Baby Steps and mistakes

I have checked out every book in the library on Gluten free andI have  bought a few.I have done internet searches and still learning things . Armed with information should make this so easy. I can picture it, just walk into any grocery, pick up a package and wala I am on my way to health and happiness.

  Sure dream on. I am happy to report that there are tons of products out there that are gluten free. You can find Gluten Free labels on every isle. This something that should make life easier on us.

   I found out that some manufactures are making smaller servings and putting a gluten free label on it. Well guess what...by making the servings smaller  they are allowed by the government to list wheat free even with a certain amount of wheat included...the smaller the size the smaller the % of wheat and that gets them around the laws. So please do your homework.
  I picked up a can of tomato sauce and it said gluten free...small can...would take several to make a dinner. Picked up the larger can to save a few pennies and make life simpler, just happened to read the label and imagine my surprise to find wheat listed in the ingredients.
  I bought some Spaghetti Sauce to make some lasagna for dinner. I found the lasagna noodles (rice) and though...yeah some good Italian food. Went to the pasta sauce area of the store. Started checking out the sauces and reading the ingredients and noticed out of about 15 sauce companies 12 were labeled Gluten free. So I grabbed one and decided to grab an extra because some times while cooking I just need some extra to make enough. I got home and was looking at the jars and noticed the labels were close but not the same. One was sauce with meat and basil one was sausage and basil. They had different labels on the back...one was missing the line Gluten free. And yep it had wheat...so even lines of products may also have different ingredients and then you wonder, how are they processed, could there be cross contamination. 

The Journey begins

I have been a picky eater for most of my life. Not sure how I got away with it for so long. Once I was out on my own and was in control of what I ate...well lets just say that, for me that meant that I could eat what I wanted and when. For a while after getting married I really tried to eat better. When the kids came along I started them out getting well balanced meals. My husband and I divorced when the kids were small, ages 3 and 4 months. I spent a good bit of time feeding my kids what foods they would eat...knowing that there were phases and that as long as they were eating more or less healthy things would be ok. I became the mom in the neighborhood that made all kinds of great tasting things, cookies, cakes, pizza and brownies. All the kids knew that I would feed all of them. I started gaining weight and did not worry about it...it was a cocoon to wrap my feelings in. At 11 my daughter was anorexic and so I would encourage her to eat anything. My son was not picky and would eat anything...so between the two of them our lives revolved around pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, mac and cheese and quick easy kid friendly foods. Fast forward to current time. I weigh a lot...not as much as I did...and I am working on getting healthy and getting my weight down to where it should be. I am diabetic and am seeing improvement in my diabetes by getting my weight down. I currently have lost 50+ pounds from my heaviest. This is my journey to getting my life back. I recently read a book called Wheat Belly and it was a eye opener and made a lot of sense. So Gluten free here we come...this is the journey to change my whole family. I will try not to bore you too much...and will be happy to talk over the things I learn along the way. I will post recipes and where I got them and how they turn out. I will post pics the good the bad the ugly and we can have a few laughs along the way.