“Ah-well, then it’s going to be just fine,” with a big sigh of relief?

That’s how I felt after watching this very well done documentary on living well with celiac disease.

The film’s director, Susan Cohen, also recently celebrated her 10 year anniversary of living gluten free.

Congratulations Susan!

I first heard about the film on Twitter (which, if you haven’t checked it out, has a very large, vocal, and friendly celiac and gluten free community.)

Looking over the site, I ordered it.  Heck, for $4.50 you can’t go wrong.

I am sorry to say that months went by before I watched it.  Truthfully, I wanted to watch it with my Dad, so I waited until he visited.  We watched it and were really impressed.

The quality of the film is great.  This is not the “Blair Witch Project” quality of film making.  (Did I just date myself?)

More importantly though, the content really shines.

Susan speaks with individuals from several different perspectives who are all involved with the celiac community.  Some of them have celiac disease, some do not.  I’m not going to spoil it by giving details.

The big take away point of the film, and one that I’ve been banging the drum about since I started this blog, is that a diagnosis of celiac disease is not a bad thing.

In fact, I think celiac disease/gluten intolerance is a blessing in disguise.

Susan has done a fantastic job in showing that living gluten free can be an incredibly empowering, and tasty, way to live.

The film shows just how far we’ve come in the past 15 years or so with diagnosis, treatment, and gluten free eating.  Considering that filming was completed in 2005, it’s amazing how much more we’ve learned in the past 5 years.

I thought about asking Susan to donate a copy of the DVD to give away.

I changed my mind.

The DVD is $4.50.  It’s more than worth it.  Go buy it, watch it with your family, buy copies for friends and family that can benefit from seeing celiac disease and gluten intolerance in a positive and uplifting light.

Visit Generation Gluten Free and buy your copy today.

After you’re all inspired and looking for some concrete ways to live your life in a healthy gluten free manner, go check out Gluten Free and Fit 101.

Go order, watch, and let me know what you think!  If you’ve already watched the film, please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Go Generation Gluten Free!

Review of Generation Gluten Free-the Documentary is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

7  3    8

Related Posts:

• Think Thin Bars Review-Redux
• NuGo Gluten Free Protein Bars-Review
• Gluten Free Supplements Review-Rockwell Nutrition
• The Magic Bullet for Living a Healthy Gluten Free Life Is….
• Gluten Free Athletes, More on Goal Setting, and Gluten Free Fitness on Facebook

Actually, all veggies are naturally gluten free.  (That is, in their natural state, and barring any preparation styles using gluten, of course.)

Score!

Zucchini is an incredibly prolific vegetable in the summer.  Around here, it’s everywhere-which is great, because it’s local, in season, tasty, and less expensive than some other veggie counterparts.  It’s also an incredibly versatile vegetable.  I wrote about one use of it here in my post about shredding it up with some carrots. It has an extremely mild flavor, and it takes on the flavors of whatever you cook it with.

So it can be used in both savory and sweet applications.

Double score!

Once again at the market this weekend I found myself face to face with some gorgeous huge organic zucchini.  And they were cheap!

There were some mushrooms that looked lovely, so into the basket they went.

And tomatoes.  I love me my tomatoes.  (Yes, I know they are a fruit, technically so is zucchini, but lets not split hairs shall we?)

I had cooked up a couple pounds of pork tenderloin the other day, so I knew that would be my protein source for dinner.  Why cook one pound when you can cook extra and have leftovers?  Prepare ahead and set yourself up for healthy gluten free eating success.)

Now as you may know, I don’t generally follow recipes.  I’m really bad at it.  I forget to measure all the time.  That’s why I do “not-really-recipes.”  A guideline, a template for which to alter as you see fit and with what you have on hand.

This is great, it creates a sense of freedom and creativity.

Sometimes it also creates spectacular cooking fails.

D'OH! Courtesy The Simpsons and apchabraja

I decided I wanted to make zucchini pancake type things.

Without consulting any resources (which I should have done) I proceeded to shred the zucchini with a box grater.  I thought I was so smart when I remembered to salt it to draw out the water and squeeze it dry.  I decided it would be fantastic to add in the chopped mushrooms to give the zucchini a bit of a meatier texture.  I threw in some sea salt, garlic, hot sauce, one egg (beaten,) mixed it up and called it good.

Heated up my pan with a bit of coconut oil (from the Misto-love that thing) and proceeded to form little round piles of goodness.

