If the thought of forsaking croissants or not being able to make a quick non-cardboard-like sandwich makes you want to lay your head in your arms and cry. I get it. But from someone on the other side of 8 years of watching my gluten intake to 9 years of being strictly gluten free I promise you. It’s entirely possible and you really do make peace with it.

All my clinical experience, as well as my own health journey attest to the gluten free diet being a crucial step in feeling yourself again with Hashimoto’s.

It helps with:
– Reducing inflammation
– Weight Loss
– Maintaining a healthy weight
– Improve brain fog
– Reducing antibodies for some

If you want to know more about my stance on why every woman with Hashi’s needs to know this read this blog post first. You’ll also find a little anecdote about how I went to Europe broke (as you do) and put on six kilograms in four weeks eating gluten every day.

Common things I hear women say – ‘If I cut out gluten, what am I supposed to eat? I’ll be starving!’

Focus on what you can have

Whilst it does feel like a minefield and very overwhelming, changing your perspective around cutting out gluten can make all the difference. Start with the mind first.

I’m a visual person so I will often ‘see’ what I’m talking about in my mind. Are you? 

Bear with me here.

When you think of cutting out gluten free food does your inner eye rove over a landscape of golden dumplings, english muffins, pasta, baguette, waffles, beer, crusty sourdough, sausage rolls, donuts, banh mi and pizza? 

Firstly, unlike 17 years ago when I began my GF journey, MANY of these options are available in surprisingly good GF substitutions. I’ll give you a list below.

Secondly, I want you to start substituting some of these items in your mind’s eye with berries, toasted hazelnuts, scrambled eggs, creamy dips, fish filets, fluffy rice, crunchy snow peas, ripe tomatoes & basil, chocolate, cheeses, the list goes on. Focus on the incredible foods you CAN eat to reduce the grief and despair at having to face a gluten free lifestyle. Because many foods are naturally gluten free. 

Did your menu just get a whole lot broader?! I hope so!

All fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, dairy, legume, nuts, seeds and many delicious grains contain zero gluten. In other words, most of your natural whole foods options are safe! There is a cornucopia of delicious, fresh & healthy foods open to you so whenever you feel that creeping sense of deprivation and FOMO remind yourself that you’ve got delicious GF options for days.

Here are some of the substitutes I personally use:

Pasta: The Otway Pasta company produces my favourite fresh GF fettucine. It’s made with lupin flour and fresh eggs. Yes it’s pricey but homemade and delicious. The big supermarkets also stock buckwheat pasta spirals in the health food aisle as well as several passable options in the pasta aisle including red lentil pasta (so good in a salad!) and other pulse pastas which are completely GF and add a really nice earthy flavour to dishes like spaghetti bolognese.

Pastries: There are a number of gluten free bakeries popping up in Melbourne with incredible substitutes for sweet & savoury favourites from sausage rolls to donuts. My local one is The Good Food Bakery. This is where we get all our birthday cakes. Please note that these are special occasion foods as they are high in starches, sugar and will not support good glycemic control. The big supermarkets also have a decent GF Simply Wize pastry for parties or special occasions – again – not healthy but helpful every now and then. At markets and festivals it’s common to see GF donuts & cookie stands nowadays too. I usually just have a sneaky chocolate laden bite of my kids’ cookies because a sweet sledgehammer to the taste buds doesn’t do it for me these days.

Pizza Bases: Senza are the best in my opinion. Toscana are also nice but more pricey. My favourite restaurants for homemade gluten free pizzas are Trulli  in Meeniyan and Ciao Cucina in Port Melbourne but so many good restaurants are doing a decent job of making their own GF bases these days.

Take away: There are heaps of GF options when it comes to take away. Indian food is quite often GF as they use a lot of chickpea flour and rice. Grill’d do a great job of GF burgers, a Thai larb salad is delicious, Mexican rice bowls and Vietnamese are always winners. Most Vietnamese places will do Pho GF by request. Special mention to Le Feu, a gluten free dedicated Vietnamese restaurant chain down here in Melbourne.

Common Mistakes

When cutting out gluten many people swap their gluten products for ‘gluten-free’. Meaning they opt for gluten free biscuits, cereal, bread, pasta etc. In other words they keep eating the same old SAD (standard australian diet) minus the wheat. 

Gluten is actually a protein. Did you know that gluten is primarily responsible for the elasticity and chewy texture of dough, as well as the structure and rise of baked goods? 

Generally, these gluten free substitutes are high glycemic load due to being full of highly processed starches as they try to emulate the white fluffiness of gluten. 

