  Almost all margarine-type spreads are made with soy in the guise of vegetable oil.  In fact anything labeled "vegetable" whether it is oil, flavoring or broth must be treated as suspect for those with a soy allergy as they most likely contain soy.  After much searching I came up with a soy free spread.  It is made by Earth Balance (they have a really cool website) and it is really quite good.  It can also be used in cooking and baking although I have found it too rich for some cookies and cakes when used alone.  I half and half it with Spectrum shortening which is made from palm oil.

As for yogurt - I gave it up and haven't missed it.  At first I thought that was odd as I ate it every day but on reflection, I can see that eating gluten free has changed my appetite and eliminated a lot of food cravings and I no longer desire some foods I used to eat frequently.

Ice cream wasn't big on my diet list previously either but now when I want something cold and sweet, I eat a little sorbet.  Again, label reading is necessary because some of them contain dairy or soy but I have found several including peach, mango and black cherry that I can eat.  Safeway have their own brand of sorbet which is good and often on sale!  I don't feel deprived at all.

I'd love to hear what you do about dairy.  Do you still eat it?  Have you given it up?  What do you use for substitutes?  How do you adapt recipes?

Milk might be good for you but it isn't necessary.  Humans are the only mammals that drink it beyond  nursing years and I have never come across a calcium deprived bear or giraffe or elephant.  Have you?

Yes we can! Accentuating the gluten & soy free positive.

I've always been an optimist.  When my children were young they would often come to me because they had lost something.  "Don't worry, it will show up!" I would say.  Not what they wanted to hear - "But I need it NOW!" they would respond.....

When I realized that both gluten and soy were the cause of all my years of digestive distress, I had a "moment".  In that moment, I went to the place that says, "Ain't it awful?  I can't eat bread anymore...and I love bread.  I can't eat cookies anymore....and I live for cookies.  I can't eat pie anymore....and...and...and..."  But it was only a moment.

I saw quickly that the only way to do this huge change in my life was to accentuate the positive.  I needed to focus on what I CAN eat and not on what I can't.  So I began to investigate and research all the possibilities for a gluten and soy free diet.

The first, perhaps most obvious replacement staple I saw was rice.  I liked rice.  I had always liked it.  So versatile - dress it up, add to it, flavor it, use it for dinner, use it for dessert, use it for breakfast, eat it soft, eat it sweet, eat it crunchy.  I looked back into the dim and distant past and there it was.........rice pudding!!!

My mother used to make rice pudding for me when I was a child.  She never cooked it on top of the stove.  No, it had to be baked.  She would put a small amount of rice and sugar in the bottom of the special oval shaped dish she kept especially for this dish after buttering the sides liberally.  Then she would add the milk.  The final flourish was a copious amount of nutmeg grated on the top.  The whole thing was - very carefully so as not to spill - carried to the oven.  There it sat on a low heat for a couple of hours eventually filling the kitchen with a wonderful nutmeggy aroma.

To eat this concoction was to be transported to heaven!  Soft in the middle but with a brown thick "skin" on top, it was unbelievably delicious.  The family would fight to scrape the sides of the bowl where all the ingredients had baked together, sticking to the edges in a chewy, toffee-like goop.  Yes, I could eat rice pudding again!!

As I focused more and more on what I could eat, I found more and more items.  Anything made of corn was fine (some people are unfortunately allergic to corn but I am not) - corn tortillas, corn chips (although I found I had to watch what they had been cooked in, sometimes it is soy oil), cornbread, grits, polenta.  Here was another cornucopia (pun intended!) of items to consume and re-think as part of my diet.

Breakfast has never been a focus for me.  Mostly I am just not hungry in the morning but my investigations unearthed a variety of gluten and soy free choices - Rice Chex (or the less expensive generic equivalents but not Corn Chex, they have malt, made from barley in them), Cream of Buckwheat (which has become my favorite), Corn Flakes (again check the ingredients, some are ok, some not), gluten-free instant cereal and even a hot cereal made from potatoes!!

Add to this new discoveries such as quinoa and gluten free pasta and I am set.

You know.....this isn't nearly as limited as I thought it was going to be.  In fact, I have more choices now than ever.  In addition, I enjoy my food so much more knowing that it isn't going to make me sick and I can experiment with new and delicious choices.

Eating gluten and soy free, as with any change in life, bring challenges and choices but it also brings opportunities.  There is always a silver lining to any cloud, always the sun shining above the storm, always happiness just around the corner.  Just say "I can!  And I will!"