I have been following a gluten-free diet since 2018. That’s when I discovered the cause of all my unexplainable health problems was my stomach which can’t deal with gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye). If you want to know more about how I understood that I am gluten intolerant, read the post about how to heal your thyroid through diet and lifestyle.

This blog post is about what I eat daily on a gluten-free diet. I am motivated to write this post because I have met many people who are advised to follow a gluten-free diet by their doctors, but they can’t imagine doing that since they can’t figure out what to eat. When you cut wheat from your diet, you can’t enjoy most desserts, including cakes, cookies, donuts, puddings, etc. If you think that’s hard, convenient options like bread, rotis, noodles, pasta, breaded and fried items, and most store-bought sauces are out of your grocery cart.

What to eat?

You might be wondering what to eat then. The key is going back to the basics. Make your meals from scratch as much as possible to know what goes in your body. You can eat everything except wheat, barley, and rye. But it’s not that simple. A lot of packaged food has gluten in it. Some surprising examples except bread, pasta, and pastries are,

• Boost and Horlicks and other drink mixes like them have malt derived from wheat.
• Corn is safe for gluten-intolerant people, but most cornflake brands add malt.
• Store-bought salad dressings.
• Soy and similar sauces.

So if you are gluten intolerant and looking forward to healing your body, you must learn to read ingredients and cook most of your meals from scratch.

Don’t worry about your cooking skills. With some planning and organization, you can heal most of your ailments with food. I will share what I usually eat since I became gluten-free and mostly dairy-free.

Breakfast

Once I wake up, I make sure to hydrate first. Then I go for black coffee or green tea based on my mood. I eat a late breakfast unless I am working from the office. For breakfast, I have a few go-to recipes.

• Hard-boiled eggs with steamed raw plantains take 10 mins to cook. And it is very filling.
• Oatmeal topped with fruits and seeds of your choice. Hard-boiled eggs on the side.
• Dairy-free smoothies with banana, peanut butter, mango or avocado, almonds or cashews.

I add a pinch of cinnamon to my smoothie as well as oatmeal. Cinnamon is known to regulate blood sugar.

If I am feeling a little fancy, I have a set of recipes I make,

• Grilled sweet potato slices (instead of bread) with peanut butter spread.
• Baked oats with banana and chocolate chips.
• Overnight oats
• Blended oats

These are not my go-to recipes. They are more like weekend recipes. I’m a Malyalee. I grew up eating traditional Kerala breakfast recipes like appam, puttu, idiyappam, dosa and chutney, etc. I still eat them but not as breakfast. I stopped eating carb-heavy breakfasts since I realized they are giving me that 11 am energy crash.

Drinking your coffee or tea right after you wake up can also cause this energy crash apparently(Source: Huberman Lab). Try drinking your coffee 90 minutes after you wake up.

Lunch

For lunch I mostly eat a balanced meal with some kind of rice. It could be Basmati, Matta, or plain white rice. I make sure to add a good serving of vegetables like red cabbage stir fry or legumes like green gram, chickpeas.

I try to buy seasonal vegetables as much as possible since it saves a few bucks and works well for the body.

Dinner

Dinner is always something comforting like freshly made dosa with some kind of aromatic, thick curry followed by a herbal tea(lavender or chamomile). Or it could be leftover lunch.

Snacks

We keep nutrition bars handy since it’s so hard to find something gluten-free on short, unplanned travel trips. My favorite Indian brands are Monsoon Harvest, Whole Truth, and Yogabar. I also keep cashews and almonds handy for a quick snack.

One filling snack idea would be apple slices with a spoon of peanut butter.

Beverages

I occasionally love a good filter coffee. I even own one of those traditional filters. But milk triggers skin issues for me. Yogurt is fine, though. I have tried plant-based milk (store-bought and plant-based), but they are either full of additives and gums or tastes horrible.

So my go-to beverages are herbal teas, green tea, and black coffee. I do drink a lot of water, obviously.

General tips

So many factors worked in my favor while adopting a gluten-free diet like love for cooking and experimenting, my background, etc. But most of the efforts were intentional as well as difficult. Some of the things that worked for me to rebuild my health are,

• Intentionally limiting ultra-processed foods cooking most meals using whole foods.
• Investing in high-quality utensils like stainless steel rather than buying cheap non-stick pans.
• Meal planning and meal prepping beforehand.
• Taking supplements for deficiencies after checking with my doctor.
• Developing some quick recipes, I absolutely love for those busy days.

So, in a nutshell, I spend a lot of time listening to my body and its reactions to understand what works for me and what doesn’t. Also, I put in some effort to make and choose balanced meals that energize me rather than make me tired.

A key habit of mine is to plan a little bit so that I wouldn’t just order something when I am exhausted.