I have not been able to eat gluten since my senior year of high school. It is actually not that bad 
at all, although I do struggle with the idea of people voluntarily giving up some food group as diligently as I have had to give up gluten, when they are not even allergic to it. In the last couple of years it has become much easier to find gluten free food because some parents have found that their autistic children do better without it, it is also just being diagnosed more often because people are becoming aware of it. The upswing of gluten intolerant people has lead not only to gluten being left out of many products where it was not necessary, but also to better labeling of products. My main problem is that I grew up for 17 years eating gluten. My favorite food is doughnuts. Eating gluten free is only hard because I have a pallet for gluten filled foods. In people who realize their intolerance early, it is much easier to kick the habit. There are plenty of delicious dishes to be had. 
There are several ways to be ‘allergic’ to gluten or wheat. Being allergic to wheat is different than being allergic to gluten. The type of allergy I have is called Celiac Disease. Unfortunately/fortunately it is genetic, so my mom and sisters cannot eat gluten either. For more information on exactly how you can be allergic to gluten, google search it, because there is a plethora of information from trained professionals who have
written about this topic.
It is not hard to eat gluten free because gluten is not a main component of cooking in all cultures
. Every culture has a starch. This is perhaps a gross simplification, especially in light of globalization, but we are going to go with it for the purposes of staying gluten free. So in some cultures the main starches are gluten free; corn, quinoa, rice, teff, millet… you get the idea. Try using these starches to substitute for wheat, barley, and rye. Buying gluten free food can be expensive, but if you cook your own then it isn’t. Actually most things don’t have gluten in them as long as you don’t add it. Chicken, fish, beef, tofu, none of these things have gluten in them by themselves. Some of my favorite dishes to make are, roasted chicken with potatoes, risotto with mushrooms and asparagus, red beans and rice, white beans and whatever I have in the 
refrigerator, quinoa salad, lentils, soup, and quesadillas (with corn tortillas). They are all very easy. And I make enough to take for lunch the next day. For even easier cooking I like the Indian food packets from Trader Joe’s over rice. To make it uber fancy I add some hummus, pesto, and yogurt, but the likelihood of me having all of these ingredients at the same time is not high. For special occasions, I do buy the mixes. I love Pamela’s brownie and pancake mixes. Also I love the Gluten Free Pantry’s scone and muffin mix, and the Namaste spice cake mix, but they are expensive unless they are bought in bulk. This is why I say that it 
is sometimes fortunate that celiac is genetic; mostly for the opportunity of bulk purchasing. I also eat a lot of the Tinkyanada pasta. It tastes like real pasta and doesn’t get mushy like lots of the gluten free pasta can. Everything can be found here http://www.glutenfree.com/home.aspx 
There are some situations where it seems impossible to eat anything. This past summer I went camping for one month around the Southwest, and I was hungry for a better part of that trip. I never want to eat a rice cakes again! In hind sight I did not go prepared. Places like Thai Kitchen make lots of tasty, lightweight, portable food. It is mostly add water, rice noodle dishes http://www.thaikitchen.com/ . I took nothing like this on this trip, which was a huge mistake. The thing about being gluten-free is that some places, Like Eugene and Portland Oregon, and San Francisco, carry all kinds of gluten-free food at Safeway and Albertson’s (or Lucky’s,
whatever it is); other places, like the gas station outside of Bryce Canyon, have very little selection of quick, gluten free food. Of course you can always cook, but in camping situations this is much more difficult. If you are prepared, there is all kinds of stuff that you can take. Trader Joes makes delicious granola and fruit leathers http://www.traderjoes.com/ . I also like Larabars. They come in a variety of flavors and are delicious. I keep one of these in my purse at all times in case I get stuck on the subway or something. Lemon is my favorite! http://www.larabar.com/ . Tiger’s Milk bars are also gluten-free and delicious but I ate enough of those in college to last me a lifetime http://www.tigersmilk.com/ .