If you see rice flour, tapioca, maize or corn flour and potato starch at the top of the ingredient list then you know this bread is very high in starches which are a carbohydrate that breaks down into glucose very quickly, spiking your blood sugar. 

These can leave you feeling bloated, sluggish, fatigued and make weight loss very difficult. Please don’t make this mistake because you might wind up mistakenly rejecting the gluten free lifestyle as helpful in tackling your Hashi’s symptoms. 

Sample GF Menu
Breakfast: So instead of cereal or toast you might have nut based GF granola and yogurt or eggs & mushrooms on buckwheat toast.
Lunch: Instead of just a sandwich you might have a palm sized piece of protein with some leftover roast vegetables and a side of rice or a handful of croutons.
Dinner: Instead of a bowl of pasta you might have it as a side alongside a palm sized piece of protein and some vegetables.
Biscuits: You can ditch them. If you start eating like the above you’ll be saying Arriverderci to the 3pm slump and sugar cravings.

Avoid processed foods

The key is to lean into the foods that are naturally gluten free and avoid the frankenfoods. That’s a term I stole from the great Cyndi O’Meara that describes processed foods that do not resemble anything found in nature and require additives to make them shelf stable. 

It’s just the gluten containing grains and many factory/lab made wheat based ingredients used in processed foods that trip people up. I’ll talk more about that in the next paragraph. 

Hidden in plain sight

Another easy mistake is to not know gluten by its aliases. It shows up on the back of many processed food ingredients lists but unless you know what to look for, you could easily miss it.

Ingredients such as maltodextrin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, modified food starch, barley, rye, durum, semolina, triticale, cous cous, maltose, malt extract, malt syrup can all contain gluten.

To avoid hidden gluten, always look for certified gluten-free labels and be cautious of foods that don’t clearly state they are gluten-free. When in doubt, contact the manufacturer for confirmation or choose an option that you know is definitely gluten free. 

In the meantime, good news! The following are all GF and there are a lot of creative foodies producing more and more wholefoods products using these ingredients instead of gluten free grains. The gluten free industry has changed so much in the last 17 years.

Here is a list of safe ingredients: Rice, Corn/Polenta, Arrowroot/Tapioca, Teff, Amaranth, Sorghum, Millet, Flax meal, Oats (not always tolerated), Quinoa, Almond Meal, Gram/Besan flour (chickpeas), Coconut Flour, Chia, Buckwheat flour or kernels, Konjac, Glucomannan, all legumes, nuts and seed flours.

But what about bread?!

Yes, this can be the tricky one. Bread is the stuff of life right? Because bread is an everyday food it’s important you find an alternative with a low glycemic index. 

My favourite is Melbourne made GF Precinct Buckwheat & Chia or their Market Loaf. You can find them all over Australia. On my travels I have found a lot of good GF breads in health food stores too. My favourite was The Sourdough Chick loaf in the Byron Bay region – my gosh it was good! 

When you’re looking for a good bread with a low glycemic load you need to turn the packet over and look at the ingredient list. Is brown rice flour, buckwheat, sorghum, almond meal some of the ingredients at the top of the list? If so then you’re probably looking at a good option. 

The other clue is the colour. If the bread is white then it’s made of refined flours and starches, avoid. You want it to be brown. 

Although not the best indicator as it doesn’t take into account how fast your body will be able to digest it due to GI load or fibre, you can also look at the carbohydrate content per 100gm. Most commercial gluten free bread from the supermarket will contain 40-50gm of carbs per 100gm whereas the lower glycemic options will be 25-35gm or lower for the paleo seed based breads.

More mindset

Another thing I tell my clients is to start identifying as a gluten free person. Say aloud in a Moira Rose accent as often as needed, ‘I’m gluten free’.

Tell people, be loud and proud. You may irritate some but don’t worry. They don’t need to know why but if you prefer to explain you could simply say that due to an autoimmune disease you are unable to eat gluten. 

Identifying as someone who follows a GF lifestyle reinforces your choice and creates accountability.

If you feel tempted you might say to yourself, ‘why would I even consider eating that? It’s got gluten in it and I don’t eat gluten.’

It gets easier

I promise. 

You get to the stage where you do not feel remotely deprived but grateful you’ve found a simple hack that helps you feel so much more like yourself, improving your health now and your future health outcomes. 

You will probably slip up but that is all part of the learning process. As you start to feel the effect of gluten on your system after an extended break you’ll find the slip ups grow farther and farther apart until the only time you eat gluten is by accident when someone puts the wrong crackers on the gluten free platter – it’s ok Anna, I forgive you!

If you want more help then check out my Healthy Weight Hypothyroidism Freebie. It has a food list and 3-day meal plan.

Click here to get your guide.

In your health,

Tessa