Recommendations for Gluten-Dairy-Sugar free Cookbooks, Websites, etc.

[hopefulmama]

Hello,

Well in anticipation of my visit with LLMD on Monday I understand that I will once again be giving up gluten.  This is a challenge, as I was strictly gluten free for 2.5 years and it caused great tension in my family.  Close relatives including my mother, husband and siblings, not to mention the in-laws, had a lot of trouble with the need to check labels for gluten containing ingredients.  There were long, arduous conversations over whether I “really” needed to be gluten free.  Forgive my language, but it sucked.  Ultimately, my husband challenged me to get the DNA testing done (and he paid for it) to find out if I had the genes for celiac.  I do not.

However.

I understand that healing from lyme will mean that it is important for me to stay strictly gluten, dairy and sugar free… which means staying away from most fruit too.  I also need to avoid nightshade vegetables and oils/fats due to my acid reflux.  And unfortunately, I have tested allergic to most nuts.  Worse, I seem to have developed a true rice allergy while strictly gluten free.  LOL, what is left?  Oh for the days of eating lasagna!

So, I have a few questions for you who have been doing this for a while.

• Do you have any favorite cookbooks or recommendations of blogs you can share for recipe ideas?[/*:gw7k88js]
• When you avoid dairy, does that include sheeps and goats milk?  Do you still cook upon occasion with organic butter or actual ghee, which I was told is much less likely to cause digestion problems?[/*:gw7k88js]
• Do you ever cook with agave nectar or xylitol, which do not raise blood sugar levels?  (When you avoid “sugar” do you mean just cane sugar or anything sweet?)[/*:gw7k88js]

I myself wrote a gluten free food blog for about a year during my gluten free days, and maybe I will get back to it now that I have to get back on the diet.  It was a way for me to take ownership of my situation and make something positive out of it. 

Not being able to substitute rice flour for wheat flour makes things pretty tricky, especially when oats and corn can both possibly cause gluten sensitive cross-reactions.  I honestly don't know how I'm going to do this.  Maybe I'll have to start a new food blog for people who are allergic to everything 🙂

Thanks for any of your suggestions and thoughts on this.

[Trudi]

[user=2523]hopefulmama[/user] wrote:

I understand that healing from lyme will mean that it is important for me to stay strictly gluten, dairy and sugar free…

Hi Andrea–

I think you only need to stay away from these items if they give you grief.  When I went gluten free, I only became sicker.  Found out afterwards by using the electro-dermal machine that I do not have a problem with gluten; I did, however, show sensitivities to rice and tree nuts which I relied more heavily on while on the gluten-free diet–hence the worsening of symptoms.

I'm still in the “experimenting” process of the theory that foods high in oxalic acid kill bacteria, including the Lyme bacteria.  I've been flooding my system with these really healthful foods and have done quite a bit of herxing.  We'll see next week when I see my doctor if the machine shows a drop in my numbers.  Sure hope so because I truly believe in the theory “let your food be your medicine”.

Personally, I would be careful about your food intake, but not obsessively so.  I show allergy to the tree nuts and dairy (although cheeses & butter are OK).  I've eaten from both forbidden foods and have not felt any difference in symptoms.

Good luck in your search for health–

Trudi

Lyme/RA; AP 4/2008 off and on to 3/2010; past use of quinolones may be the cause of my current problems, (including wheelchair use); all supplements (which can aggravate the condition) were discontinued on 10/14/2012. Am now treating for the homozygous MTHFR 1298 mutation. Off of all pain meds since Spring '14 (was on them for years--doctor is amazed--me too). Back on pain med 1/2017. Reinfected? Frozen shoulder?

[hopefulmama]

Thanks, Trudi.  That helps a lot!  I have been wondering about this a lot, as despite being strictly gluten free for those years, my Hashimoto's antibodies went sky high again, I developed adrenal insufficiency AND I was diagnosed with IC/vulvadynia during that time.  I was eating a ton of rice and nuts to compensate for the gluten, and when I was skin tested for allergies by a prestigious allergy/immunology clinic this summer I came up with true allergies to rice, soy, nuts and seeds but no allergic response at all to gluten.  Which I had been eating again, at that point, for a few months.