And what to  my wondering eyes did NOT appear?

Browning.  They were steaming and cooking, but no lovely carmelization and browning.  The pancakes weren’t sticking together.

The mushrooms.  They also have a high water content.  Too much moisture=no browning for Erin.  Between the mushrooms and the zucchini, I was toast.  (Figuratively)

Undeterred, I mixed it all up into a pile and cooked it.  And boy was it tasty!

So the moral of the story is this:

Sometimes Not Really Recipes don’t work out the way you think, but taste good anyway.

Sometimes that may happen with real recipes-not to worry!

There are a bunch of great zucchini recipes out there.  Here are a few of my favorites:

The right way to make zucchini fritters at Cook it Allergy Free

Melissa at Gluten Free For Good makes a zucchini tomato basil bake (gluten free zucchini au gratin)

Shirley at Gluten Free Easily’s awesome gluten free Chocolate Zucchini Bread/Cake

And lots of ideas from Eating Well

For more cool free information on eating well and healthfully gluten free, check out GF and Fit 101.

Bring on the zucchini!  What’s your favorite way to prepare it?

Zucchini-The Naturally Gluten Free Veggie of the Day and Not Really Recipe Fail is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

1  2

Related Posts:

• What do you Mean You Don’t Like Veggies?
• Summertime, and the Gluten Free Grillin’ is Easy…
• Not Really a Recipe-London Broil AKA Top Round-the Gluten Free Fit Edition
• Gluten Free “Healthy” Treats-Kind of Recipes:Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies
• Not Really a Recipe-Baked Chicken Edition

If you follow GFF on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll somtimes see me post up an article I think is worth a look.  Sometimes it’s about celiac disease and research, sometimes it’s an awesome looking gluten free recipe, sometimes it’s solid information from the fitness aspect of things, sometimes it’s really geekazoid biochemistry stuff, and sometimes it’s just plain something hilarious.

I’ll do a “round up” post of sorts on a regular basis if you guys find this helpful, so make sure to post a comment if you like it!

photo credit fabcabrera

Celiac Disease/Gluten Free stuff:

Explanation of how manufacturers define and use the terms “gluten free,” “wheat free,” and questions to ask

Chris (Celiac Man) is raising funds for Celiac Awareness and summer camps that are gluten free

Carrie (GingerLemon Girl) complied a list of the recipes from the 30 Days Quick and Easy Gluten Free Meals. Bookmark it.

Wendy’s journey to leading a healthier gluten free life, and a giveaway of  my ebook

Amy at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free recipe for GF and nonfat “brownies” perfect for a high carb refeed day

Heidi (Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom aka GF FlavaMom) hilarious recount of some experiences and review/giveaway of the ebook

Dieting and Nutrition Articles:

Last week I posted my thoughts on the idea of intuitive eating.  This week I saw a couple more that I thought were interesting and thought provoking.

An overview by a registered dietitian with some tips

The always straight shooting Leigh Peele shares her thoughts on the problems with using intuitive eating for fat loss

And her thoughts on a possible solution

James Krieger explores the nerdlier yet incredibly interesting side of appetite control and why it’s so complicated

Weighty Matters on calorie intake and gives a link to a fairly accurate calorie expenditure calculator.  Don’t overestimate your activity level when you are entering the information.

Lastly, James at Weightology gives his list of blogs to check out.  I am extraordinarily flattered to be on this list with some amazing individuals.  I really don’t fit in there.  Some of my favorites like Alan Aragon and Lyle McDonald are included, and a few new to me that look awesome and are going on my Google Reader.

Wraps it up for now!  If you like this idea, hit up a comment and let me know.

Saturday Round Up-Gluten Free and Nutrition Goodies of the Week is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

7  2

Related Posts:

• Weekend Roundup! Gluten Free/Nutrition Goodies of the Week
• The Paleo Diet for Celiacs?
• Think Thin Bars Review-Redux
• Contamination in Naturally Gluten Free Grains-but Don’t Panic
• Gluten Free Supplements Review-Rockwell Nutrition

Seriously, I just deleted a couple pages I’d already written, and then decided that was very stupid.

Here’s the thing.  I’ve said before that living healthfully and gluten free is a lifestyle, not a “diet.” I just hate the connotations that come along with the word diet.  There’s so many wacky “diets” out there.  And for some reason, whenever something is a “diet,” there’s always individuals who seem to latch on to the ideas or principles presented, as the next great thing that is going to cure cancer and clean your kitchen to boot.

