Gluten-free Foods

Gluten-free Foods

If you’ve had your eyes and ears open, and currently register a pulse, you know we’re engulfed in a gluten-free revolution. Every restaurant, cafe, supermarket, or anywhere they sell food sports a range of gluten-free options for their clientele. Gluten is simply a category name for proteins found in rye, barley, wheat, and triticale (a cross between rye and wheat). It acts as a glue of sorts, helping food maintain their shape and bind together. There are a host of more complex medical issues related to gluten intolerance, but most folks seek to ditch gluten to lose weight. The results are mixed, but the fact that so many are going gluten-free has sparked a gluten-free food bonanza. What follows are some of the more popular brands.  

 

We’re going to start with a type of chicken that we all adore - breaded chicken. Some batters are thick and fried, like what you’d get from a McDonald’s chicken nugget. While others are lighter, but still loaded with gluten, no doubt about it. But what if you could have that breaded nugget goodness ... gluten-free? Well, you can with a couple of products that have been well received by a host of online reviewers. Perdue SimplySmart GF Breaded Chicken Breast Tenders is prime rib and breast meat coated in cornmeal and rice flour. The calorie and fat count per 4 tenders isn’t bad - 210 calories and 11 grams of fat (2 grams of saturated fat). So while you can’t simply pop these tenders all day and think you won’t pack on the pounds, eating these in moderation is certainly doable. An even healthier option in the tender arena is Ian’s Natural Foods GF Breaded Chicken Tenders. These have far less salt than the Perdue tenders and also fewer carbohydrates as well. 

 

Oatmeal is a great dish that is both healthy and will fill you up. As long as you’re not topping it off with loads of brown sugar, Glutenfreeda Apple Cinnamon with Flax is a wonderful way to start your day. Gutenfreeda is an instant, gluten-free oatmeal with a rich apple cinnamon flavor that is tough to beat. Fiber-rich flax seeds are peppered throughout and this oatmeal is low in calories (180 per a 50-gram packet), high in fiber, and low in sugar. Bakery on Main Gluten-Free Apple Pie Flavor Instant Oatmeal is another solid oatmeal choice. This is higher in sugar than Glutenfreeda, but the apple flavor is supposedly otherworldly. It has no saturated fat and comes in at 200 calories per 50-gram packet. 

 

We’re about to really pique your interest with this next one - gluten-free pizza! If you’re not hip to gluten-free pizza then you’re not living. When folks eschewed gluten in favor of a healthier diet, the first assumption was things like pizzas were no longer possible to consume. And while the early gluten-free foods indeed did not include pizza, they now do, and as your humble scribe can attest to, gluten-free pizza is tasty and a must-have in any freezer. Glutino GF Duo Cheese Pizza is one of the tastier brands out there. They’re a bit pricey, but nothing outrageous. Our recommendation is splitting this pie into two servings and not eating the entire thing in one sitting, however. Udi’s GF Three Cheese Pizza is a cheese-lover’s paradise. Made with brown rice flour and packed with a delightful blend of romano, mozzarella, and fontina cheeses, Udi’s pizzas are even picking up fans in the non-gluten-free community for their flavor alone. Now that’s impressive for pizza lovers!

 

We hope you aren’t starving now and looking to devour what we laid out. That’s not the idea, as too much of anything will end up packing on the pounds, gluten, or no gluten. Moderation, even with gluten-free foods, is the trick.