I had also become severely underweight, at about 108 lbs down from my “normal” of around 120.  Since I cut out the rice, nuts and soy I have put weight back on again and look healthy.  So maybe you are right and I need to listen to my own body rather than a blanket rule. 

That said, I worry about a leaky gut.  Can all food allergies cause leaky gut, or just food allergies to gluten?  I will have to research this more. 

My body does not like most dairy or sugar, or nightshades.  This I know for sure, I don't need a blood test to tell me because I can feel the physical effects shortly after eating.

Thank you!  I am interested in the healing protocol in your signature line – are any of those antibiotics?   I don't know much about standard lyme treatment yet other than the azithromycin the local LLMD asst discussed with me.  Yours looks like a pretty holistic regimen 🙂

p.s. Would you please let me know after your testing next week if the high oxalates are helping?  That is interesting to me because I have had to stay away from high oxalate foods due to the IC (those foods cause intense burning) but maybe those are actually herx reactions I am having… so it would be good to know. 

[spfister]

I know exactly how you feel.  I have been gluten free for a dozen years, and now I am starting to realize that rice is bothering me.  Since not eating gluten I was using a lot of rice. 

I got a book off ebay  “The Complete Allergy Cook Book”  by Marilyn Gioannini.  Which talks a lot about her own experiences with allergies and using elimination and rotation diets.  She explains about eliminating certain foods for a period of time (months)  then you can reintroduce them and make sure to rotate them,   then you can eat some of the same foods that you couldn't previously.

Also a good book is “Conquering Arthritis” by Barbara Allan who got well from a type of RA  with elimination of foods.  But now can eat many of the same foods after avoidng them for months.

 AP is helping mr a lot, my Ra factor came way down and the pain also.  But diet is a huge factor I can feel my joints fair after certain foods,  So it's nice to hear what works for you and others.

Shari

 

[Trudi]

[user=2523]hopefulmama[/user] wrote:

I need to listen to my own body rather than a blanket rule. 

Oh, yes!!!  And remember, no two people are alike.  What helps one is poison for another!!

Can all food allergies cause leaky gut, or just food allergies to gluten?  I will have to research this more. 

A couple of years back, I read in a post on this BB about a young man who had surgery and got a really good infection that lasted almost a year.  He was on heavy-duty antibiotics.  At the end, he no longer had any more allergies.  I came away from this that bacteria could very likely have caused his allergies.  From my own experience, back in the early '90's I had such problems that drinking water made me throw up.  I was put on Cipro for klebsiella pneumoniae and that took care of it–went back to eating my normal diet.

I am interested in the healing protocol in your signature line – are any of those antibiotics?  

At the moment I'm only taking Spiro (a botanical from Raintree Nutrition) for the Lyme.  They are actually on backorder right now due to a huge demand for Lyme treatment.  I'm also doing the oil pulling (of my own doing); however, one of my doctor's patients is doing it and her bacterial numbers keep on dropping. 

p.s. Would you please let me know after your testing next week if the high oxalates are helping?  That is interesting to me because I have had to stay away from high oxalate foods due to the IC (those foods cause intense burning) but maybe those are actually herx reactions I am having… so it would be good to know. 

You bet. 

Take care,

Trudi

Lyme/RA; AP 4/2008 off and on to 3/2010; past use of quinolones may be the cause of my current problems, (including wheelchair use); all supplements (which can aggravate the condition) were discontinued on 10/14/2012. Am now treating for the homozygous MTHFR 1298 mutation. Off of all pain meds since Spring '14 (was on them for years--doctor is amazed--me too). Back on pain med 1/2017. Reinfected? Frozen shoulder?

[Maz]

[user=2523]hopefulmama[/user] wrote:

Not being able to substitute rice flour for wheat flour makes things pretty tricky, especially when oats and corn can both possibly cause gluten sensitive cross-reactions.  I honestly don't know how I'm going to do this.  Maybe I'll have to start a new food blog for people who are allergic to everything 🙂

Thanks for any of your suggestions and thoughts on this.