In all fairness, the Paleo Diet in it’s purest form is a way of eating, not a “diet.”  It’s kind of exploded beyond that though.

Photo Credit Rakka

A few weeks ago, I was having a e-discussion with my friend Shirley over at Gluten Free Easily about food, eating, and diet.  Shirley and I share many of the same views about food in general, and she mentioned how she seems to find weight control more successfully and easily when following a Paleo-like plan.

So what is this Paleo, you may be saying?

According to Wikipedia (really, where else would you look,) “The modern dietary regimen known as the Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various human species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic—a period of about 2.5 million years duration that ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture. In common usage, such terms as the “Paleolithic diet” also refer to the actual ancestral human diet.^[1][2] Centered on commonly available modern foods, the “contemporary” Paleolithic diet consists mainly of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts; and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.^[1][3][4]”

That sounds pretty good, for starters, right?

Meats, veggies, fruit, nuts-this sounds like what I talk about all the time.  This Paleo thing sounds pretty good, right?

And the fact that grains are excluded makes it a slam dunk for celiacs.

Well, yes, kind of.

I  love the foods that they include.  All naturally gluten free, all can be highly nutritious.  What I don’t like so much are all the exclusions.  I like beans, and find them a good source of protein and carbohydrate.  Tasty, too.  Same goes for dairy (as I am not casein or lactose intolerant.)  And no rice, ever?

Maybe it’s just the inner rebel in me, but if someone says I can’t have something it makes me want it more.

I’ve recently been reading more from Mark Sisson at Mark’s Daily Apple.  He’s taken a riff on Paleo, and called it Primal .

From what I’ve read, his approach is a bit more realistic, and flexible, which I like.  He even indicates that dairy and rice (gasp!) would be acceptable in certain circumstances. 

Robb Wolf also has a bit more flexibility in approach, especially for athletes, and I like that quite a bit.  I recently listened to a podcast interview with him and if I am remembering correctly, his Mom has celiac disease.

Another person with some good stuff to say is Dr. Kurt Harris at PaleoNu.  He has a 12 step “getting started” which I like quite a bit, with the exception of meal frequency (I think it’s more individual than he indicates.)

Here’s one of my big issues with the Paleotards, and those non-obsessed, but following one principle I have issue with.

Insulin is THE DEBIL! (Cue Kathy Bates as the Mom in the Adam Sandler movie The Waterboy.)

Insulin secretion is not, in fact, the devil. 

James Krieger did a great overview of insulin on his blog, which I highly recommend you check out.  Here’s the Cliffs Notes version: insulin is not necessarily bad, although it can be circumstantially, and if there is not a caloric surplus, (yes, calories do matter,) fat will not be stored.  I also very much like the analogy that Kurt Harris uses of insulin being like a bouncer at a club.  Logic and reason for the win.  Insulin in the face of a caloric deficit will not magically make you fat.

Also, there is no magic to eating in a Paleo fashion which will make you lose weight.

A higher protein intake is recommended, and that is something I wholeheartedly support.  However, there is no “metabolic advantage” to a higher protein diet.  As James Krieger so eloquently illustrated in another post on his fine blog, the magic isn’t magic.  It’s satiety.

Satiety=feeling full.

A lower carbohydrate, higher protein diet makes you feel fuller.

So, you eat less. The magic happens because you are eating less CALORIES!  Yes, it’s easier because you feel fuller, but it’s not magic.

So is the Paleo or Primal way of eating a good way to go for celiacs?

I think it’s a good start.  My personal approach is more moderate.  I do recommend, and personally choose, to eat whole, naturally gluten free foods most often. That does, for the most part, coincide with the Paleo approach.  However, I don’t like being exclusionary, especially to entire groups of food (like dairy, if you tolerate it.)  I offer a free guide which gives some more of my ideas (like you haven’t listened to me enough already!) on healthy gluten free nutrition.

Accept no approach blindly.  Do your research, get educated, and make an informed decision.  Don’t be afraid to take bits and pieces from different areas and make them your own.

The Frankenstein Diet.  I like it.

What do you think?  Have you put together your own Frankenstein?  Have you tried Paleo?  Hit it up in the comments!

