GF Diets will not
allow those of us who are not fond of spending lots of time in the kitchen from
completely escaping the KP duties, but there are some ways to make life a lot
easier. There is a famous book written by Peg Bracken in the sixties called the
“I Hate to Cook Book”. She was actually a good cook, but she was an even better
writer and I’m sure that was one reason she didn’t want to spend hours upon end
making complicated recipes
To qualify that statement, not everyone who doesn’t like to
cook is lazy. There are lots of reasons that people don’t like to cook. One
recent poll suggested that people don’t like to mess up their kitchens. Come
on! We can do better than that! The reason (I freely admit) is not that I don’t
like to cook, but that I don’t like to spend time in the kitchen prepping and
then cleaning up after cooking. Maybe I’m just lazy, but I don’t know how to
spin it any other way. Cooking is easy if you have someone prep the food and
clean the kitchen for you. Otherwise, it’s labor intense.
If you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen, no one is
blaming you. There are a lot of people that are right there with you. However,
if you eat gluten-free, you are forced to cook some meals for yourself. Not
only that, but you have to commit to a new lifestyle. Meaning you must continue
throughout your life to prepare some dishes for yourself, or your children that
have been diagnosed GF.
It’s not a fad if you have been diagnosed celiac. Or if,
like myself, you have suffered for years with IBD and painful stomach cramps
after eating. That will spur you on and keep you focused on your new lifestyle.
But there’s so much more out there now for the
newly-diagnosed GF eater than there was twenty years ago when I was first
diagnosed GF. Back then, restaurants and super-markets didn’t carry anything I
could use. Health food stores were, and still are, the best places to go to buy
your basic GF supplies.
Whole Foods is great for many people. I don’t like the
place, although I have friends who rave about the beautiful stores and products
and finds that they get at Whole Foods. Although Whole Foods is handy, it’s expensive
and the one that is close to where I live is the last choice I would make to
shop for GF foods.
I like to support the local and smaller health food stores
in my area. The local foods are just as good and sometimes better. They are usually more expensive at all health
food stores, but the large chain doesn’t always carry everything you need. But
as I said, that’s a personal choice, and if you have a beautiful Whole Foods
close to where you live, by all means, make use of it.
In particular, go to the Health Food Deli section, where you
will find a variety of choices that you cannot find in most restaurants and
supermarkets. The sandwiches are often made with GF breads, there are non-dairy
options, there are vegan options, and the food is not made with heavy amounts
of salt and fat, which is often the case with deli and restaurant choices.
You must always ask questions, but in the health food store,
they are welcome and ready with the answers. This is where you will find some
super-healthy looking people, those with young children or vegans that really
question what is going into their bodies, and fellow GF dieters, who know and
frequent health food deli’s. Make a point to find out where your closest local
health food store is, and even if you do go to the supermarket or large chain
retailers, make a point at least once a month to stop in and to support your
local health food store. It’s usually the best place to get your questions
answered and to find a variety of choices that aren’t always available when you
shop at the chains.
