Think you could survive with no bread, wheat, or oats? You probably don’t. However, a life without gluten really isn’t that bad – if you’re buying the right foods, of course. For the past few weeks, I’ve successfully eaten (about 90%) gluten free. Since I am not 100% allergic yet (and just extremely sensitive to it), I have cheated on occasion and eaten some foods containing gluten. For instance, if going out to a pizza place while drunk, I will get pizza. If I am making dinner for my boyfriend and he wants (one of my favorites) homemade mac and cheese, I will eat some. If I’m strolling through Costco and they have free samples of bread, I will most likely grab one. Other than these few instances, I have been pretty good about it. There are plenty of foods you can still eat on this diet – and plenty of great gluten free substitutes.
I pretty much eat the same foods every day, with the exception of dinner and weekends – so here is a day in the life of my gluten free self (calories included)!
Breakfast: Honey Nut Chex with Milk ( 150 – 200 cals)
Lunch:
- Chobani Yogurt (140 – 160 cals)
- 130 calorie Pirates Booty bag OR Trader Joe’s 110 cal Kettle Corn bag
- Apple OR strawberries OR carrots (90- 150 cals)
Midday snack: Larabar (190 – 220 cals) OR 100 cal bag of almonds. *A great diet method is to make sure you’re eating small meals throughout the day (about every 3 hours). You should never starve yourself, because then when you do get your hands on food later, you will eat much more than you would have if you just grabbed a low cal snack when your stomach was growling earlier.*
Dinner: I make sure I change up what I have for dinner each night, but here are a few of my gluten free regulars –
- Caesar’s Gluten Free Stuffed Shells (370 cals) – This meal is delicious. Better than any lean cuisine/smart ones meal I have ever had – and those contain gluten! I did try the brand “Conte’s” lasagna and hated it. After I experiment more with different GF frozen meals, I will rate them all in a post.
Amy’s Gluten Free Mac and Cheese (400 cals) – Amy’s GF mac and cheese is delicious. They even have a gluten free AND dairy free meal if you can’t have either. BEWARE: I tried Amy’s frozen GF pizza and it was the worst thing I have ever tasted.
- Salad! (200 – 500 cals) Lettuce is, of course, gluten free. Just be sure not to put any gluten filled products in your salad (and check the dressing’s ingredients!). My salad of choice contains craisins, almonds, feta cheese, and italian dressing! Yum.
- Eggs (210 – 400 cals) – Scrambled eggs are an easy-to-make and long time favorite meal of mine. I usually put some cheese in and make some GF toast to go with it!
- Chicken & Apple Sausage (180 cals) – For some reason, these are pretty much the only “sausages” I will eat. They cook for about 8 minutes on the George Forman and are only 180 calories each.
Gluten free pasta with red sauce (approx 500 cals).
Other snacks: We all have those days where we get super hungry… and if you need to eat another snack you have plenty of options. Here are some of mine:
- Veggie Straws
- Humus
- Spinach Dip
- Corn Tortilla Chips (Food Should Taste Good makes only GF products!)
- Fruit & Veggies
- Popcorn
See all these options? You wouldn’t starve… and you certainly wouldn’t be eating too many “weird” and “specialty” foods. Do you think you could try this diet? And if you are on a GF diet, what are YOUR favorite foods?