The Paleo Diet for Celiacs? is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Related Posts:

• Saturday Round Up-Gluten Free and Nutrition Goodies of the Week
• Think Thin Bars Review-Redux
• Contamination in Naturally Gluten Free Grains-but Don’t Panic
• Gluten Free Supplements Review-Rockwell Nutrition
• Part 5-Weight Management and Celiac Disease-Wrapping it Up-Gluten Free Style

They make the gluten free snack products ThinkThin protein bars, ThinkThin dessert bars, and ThinkThin bites.

I reviewed a few flavors of the Think Thin protein bars last year.  Click here to read the reviews of the Brownie Crunch, Chunky Peanut Butter, Chocolate Mudslide, and White Chocolate chip flavors.

Julia from Think Products contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing some of the bars.

They were kind enough to send me a few samples to try.

Funnily enough, most of the flavors they sent were ones I had already reviewed.  However, I did try the Chocolate Covered Strawberry dessert bar for the first time, and I have to revise my previously posted opinion of the White Chocolate Chip bar.

But first: the ingredients.

Because I’m lazy like that, I’m going to copy and paste my take on the ingredients from my post last year.  This has not changed.

“At first inspection the Think Thin nutrition facts look pretty good. It’s labeled as sugar free, has about 240 calories give or take depending on the flavor, 20 grams of protein, 7-8 grams of fat, and 26 grams of carbs, 1 gram of which is fiber. However, it also has 10-13 grams of sugar alcohols. This is where it gets interesting.

A quick primer on sugar alcohols-some of you may already be uncomfortably familiar with sugar alcohols.

I know I am.

Sugar alcohols, commonly seen as malitol, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, and lactitol, are frequently used in items marketed
as “sugar free.” They are sweeteners, and not fully absorbed into the small intestine. (Alert!Alert!) What is not absorbed by the small intestine is converted into a short chained fatty acid in the large intestine.

Sugar alcohols DO HAVE CALORIES! Approximately 2-3 calories per gram, whereas a “regular” carbohydrate has 4 calories per gram. So when you see labels that subtract out sugar alcohols from carbohydrate grams to give you a “net carb” count-that’s not strictly true.

Sugar alcohols do tend to not affect blood sugar as much as glucose, or sugar.  However,  they’re not a “free food.”

Here’s the bad part. Sugar alcohols, due to the whole absorption thing, can cause stomach upset, diarrhea, and gas. Our celiac tummies seem to be a bit more susceptible than your average Joe or Jane. I know mine is. Strike 1.

So now a closer look at the rest of the ingredients. First ingredient is a protein blend, OK great, but wait. It has soy protein as a second ingredient in the blend. Strike 2 for me. I can tolerate some natural soy foods, like edamame, but not concentrated into supplements. Then the sugar alcohols next. More soy in “crisps.” The rest of the ingredients appear “mostly harmless” (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference ) and vary dependent on the flavor. They contain 25% of RDA for calcium and Vitamin C, A, B12, B6, and thiamin, 30% for iron, riboflavin, and pantothenic acid. Nothing crazy, nice to have those in there though.”

I do not know if the formulations of the bars have changed slightly since I wrote the original review last year.  Based on my tastebuds and stomach, I’d say it has.

These bars were definitely not as dry as the ones I had tried previously.  Also, I did not experience any stomach upset this go ’round.  Now, it’s completely possible that my digestive system is just in better shape now, so who knows, but that’s my (n=1, which is incredibly poor reliability from a research standpoint and is not to be trusted to carry over to others) observation.

New flavor: Chocolate Covered Strawberry:

I was really impressed with this.  Ordinarily, I run like hell from fruit flavored stuff that isn’t fruit.  It tastes incredible artificial to me.  However, this had a nice, subtle, not too artificial strawberry flavor.  And chocolate covered fruit is one of my all time favorite combinations.  This is one of their “dessert” bars.   They are smaller, have a lower calorie count at 200 calories, and have slightly less protein than the “protein bars” at 15 grams.  The other dessert bar flavors are tangerine creamsicle and lemon cream pie, which I have not tried.  GFree TV has done a review on Think Thin as well, and Debbie did mention she really likes the lemon flavor.

