Ep 107 A Gluten Free Kitchen with Susan Neal
Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –
I’m speaking this week with a very knowledgeable author who helps others who benefit from a gluten free diet, Susan Neal. We take on the topic of converting a conventional kitchen to a gluten free kitchen, or at least a part of the kitchen to be gluten free.
We look at the fridge, the pantry, cupboards, small appliances and family habits. We also look at some of the must haves in your gluten free kitchen.
You can find Susan online at –
http://susanuneal.com/
The blog post on setting up a gluten free kitchen can be found at –
http://susanuneal.com/how-to-transition-to-a-gluten-free-kitchen
This is the link to her closed Facebook group, 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar, Carbs, and Gluten, where she answers questions and provides support can be found at –
https://www.facebook.com/groups/184355458927013/
I have many different interviews scheduled for the first couple of months of 2020, and if there is anything you’d like me to cover, please email me at acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com.
Sue’s Websites and Social Media –
Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com
Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com
Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast
Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA
Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com
Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com
Instagram – @suesgfbaking
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL
(search Sues Gluten Free Baking)
Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com
Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com
My Thoughts –
I’ve worked with many newly diagnosed celiacs and one thing they all have in common is that choosing food in a grocery store is hard.
It’s difficult to bring a new concept up to the top of your criteria for buying food, but that is exactly what must be done. Before a diagnosis, I, like many others were mostly concerned about fat and salt content, calories and protein. On a gluten free diet, we must read labels to exclude gluten first. Once we identify a food as gluten free, then we should look at the overall nutrition it provides. I must admit, this was not always my focus prior to my diagnosis. Now, once I scrutinize the ingredients for gluten; fibre, sugar, protein and vitamin content are the key elements I look for on a nutrition label.
Reading a nutrition label doesn’t sound like much of a skill, but when I operated my bakery, I had to formulate the labels. There are software programs that help, but at the time, many of our gluten free ingredients didn’t exist in the databases. My math skills were tested to the max to determine minute amounts of different nutrients.
To most of us, once we’ve determined something is gluten free, one label looks like the next, but for me, I obsessed over my calculations of 2.1g or 2.3g of protein, and 4% or 6% of fibre. I gained an in depth knowledge of how the numbers work on the label and in our daily diets.
You don’t have to know this stuff, but you should be looking past the ingredients and the GF labelling to ensure you are bringing food with some value into your newly minted safe gluten free kitchen.