Gluten-Free: Not Just a Diet, It’s a Lifestyle

If you’ve been eating gluten for a long time — like, oh, say, most of your life — then giving up foods as you know them like bread, pasta, pizza, cookies, crackers, and, yes, beer may seem like a tough transition at first.

You may be cooking gluten-free for one of the following reasons:

• You may have been diagnosed with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease.
• You may be cooking for someone who has been told he has to eliminate gluten from his diet.
• You may have read the many reasons a gluten-free diet is healthier, and you’ve decided to give it a try.
• You may have just found this book in the discount aisle of the bookstore and wondered what it’s all about.

No matter why you’re cooking gluten-free, you’ll find that cooking gluten-free is an art form, and one that sometimes takes a little retuvenation on your part to figure out what is and isn’t allowed on the diet.

Did I say diet? Because this is really more than that — it’s a lifestyle. Sure, it’s a diet in the sense that it concerns the things you put in your mouth — but for most people, choosing to be gluten-free is a long-term commitment, and one that affects every aspect of their lives.

Making lifestyle changes requires conscious changes in your outlook on eating. It requires long-term commitments and a great deal of education. Starting with, “What is gluten, anyway?!?”