Old flavor but different? White Chocolate Chip:

This bar is different from the others in that the bar itself it chocolate flavored and colored, and the coating is white chocolate.   I’m not a white chocolate girl, but this was actually quite good.  It seemed to balance the flavor of the bar itself quite well.  It was not nearly as dry and flavorless as I indicated in my previous review.  Good improvements there.  Either it was reformulated, or the bar I had purchased in Whole Foods had been sitting around for a while and wasn’t as fresh as these coming right from the company.

Overall, these are a nice option to have.  They are available very widely.  I even see them in the grocery store.  They do have a chocolate coating and so are prone to meltage in the summer heat.  Although I prefer whole foods whenever possible, these are great in a pinch, or to quench the sweet tooth fairly harmlessly.  For another taste perspective, you can read my friend Kim’s review.  Her main blog is Gluten Free is Life, but she is a prolific writer in the gluten free world.

Have you tried other flavors?  What did you think, and which was your favorite?

Think Thin Bars Review-Redux is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Related Posts:

• Gluten Free Supplements Review-Rockwell Nutrition
• Gluten Free Protein Powder Reviews
• Custom Choice (Create your Mix) Gluten Free Cereal-Product Review
• Gluten Free Sports Nutrition Product Review-Dairy Free edition! True Protein Gemma and Rice Protein Powders
• Gluten Free Sports Supplement Review-Vega Whole Food Energy Bar-Chocolate Flavor

It’s really not hard if you keep an open mind and take advantage of what is available.

I am very lucky to have a nearby market where they feature locally grown and mostly organic produce.  I stop by there on the weekend and pick up whatever looks and smells good to me.

Last weekend, there was a bunch of beautiful bright orange carrots and some zucchini (aka summer squash-as I understand it summer squash can be either yellow or green, and the green variety is zucchini.)

It’s in season now, and was very reasonably priced.  I loaded up my basket with those and some other goodies.  Had I a clue of how I was going to prepare them?  Nope.  But, I knew I could figure something out.

Eat Yer Veggies!

In my opinion, that’s a key to preparing your own gluten free and healthful food.

Keep your options open if you are at a market such as this. See what looks good and is reasonably priced.  When you start with fresh, local ingredients, generally you will have a much more flavorful start to your meal than if you are starting with something that has been shipped and/or processed.  You won’t need fancy sauces or preparation methods to make them taste good.

Diane at The Whole Gang dedicated 30 days of recipes to this idea.  It was seen in Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” TV program.  It makes cooking less scary, more accessible, and better for you to boot.

So here I am with my zucchini and carrots.  My Dad is in town for Fathers’ Day, and Jeff is at work, so it’s dinner for me and Dad.  It was Sunday, so it’s my cook ahead for the week day.

I had been marinating chicken breasts in lemon juice, fresh garlic, and lemon pepper seasoning (this is my favorite) for most of the day.  That would be our protein source.

I remembered seeing an idea to make pasta-ish ribbons from zucchini using a vegetable peeler.  I thought that sounded good, so I scrubbed my veggies with water and a veggie brush and pulled out the peeler.  2 peels into it I decided that would take far too long.  I am definitely not that patient.

I do have a mack daddy food processor which I love.  I pulled it out and gave myself a quick tutorial on how to use the shredding blade.  It worked fantastically.

I had a beautiful big pile of shredded zucchini and carrot.

Now what to do?

My theory is you can never go wrong with some fresh garlic.  Not in the amount that would protect you from vampires, but just a touch for some flavor.

I poured a tablespoon of coconut oil into my pan, and let it warm up over medium high heat.  Then I used my garlic press on 1 medium clove of fresh garlic and added that to the pan, stirring frequently as not to burn, just get that toasty garlic aroma floating through the house.

This is when my Dad was drawn into the kitchen by the smell of garlic, and I chased him off.

The chicken was in the oven cooking away while I was doing all this, and some sweet potatoes were keeping the chicken company in the oven.  Especially in Florida in the summertime, if you’re heating up the oven, you may as well make the most of it.

Add the shredded zucchini and carrots to the pan, and stir.  They cook quickly, about 5 minutes or so is all you need.  I added a couple shakes of sea salt and grinds of black pepper, and that was it.

Shredded veggie goodness

We had a lovely meal of chicken, the shredded veggies, and sweet potato.  All naturally gluten free.  All wonderfully full of flavor, and easy to prepare.

Dinner is almost served...

You can see in the photo the eggy breakfast casserole in the background, and the pot in which I was cooking rice.  You can do this also, and get a bunch of good food prepared ahead of time.

