My doctor promotes a low-carb diet. I could be wrong, but I assume his goal is to limit dastardly wheat from his patients' diets. I'm not wheat scientist or farmer, so I can't go into fabulous detail as to why wheat gives me issue, I simply know there's a reaction when I consume it. For that reason, I have found alternative sources of carbs that cause no reaction. In the end, all I want is to live my life, enjoy my children and my husband, have enough energy to keep a household, and teach. I wasn't doing that before. It was more like survival and a lot of coma-like sleeping that I couldn't fight.
Here are my top good carbs for thyroid. I will add I don't have carbs at each meal. These allowable carbs are what makes eating with my family easier. It's tricky, at best, to eat low-carb with three children and a husband who really miss a lot of foods that don't show up on the table anymore. I made a Shrimp Alfredo dish yesterday and my children acted like the heavens descending with angels trumpeting an ethereal ditty. Mind you, it was gluten-free pasta, but still. The time I made several weeks of crock-pot low-carb dinners had them begging for something else, anything else.
These are not in any particular order, just numbered.
1. Corn products
I don't eat corn itself much because it is a starch veggie (so why eat rice and corn, that's a double starch and does me no good, hand me the broccoli), but my go-to is corn tortillas for tacos, enchiladas, and sometimes a breakfast taco (a South Texas staple). I don't eat them fried. I wet them a bit and put them in the microwave for 45 seconds and then make my taco. I heat up flour tortillas for the rest of the crew.
If I go for chips, I go for corn chips. We like to make taco salad. I pile on more veggies and meat while the family adds more chips to their meals. It's one of those recipes where you accommodate more people's taste buds and that's nice. I really hate making two meals.
I abstain from corn bread because each package has too much sugar in it and all recipes use milk except one (a spicy HEB bag). Since milk as 11g of sugar per serving, it's out.
If we are eating out and there aren't many options, I ask for a Mexican restaurant (no fast food, makes me so sick). I know I can find a wheat-free meal there.
2. Coconut Flour
I found a website, The Coconut Mama, that had wonderful ideas for using coconut in recipes. I started adapting some muffin recipes on the site and have fallen in love ever since. I feel the recipes are easy and require only a few ingredients. The first time I looked at the recipe (searching for how to use coconut flour since my Momma bought me some) and I had everything in my kitchen already: eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, coconut oil, agave and coconut flour. Pretty easy!
3. Almond Flour
One of my favorite low-carb chefs is George Stella. My Momma and I adapted our holiday recipes using Stella's cookbooks and I now make a pretty awesome sugar-free pumpkin pecan streussel pie. I get Red Mills' Almond flour at my local HEB. In Stella's The Complete Low-Carb Cookbook, there's a 1-minute muffin recipe that uses almond flour, an egg, baking powder, splenda, flaxseed, butter, and cinnamon. It takes nothing to whip the single-serving recipe up and nuke in the mircowave for one minute...but here's my problem: I nuke this cinnamon bun and cover it with Phillsbury's sugar free vanilla icing and forks come flying out of nowhere from my 11 year old and my 35 year old ninjas. I don't get to finish it on my own. Again, the doc just laughs at me when I say people steal my sugar free food. Stella has come up with some seriously delicious recipes. He's definitely worth checking out. He has cakes, pies, pound cake, muffins, pancake recipes and that doesn't even hit the entrees, which I'm a fan of too (but we're talking alternative carbs). Stella keeps his recipes low-carb, so does this count as a carb if it seems like you're eating a carb but it's low-carb?
4. OATmega bars
OATmega bars are a new find for me. HEB carries them. Eating on my diet is a pain when traveling. These are the only power bar I have located that does not contain soy lecithin in it. The product uses sunflower lecithin instead. I eat all the flavors except for the peanut version. The vanilla almond crisp is my favorite at the moment and each bar has 5g of sugar and 14g of protein. In Dr. Mabray's book The Genesis Strategy, one chapter discussed finding protein bars with about 14g of protein in it. I was using Atkins for while and I realize I was having reactions. Some of it was the peanut-filled or peanut-butter varieties, but a bit of label reading found soy lecithin in each Atkins bar. I pouted for a bit until I found OATmega bars. It's great for a busy life (ya know, teacher, mom, maid).
