To Eat or Not to Eat Gluten

My bread baking helper, with wonderful flour on her beautiful face.

Well, this unprocessed food journey sure has its ups and downs.  It was a big down, for me after reading Wheat Belly.  After cutting out processed foods, preservatives, dyes, and things I can't pronounce, then to tell me I can't eat wheat either!!!  I was left depressed.

I have come to the conclusion that for our family, cutting out wheat all together is not necessary.  However, cutting back on wheat makes sense.  My family eats a lot of wheat...bread, pasta, crackers, desserts...it seems to be in everything, when you start thinking about it. 
On the other hand, there really are many wonderful foods that are gluten-free.  I've been introducing some to my family, like rice noodles, variety in cheeses, millet, and quinoa.  It's been fun and delicious.  We are focusing on eating vegetables and other other gluten-free options.  I even made gluten-free pizza, using cauliflower for the crust.  That didn't go over very well.  I think I ate all the leftovers.  However, many of the new recipes were very tasty:  ranch dressing, zucchinni "pasta" with mushrooms, flax-seed wraps, avocado/mango salsa with chicken, and stir-fry with rice noodles. 

I took a break from making whole-wheat bread for three weeks.  Yesterday, I made bread, and it tasted delicious!  I think in the future, I will make less bread, but enjoy it more.  I want to look into using einkorn wheat, which is an older version of the wheat we consume today.  No, I'm not going to plant a whole field of it, as we first thought!!  I don't know if modern wheat is the cause of health problems in people, but it can't hurt to cut back. 

My suggestions:  Do research into wheat.  Eat real whole food.  Focus on vegetables, as Michael Pollan says, "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Gluten-free Snacks:
Veggies (with dips like hummus, peanut butter, sour cream, cream cheese)
Salad
Fruit
Yogurt with fruit (berries)
Cottage Cheese
Cheese chunks or slices (with peanut butter or olives)
Nuts
Seeds
Gorp (mixture of raisins/nuts/seeds)
Corn meal mush
Hard-boiled egg
Popcorn

Speaking of popcorn, spring is here!  I am getting out the the kitchen and into the garden every chance I get.  My two oldest are planting strawberry popcorn in their gardens this year.  It is always fun to try something new.  Are you planting anything new?