What’s your favorite way to prepare vegetables?  If you have tricks, please share!

What do you Mean You Don’t Like Veggies? is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

1  1

Related Posts:

• Zucchini-The Naturally Gluten Free Veggie of the Day and Not Really Recipe Fail
• Summertime, and the Gluten Free Grillin’ is Easy…
• Not Really a Recipe-London Broil AKA Top Round-the Gluten Free Fit Edition
• Gluten Free “Healthy” Treats-Kind of Recipes:Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies
• Not Really a Recipe-Baked Chicken Edition

And so we grill.

Grilling is an incredibly easy way to get a whole bunch of flavorful and healthful food prepared at the same time.

I’m a huge believer in preparing ahead for healthy gluten free eating success. If you are cooking, you might as well cook big.  By cooking big, I mean so that you have lots of food leftover, and ready to package into your own takeaway meals.

Case in point—I made a reduced fat version of scalloped potatoes last weekend.  It was awesome, very flavorful, and by using smaller amounts of flavorful cheese and a lower fat cheese all the cheesy goodness was maintained.  I also used about 3 pounds of potatoes.  That’s a lot of potatoes.  However, we had plenty of food for a few days.

Grilling imparts that wonderful smoky flavor to food.

Probably I could eat a shoe if it was marinated and grilled.  Or not, I don’t know for sure, and let’s not test that out.  Anyway-everything tastes better on the grill.  Think you don’t like a particular vegetable?  Betcha you’d like it grilled.  This weekend I experimented with jicama on the grill.  In all fairness, I like jicama raw, but grilling it brought out even more sweetness and yumminess.

Generally, we grill a bunch of meat.  If there’s room on the grill, I’ll add on some veggies.  Summer squash, mushroom, onion, and bell pepper are my favorite veggie kabob.  Stone fruits, like peaches, are incredible grilled.  I’ve heard you csn grill romaine lettuce, although I admit I’ve not yet tried it.

The grilling process starts a few hours before the actual onset of grilling.

In the morning I’ll trim and clean whatever meat will be grilled.  In this case, it was several pounds of chicken breast and a flank steak.  I then use zip top bags to hold my marinade.

Marinades:

Happily, most marinades you make at home are naturally gluten free.  However, if you are trying a store bought marinade, be sure to read your labels very carefully.  Also check your spice mixes.

• Steak: garlic, steak seasoning spice mix (I use Montreal Steak,) fresh squeezed lime juice, 1 TBSP of coconut oil
• Chicken: garlic, lemon pepper seasoning, fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 TBSP coconut oil
• Veggies: fresh chopped basil or thyme, sea salt, cracked pepper, minced garlic (or use a garlic press,) dash of coconut oil
• Put the ingredients of the marinade in the bag, shake to combine.  Add your meat/poultry/veggies.  Fish generally doesn’t need to marinade as long, so you could get away with doing the fishies just before grilling.

Grilling guide:

• Stick these babies back in the fridge and go have fun doing something active.  Or cleaning your house and doing laundry, which seems to happen so often on weekends.
• When grill time comes, pull your food out of the fridge and it’s ready to go.  Let your meat come to room temperature before grilling, and also pat it dry.  Drying the surface will help it sear.
• Grill for appropriate time.
• Enjoy cold gluten free adult beverage of choice while food is cooking.  Or water or iced tea.  But it’s the weekend, kick back and have an adult beverage if you’d like.

Love the grill marks.  Awesomeness.

You’ve now created not just a great meal for the night, but great food for a couple days.

Package it up in some portable containers, make lunch for work, have it ready for grab and go.

You’ve now made it easier to make more healthful choices.

When you have easily accessible real food, you will be much less tempted to grab a convenient but less nutritious snack.

A resource for more grilling ideas is Eating Well.  I read the magazine and visit the site often.  Many of their dishes are naturally gluten free—score!

For more tips on eating gluten free and healthfully, check out Gluten Free and Fit 101. If you’re looking for a step by step system for living more healthfully gluten free, check out my new ebook!

I’d love to hear your tips and experiences with grilling!  What’s your favorite thing to grill?  Share it below in the comments!

