Gluten-free thoughts....

Over the past several weeks I have been researching, asking questions and trying to do a gluten-free diet.

Why am I doing this?

Good Question...haha... :) Well...for a couple of reason.
1.) I feel that in order to be a more effective feeding therapist that I need to fully understand what it means and what my clients experience when they are asked to be on a gluten-free diet. I want to experience first hand what it means to eat the gluten-free food, to prepare it and to buy it. I want to be able to give my clients some good recipes that I personally like...I want to be able to give them authentic first hand advice on where to shop, whats good & whats not...etc...
2.) I am a nerd, and I wanted to know the research behind what a gluten-intolerhance looks like, so that I can make a proper and knowledgeable referral to a pediatrictian....
3.) I wanted to know and research links between gluten and autism...I wanted to know if there was a correlation between the two.

What I have I learned so far?
Well...I have learned that there are some AWESOME gluten-free chips... they are made with brown rice and they come in all different flavors..they are very yummy...and if you buy them at Meijer they are relatively the same price as other chips..(double plus)! I have also learned the I enjoy "SunButter" a gluten-free alternative to peanut butter...and I also like "gluten-free" Ranch dressing...actually I like it so much that I probably will always buy that instead of the gluten-filled ranch...Its actually made with yogurt instead of mayo...the make is "Bolthouse". I got that little tidbit from my colleague at work. I also got all the books and questions answered from her as well. She is wonderful and so helpful!

I have also learned a lot of interesting things about autism and the gluten-free diet...which I will share on a later post :) I have a feeling I will ramble on about that one...I tend to like talking about research and answering the "Why?" behind questions...and it seems that everyday there are more "why?" questions about autism...although I do think that we are making progress with being able to answer more of those questions.