The Cost of Gluten-Free

So, you went gluten-free. But now your morning bagel is on the "forbidden" list and you only have a leftover sandwich in your fridge for lunch. Plus, you spent 30 minutes of your break reading food labels at the grocery store but didn't buy anything because you left your nutritionist's list of "additional words that mean gluten" on your desk at your other job. And, it's Monday. Two years ago, this was me. At the time I was working three jobs, so I was happy to eat anything somewhat healthy that was quick and easy. When I had to go gluten-free, I struggled. It would take time to learn what foods were safe. It would take effort to reconfigure my meal plan. Time and effort that I had reserved for my three jobs. My standards for "quick and easy" were still high, but I knew I'd have to put more effort into preparing food for the week ahead of time. I needed to learn to use the little time I had more efficiently. It would have been easy for me to buy frozen and pre-packaged gluten-free meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But I wanted a healthier, less-expensive option. And I wanted to make sure that I wasn't just cutting gluten, but was increasing my intake of certain other foods to ensure I was getting the proper nutrients. It seemed like a tall order to be gluten-free and eat convenient, inexpensive, healthy meals at the same time. But it had to be done. If I wanted to spend no more energy thinking about what I'd eat the next day than I spent on thinking about it when I ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news