5. Red Mills All Purpose Flour
I picked up Red Mills All Purpose Flour at my local HEB when I was adapting a cake recipe that used agave and wheat. I swapped out regular flour for this all purpose gluten-free flour. The cake had the same consistency as other homemade cakes. It's on my to-do list to experiment more with this alternative flour, but it was cheapest out of all the flours sold and offered more volume. That's a great deal for me.
6. CarbQuick
Carbquick showed up in my house because of my mother. I do a lot of research and she purchases items for us. The box itself has recipes on it, and I've tried the biscuits and pancakes. I always worry that my alternative meals will displease the masses, but the husband and kids eat them and it appears with great joy. The agave disappears from the cabinets because it gets used as a syrup, but it doesn't affect blood sugar (and something happens with one of my ADHD children and sugar, she gets highly emotional). I grew up with pancakes and it just doesn't seem fair to not have that growing up.
7. Gluten-Free Noodles
I can't express how much I love and adore my HEB. This company not only stocks groceries, but they produce them. Their products include organic and gluten free choices. I apologize if you aren't near an HEB, but I buy HEB gluten-free noodles. It's the one brand I can't mess up. Some brands don't cook well at my hands and they clump together and are just disgusting. With the HEB gluten-free noodles, I learn you stir often and when you drain them and rinse them, return them to the pot and add butter. I used the penne noodles for that Shrimp Alfredo yesterday, and the spaghetti noodles cameo in the house on a weekly basis (throw in some meatballs and kids act like it's Christmas...in fact, for the 6 year old's birthday, I made her a brunch of spaghetti and meatballs).
8. Ezekiel 4:9 Bread
Ezekiel 4:9 Bread is stored in the freezer section of supermarkets. I find it at HEB and in Corpus' Sprouts. At Sprouts, I can find Ezekiel tortillas and cereals. The premise of Ezekiel 4:9 bread is a Bible verse that describes bread that is made from a litany of things, but there is no wheat in it. I don't pick it up as often as I once did, but when I was first adapting to my new diet, this was a staple. I've been contemplating picking it up again because sometimes, it'd be nice to toast a few frozen slices and make myself a burger that isn't wrapped in lettuce. Maybe a ham and cheese with mayo. The cereals were okay, but they needed sweetener added either with fruit or Splenda. The tortillas were okay, too, but I just didn't eat them that often to make a trip to Corpus worth it. Corn tortillas are easy, which is more important to me. I teach all day then do several hours of homework with my kids. I need easy meals.
9. Rice
Rice is an easy side. Though I agree to my husband's use of boxed rice occasionally, I prefer white rice or wild rice because I control the sodium content. My girls like Spanish rice, which I can make from scratch thanks to a best friends' mom in high school, but I can coax them with butter, salt and pepper too. Plus, it rounds out some of those ethnic dishes I keep revamping with no soy and sugar.
10. Potatoes
If I eat potatoes every day, I'll gain weight. They are still a starch; however, my body does not have reactions to it. On occasion, I enjoy a baked potato with sour cream and butter. On the even rarer occasion, I'll imbibe on french fries. More often, a box of mashed potatoes is getting mixed on the stove. I do not add milk because I'll be in coma-city (and I'll be sitting straight up with no back support and I'm nodding off, I've tested it, I can't fight the carb coma if milk is added, so I never eat mashed potatoes at a restaurant because milk is a standard ingredient). I use butter, salt, pepper, and chicken broth if I have it. That happens for dinner fairly often. I've gotten better at keeping my portion in check and making a pot of gravy pleases the minions. If you haven't tried it, McCormick and Pioneer brands both make gluten-free gravy mixes and taco mixes. That Pioneer taco mix is my favorite!!
In conclusion, folks, eating wheat-free isn't that big of a challenge. I've given you 10 options! Make some tacos tonight and rice tomorrow with dinner and you're already doing it. It's easier than you think. Definitely check out George Stella (there are a few free recipes online) and Coconut Mama. for more recipes and ideas.
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