Summertime, and the Gluten Free Grillin’ is Easy… is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

5  1    24

Related Posts:

• Zucchini-The Naturally Gluten Free Veggie of the Day and Not Really Recipe Fail
• What do you Mean You Don’t Like Veggies?
• Not Really a Recipe-London Broil AKA Top Round-the Gluten Free Fit Edition
• Gluten Free “Healthy” Treats-Kind of Recipes:Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies
• Not Really a Recipe-Baked Chicken Edition

I heard about NuGo bars, and contacted the company to get some more information.

NuGo Nutrition has seven product lines.

Of those seven, three product lines are gluten, dairy, and soy free.  The others are not, so make sure to check the labels.

The three product lines that are gluten, dairy and soy free are the NuGo 10 bars, the Crispy Cat bars, and the NuGo Free Bars.

Alyssa at NuGo was kind enough to send me samples of NuGo 10 and Free bars to try.

The NuGo 10 bars are gluten, dairy, peanut, and soy free.

They remind me quite a bit of LaraBars in the sense that they are made of whole food ingredients.  They contain 3 nuts, 3 fruits, and 4 seeds.  (Hence the name NuGo 10-10 ingredients.)  They are also vegan and Pareve.

The nutritional facts are as follows:

160 calories.

10 grams of fat.

17 grams of carbohydrates, 4 of which are fiber.

4 grams of protein.

The NuGo 10 bars are available in lemon, cranberry and apple cinnamon flavors.

Taste review:

The flavors of these were very good.  Strong taste of what they were supposed to taste like, given each individual flavor.  They are similar in composition to a LaraBar as well.  However, the texture was a bit dry.  They would hold up well in a purse or backpack, and since there is no chocolate coating you don’t have to worry about summer time melting.

Nutritionally, these are low in protein for my preferences.  I would add a protein source like yogurt/cottage cheese, egg (s), jerky, or string cheese for a nutritional boost.

I also tried 2 flavors of the NuGo Free bars.

These are also gluten, dairy, and soy free, as well as Pareve and vegan.  These are certified gluten free by GFCO, which always gives me extra peace of mind.

The nutrition facts are quite good on these:

150 calories.

3 grams of fat.

28 grams of carbohydrate, 5 of which are fiber.

9 grams of protein.

They are available in 3 flavors: Carrot Cake, Dark Chocolate Crunch, and Dark Chocolate Trail Mix.

Taste review:

I tried the Carrot Cake and Dark Chocolate Trail Mix.  When you open the package, they look vaguely reminiscent of a rice krispie treat.  The Chocolate bar also had a coating of chocolate on one side.  The texture is quite different than a rice krispie treat because the rice crisps used are rice protein crisps.  They are not light and crispy, they are a bit heavier.  These also were a bit dry.  The chocolate coating lessened that a bit on the Trail Mix bar.

The Carrot Cake bar had good flavor with a strong cinnamon and nutmeg taste.  Perhaps a white chocolate coating would go well on this bar and help with the dryness, but as it is it can hold up to heat without melting.

The Trail Mix bar was by far my favorite.  I love the combination of chocolate and fruit.

Nutritionally, these have enough protein to hold you over for a bit, and could stand up on their own if you are in a pinch.  Adding some additional protein would be helpful if you are looking at a longer period of time before you will be able to eat real food.

Overall, these are a handy option to have available.  Personally, I prefer Zing bars, but everyone’s tastes are different.  Also, the NuGo bars are dairy free, the Zing bars are not.  My friend Kim at Gluten Free is Life also reviewed the NuGo bars.  You can check out her review for another perspective.

If you have tried these please share your thoughts in the comments!

NuGo Gluten Free Protein Bars-Review is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Related Posts:

• Review of Generation Gluten Free-the Documentary
• Think Thin Bars Review-Redux
• Gluten Free Supplements Review-Rockwell Nutrition
• Gluten Free Protein Powder Reviews
• Custom Choice (Create your Mix) Gluten Free Cereal-Product Review

Imagine my delight and surprise when I opened my email to find:

“Congratulations! Your blog, Gluten Free Fitness, has just been nominated for the 2010 Top Allergy Blog award in the Medical category!

Obviously, your readers think your content is awesome, and we want to know as well!  We have created a voting module for you to place on your website to tally the votes. Have your readers vote for you, and you can get your blog to the top!”

I am just floored and honored.  Thank you so much.  To quote one of many Emmy/Grammy/MTV Music Award nominees…”just to be nominated is such a pleasure!”  You guys rock!

Brought to you by: Medical Billing and Coding Certification

The winners will be announced 6/21/10, so please click above and vote.  We have almost a whole week to rack up some votes.

