What Is the Trade-Off?

Egg & ChickLet’s say you’ve been diligently reading labels since going gluten-free, ever mindful that gluten can often be sneaky – showing up where you’d least expect it.

But did you ever stop to wonder, now that you’ve given up gluten – what not-so-great choices you might be making instead?

In other words, what is the trade-off?

For example, back when I first became gluten-free, I started eating a lot more eggs.

That’s because I was baking my own gluten-free bread, and the standard recipe called for three or four eggs per loaf.

Since eggs are gluten-free, I thought nothing of it.

Also, at least once a week, we’d have omelets for dinner – or even breakfast.

On occasion, I’d even whip up a soufflé.

(Sounds fancy, I know, but soufflés are actually pretty easy to make).

Then almond meal hit the market, and it seemed like a wonderful alternative to gluten-free flours.

Being an almond lover myself, I was ecstatic!

In a given week, I poured almond milk on my breakfast cereal and snacked on almonds by the handful.

So guess what happened?

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Dreams vs. Reality

For the Celiac and food allergic among us, a luscious buffet such as the one pictured at left, is enough to give us a panic attack.

We are suddenly on high alert, as we try to determine what harmful ingredients might be hiding in any given dish.

Is an item breaded?

If so, what kind of flour was used for the breading?

What is in the sauce? Are those rice crackers or something else?

Is anything seasoned with soy sauce?

Was the food prepared with butter or eggs?

The accidental ingestion of a forbidden food is one of our worst nightmares.

Who would have thought that everything could look so tempting, yet be off-limits at the same time?

And so it came to pass that I allowed myself to dream lately.

A few weeks ago, I subjected myself to another food allergy test.

The reason was in part experimental – really just to see if my body was in fact healing, due to some of the mindful practices I’ve engaged in over the past six months.

It took about three weeks for the test results to come back, and during that time I allowed myself to dream.

“What if?” I asked myself.

What if I could eat eggs again, and a few other foods I’d been craving? At first, I envisioned things like fluffy omelets, and soufflés.

Then I allowed myself to dream of baking with the addition of eggs, and suddenly it was like a whole new world opened up to me.

Visions of healthy breads and muffins, and light-as-air meringue literally made my mouth water.

So, you can imagine how thrilled I was when the test results came back and clearly showed absolutely no reaction to eggs, whatsoever.

I saw the same amazing results with dairy and some other allergens, as well.

Did this mean I was cured?!

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