Andrea, have you tried substituting organic coconut flour? A friend put me on to this recently and, in addition to organic, first-cold pressed, virgin coconut oil makes for a healthy way to cook and bake….as well as being very thyroid-friendly. Swanson's is the brand my friend recommended to me:

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/SWF041/ItemDetail?n=0

Here is a cookbook with recipes specifically for coconut flour:

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/BK166/ItemDetail?n=0

Peace, Maz

[hopefulmama]

Hi Trudi,

I looked into the Spiro and the customer service rep at Raintree said that there is no point in me ordering it right now because they would just have to cancel my order; thanks to the backorder.  She said when they offer it again in November it will be in capsules but she thinks I could pull them apart and drink them like a tea.  So I had her add my name to the list.  It sounds promising.  My naturopath said he had never heard of it but I will ask LLMD about it next week.

Thank you!!!

Ugh, if only I could break free of today's brain fog.  I feel like I haven't slept in a year. 

Have a great day everybody 🙂
A

[Jeni]

Hi,

Just Google Gluten Free Goddess, and you will find a really great website. She has recipes that are gf, df, and some are sugar free too.

good luck,

Jeni

[Kim]

Hey Andrea,

I'm a big fan of http://www.elanaspantry.com.  I bought her cookbook “The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook” and love it.  Almond flour is packed with protein and is low carb.  Her website has tons of free recipes and, unlike many GF sites, she's into nutrition too.  A lot of store-bought GF food is just loaded with empty carbs and sugar and not worth the calories, in my opinion.  I buy almond flour in bulk from Honeyville (mentioned in her site).

If you can find the Udi's products on the shelf, they are good.  Their granola is killer. :blush:  The other GF bread products out there I wouldn't feed to my dog, if I had a dog. 😉  

Take care…..kim

[Michele]

Nice thread! Good questions! Some quick random thoughts:

We use nu-naturals alcohol free stevia as a sugar substitute. It isn't great to bake with however if I add it to a gf, df, pudding, I do that after it's done cooking. It's wonderful for fresh lemonade or limeade. I'm still working to get a really good Thai dipping sauce made with stevia. I'm getting close!!!

There are other gf flours that you could experiment with like garbanzo bean flour. Bob's Red Mill has a good variety. Kim your idea of almond flour is really good! New to us!

I found I am very allergic to dairy. It's the casein, so that excludes yogurt too. There are coconut milk yogurts but I'm not fond enough of yogurt anyway to use them. We have been using almond milk or coconut milk for dairy replacement. The couple times I tried goats milk my arthritis flared enormously, so follow the signals you get from your own body, too.

Michele

[mj47]

hopefulmama,
i have been able to successfully substitute butter for coconut oil & rice milk for milk.  i love coconut oil on english muffins (kinnikinnik gf of course) with a little jam.  haven't found a suitable sub for cheese yet….

maz,
so cool about the coconut flour!  thanks for the links.  i'll have to try that out. 
hope you're doing well!

~mj

[vera]

Hi Kim,

Thank you for the tip on Elana's Pantry.  I found a recipe for bread there, and just baked up a loaf of almond bread.  Wow!  It surprised me how delicious it is.  I've been looking for a WF/GF/yeast free bread – and think I've found it!  It was so easy to make as well.  Thanks for the great tip!:roll-laugh:

Lori

[Kim]

I'm glad the bread was good.  I make Elana's crackers all the time for a salty crunch ~ I usually throw some fresh rosemary in them too. These freeze well if you have extras. The almond flour has a buttery taste that I find very nice.

Take care…..kim

[vera]

After trying one of her recipes and looking at some she has posted, I am going to order her cookbook.  The crackers sound good – I just crave something crunchy at times – but don't want the carbs.  Had no idea crackers could be frozen! 

Lori

[Kim]

[user=1858]vera[/user] wrote:

After trying one of her recipes and looking at some she has posted, I am going to order her cookbook.  The crackers sound good – I just crave something crunchy at times – but don't want the carbs.  Had no idea crackers could be frozen! 

Lori

Coconut flour is also very nice and this site has tons of recipes using coconut flour and coconut oil:

http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com

[Author]

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