Also, I am very happy that I have contributed a “not really recipe” to Carrie over at Ginger Lemon Girl and her “30 days of Quick and Easy Gluten Free Meals.“  After you’ve voted, go check out the easy naturally gluten free pan cooked pork chops.  Pork-it’s what’s for dinner!

If you’re new here,  check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for a place to start.  It can be a bit overwhelming, all this information.  You can listen to Episode 8 of the podcast while you read.

Thanks for voting everyone-and let me know what you think of those pork chops!

We’re Nominated for Top Allergy Blog in the Medical Category! is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

1  1  3  2    7

Related Posts:

• Review of Generation Gluten Free-the Documentary
• Saturday Round Up-Gluten Free and Nutrition Goodies of the Week
• The Paleo Diet for Celiacs?
• Think Thin Bars Review-Redux
• NuGo Gluten Free Protein Bars-Review

On Twitter the other day I caught a tweet from @GopherStudyBlue “@FoodNetwork needs a show on a quickly growing niche: gluten-free and alternative baking/cooking. #foodie #foodnetwork #glutenfree”

In non-Twitter speak, this translates to “The Food Network should capitalize on the quickly growing, and becoming more popular, gluten free community that would love to see a show dedicated to gluten free baking and cooking.”

I re-tweeted that comment and sent it back out into the Twitter world.

My friend Amanda at Gluten Free Maui was then very kind, and sent me the email which she had already forwarded along to the folks at the Food Network.

Here’s the Deal:

I’m giving the template below that was so kindly provided by Amanda, as well as what I submitted.  You can use one of those, and tweak it to your liking, or come up with your own.  Then, click here to go to the Food Network contact page and fill in your information, and the message.

Amanda’s template:

“In this time when we know that 1 in 133 people have celiac disease, and even
more have gluten intolerance, it is important to acknowledge a need for cooking
shows focused on gluten free cooking and baking. Many people are lost and
confused after receiving a diagnosis of celiac disease. They don’t know what
they’re going to eat, and they are scared and lonely. While there are many blogs
on this subject, Food Network is a culinary force in our society. Many people
look to Food Network for ideas when they are first learning to cook, when they
want to eat healthier, and when they want to impress others with their culinary
prowess.
Please support those who supported Food Network for so long before beginning the
gluten free diet, by providing at least one cooking or baking show focusing on
the gluten free diet.

Thank you!”

And here’s what I wrote:

“Hello!
As the “one” in the 1 in 130 individuals with Celiac Disease, I write in hope that we will see a new, gluten free focused cooking show on your network.
Beyond the over 3 million Americans with Celiac Disease, there are countless others with gluten intolerance and other conditions that cause them to choose a gluten free lifestyle.  Awareness of celiac disease and gluten intolerance is rising exponentially.  The gluten free food and beverage market is estimated to be growing an average of 28% annually since 2004.
Living gluten free, whether for serious health reasons such as celiac disease, or by choice, is a challenge at the best of times.  The Food Network has become a household staple and is a huge force in the food and cooking industry.  You would be helping home cooks learn to cook gluten free, and also increasing awareness into the restaurant and manufacturing sectors as well.
I hope to see a gluten free cooking show in the near future.  The gluten free community is very vocal and active, and would welcome and promote any attention you can give to this matter.  I know a gluten free show would be extremely well received.
I thank you for your time, and wish you good health and good food.
Erin Elberson”

Feel free to use those as ideas.  Please forward this post along-tweet it, facebook it, link to it…whatever. Let’s work together as a community and get our voices heard.

Not nearly as cool as being on the Food Network, but the Gluten Free and Fit 101 page has been updated with a new free “5 Tips” report.

And the free (gluten free!) nutrition guide was recently updated too.  If you don’t already have it, you can get it here.

Now go send those emails!  And use those cute little icons at the bottom of the post to Tweet/Facebook/email this around.

Let’s see what happens…fingers and toes crossed!

Want to See a Gluten Free Show/Chef on the Food Network? is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

13  13  4  5    22

Related Posts:

• Review of Generation Gluten Free-the Documentary
• Saturday Round Up-Gluten Free and Nutrition Goodies of the Week
• The Paleo Diet for Celiacs?
• Think Thin Bars Review-Redux
• NuGo Gluten Free Protein Bars-Review