at all, although I do struggle with the idea of people voluntarily giving up some food group as diligently as I have had to give up gluten, when they are not even allergic to it. In the last couple of years it has become much easier to find gluten free food because some parents have found that their autistic children do better without it, it is also just being diagnosed more often because people are becoming aware of it. The upswing of gluten intolerant people has lead not only to gluten being left out of many products where it was not necessary, but also to better labeling of products. My main problem is that I grew up for 17 years eating gluten. My favorite food is doughnuts. Eating gluten free is only hard because I have a pallet for gluten filled foods. In people who realize their intolerance early, it is much easier to kick the habit. There are plenty of delicious dishes to be had. 
There are several ways to be ‘allergic’ to gluten or wheat. Being allergic to wheat is different than being allergic to gluten. The type of allergy I have is called Celiac Disease. Unfortunately/fortunately it is genetic, so my mom and sisters cannot eat gluten either. For more information on exactly how you can be allergic to gluten, google search it, because there is a plethora of information from trained professionals who have
written about this topic.It is not hard to eat gluten free because gluten is not a main component of cooking in all cultures
. Every culture has a starch. This is perhaps a gross simplification, especially in light of globalization, but we are going to go with it for the purposes of staying gluten free. So in some cultures the main starches are gluten free; corn, quinoa, rice, teff, millet… you get the idea. Try using these starches to substitute for wheat, barley, and rye. Buying gluten free food can be expensive, but if you cook your own then it isn’t. Actually most things don’t have gluten in them as long as you don’t add it. Chicken, fish, beef, tofu, none of these things have gluten in them by themselves. Some of my favorite dishes to make are, roasted chicken with potatoes, risotto with mushrooms and asparagus, red beans and rice, white beans and whatever I have in the 
refrigerator, quinoa salad, lentils, soup, and quesadillas (with corn tortillas). They are all very easy. And I make enough to take for lunch the next day. For even easier cooking I like the Indian food packets from Trader Joe’s over rice. To make it uber fancy I add some hummus, pesto, and yogurt, but the likelihood of me having all of these ingredients at the same time is not high. For special occasions, I do buy the mixes. I love Pamela’s brownie and pancake mixes. Also I love the Gluten Free Pantry’s scone and muffin mix, and the Namaste spice cake mix, but they are expensive unless they are bought in bulk. This is why I say that it 
is sometimes fortunate that celiac is genetic; mostly for the opportunity of bulk purchasing. I also eat a lot of the Tinkyanada pasta. It tastes like real pasta and doesn’t get mushy like lots of the gluten free pasta can. Everything can be found here http://www.glutenfree.com/home.aspx 
There are some situations where it seems impossible to eat anything. This past summer I went camping for one month around the Southwest, and I was hungry for a better part of that trip. I never want to eat a rice cakes again! In hind sight I did not go prepared. Places like Thai Kitchen make lots of tasty, lightweight, portable food. It is mostly add water, rice noodle dishes http://www.thaikitchen.com/ . I took nothing like this on this trip, which was a huge mistake. The thing about being gluten-free is that some places, Like Eugene and Portland Oregon, and San Francisco, carry all kinds of gluten-free food at Safeway and Albertson’s (or Lucky’s,
whatever it is); other places, like the gas station outside of Bryce Canyon, have very little selection of quick, gluten free food. Of course you can always cook, but in camping situations this is much more difficult. If you are prepared, there is all kinds of stuff that you can take. Trader Joes makes delicious granola and fruit leathers http://www.traderjoes.com/ . I also like Larabars. They come in a variety of flavors and are delicious. I keep one of these in my purse at all times in case I get stuck on the subway or something. Lemon is my favorite! http://www.larabar.com/ . Tiger’s Milk bars are also gluten-free and delicious but I ate enough of those in college to last me a lifetime http://www.tigersmilk.com/ .
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