Gluten Free Diet - Day 1

When learning about Gluten Intolerance in school from Home Economics class I always thought it would be a pretty easy dietary requirement to have to deal with. I was under the impression that it only involved cutting out wheat (Pasta and Bread) and all that related food group: Barley. I thought that would be pretty simple. What I didn't realise is EVERYTHING has gluten in it. Cornflakes and even sausages contain gluten. Bread, pasta, cakes. Basically all the things people use to fill plates and bellies, contain gluten.

I am taking on a gluten free diet for the next two weeks for a few reasons.
Firstly I want to educate myself more on what foods are available for the Gluten Intolerant .. and already this has posed itself as a task. I want to search grocery shops, and see if I can still have decent meals without gluten. The first problem I have already come across is the price, with gluten free alternatives being more pricey than the gluten rich counterparts.
In cutting out gluten I am hoping to become more conscious of my diet and the foods I eat.
Secondly I am hoping that removing this protein from my diet will help with my skin at the moment (which is kind of spot central for some reason) as I have heard that gluten can cause skin reactions. I am willing to try anything at this stage.

DAY ONE

Breakfast:

    

Breakfast can be a task if you are gluten intolerant. Almost the WHOLE cereal aisle is off limits.

I went to LIDL to attempt to source something I could eat, and I found it: Gluten Free Oats.

I usually make an overnight Oats |& Chia Seed pudding for breakfast.. so the only change I had to make was using Gluten Free Oats (happy girl).

I served with some raspberries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and a banana. (yum, so filling and so nutritious)
Oats: Just Free
Chia Seeds: Chia Bia

Snack:

One rice cake from SuperValu's own brand/range, some yummy Whole Earth peanut butter (and a cup of tea.)
(absolutely love Whole Earth's packaging design and can't wait to try more of their nut butters!)

Lunch: 

I had a lovely salad selection of lettuce, cucumber, red & yellow peppers, tomato, ham, cheese and some homemade Hummus. I had a roll from SuperValu's own brand in the Gluten Free section! These rolls were inexpensive for a pack of 4.

Not a huge fan of Gluten free bread... But this certainly was filling.

Snack:

I made a strange little concoction of natural sweetness .. and then rolled it in coconut. These are TOO good to be healthy. They contain dates, sultanas, seeds, cocoa and vanilla.

 My Guilt Free Energy Balls (guilt free until you eat like 12)

I'm going to play around with the ingredients but my recipe is definitely coming soon to the blog!

All in all, not a bad start. I was full and I had lots of variety. I even ate more fruit and veg than usual. I don't think these 2 weeks are going to be too bad for me. Hopefully.