A few people have asked me recently for some advice on how to cut out diary, gluten or both. Cutting these out can be beneficial for a host of reasons and I think are worth everyone cutting out for at least a couple of weeks a year.
However it can be tough both mentally and practically. You need to be armed with a shopping list, some good recipes and to know what substitutes you can have for your favourite foods to keep on the straight and narrow.
Gluten free shopping list:
Bread - waitrose gluten free is the nicest in my opinion but all major supermarkets now stock a full range of breads, keep a sliced loaf in the freezer for toast cravings
Pasta - my favourites are Asda's own brand or Salute which is available in waitrose
Treats - most supermarkets also stock a range of gluten-free treats - scones, brownies, biscuits etc. These are all sugar laden like their normal counterparts, but are good to have on standby for when you have serious cravings
Gluten-free recipes:
Asian recipes are gluten free 9 times out of 10 so get a wok and start stir frying. Here are a couple of my favourites:
Jamie oliver's Salmon stir fry
Delia's Chinese prawn stir fries
See my recipe page for my other favourites - they're all dairy and gluten-free:
For puddings I revert to Elana's pantry for recipes for fruit crumbles, brownies and other goodies:
http://www.elanaspantry.com/
Dairy free shopping list:
Milk: this can take some experimentation to find your favourite. Sweetened soya milk or rice milk can be the more palatable and are a good place to start. I vary between unsweetened soya, rice milk and Kara coconut milk.
Dairy-free spread - switch your butter or margarine for a pure sunflower spread - check the label, I use 'Pure' brand or Tescos own 'free from' sunflower spread
Treats: Booja booja ice cream is my ultimate dairy-free indulgences but fruit sorbets are also a good freezer option. Dairy milk is a no no but alot of dark chocolate is dairy free, Lindt is my favourite and I keep a bar of their 80% dark chocolate in my cupboard at all times.
Yoghurt: If you're a a natural yoghurt fan but going dairy free I'm afraid there isn't anything that tastes anywhere near as good as some organic bio yoghurt. Sojade is the closest thing and sugar free, otherwise you can get some Alpro Yofu which is pretty palatable but sweetened.
Cheese: There also isn't anything anywhere need cheese I'm afraid. You can get soya cheeses but they don't taste like cheese and are highly processed so I tend to skip them.
Dairy-free pesto: Meridian pesto is a store cupboard staple for me - adding lovely pesto basil flavour to freshly cooked gluten-free pasta, without the dairy hangover.
Dairy-free recipes
Again for recipes the best ones are the ones that are just naturally dairy free - don't try and make a diary free cheesecake or lasagna it will only end in disappointment!
Daily bites is a great blog to sign up to for gluten and dairy free recipes:
http://www.dailybitesblog.com/
Vegan recipes are also of course naturally dairy free as are the ones on my page:
http://thekindlife.com/recipes
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