I get asked a lot of questions about being Gluten Free and why I eat that way. Being Gluten Free means you are not eating/drinking anything that contains wheat, malt, barley, rye or oats. You are not cutting carbs, you are just replacing the things like breads and cereals and noodles with things that are made with other grains and starches like potatoes, rice, quinoa ect. Now lets pause because this is my biggest question and pet peeve- it is not meant to be used as the latest weight loss diet! As I just mentioned you are still taking in carbs you are just substituting for different ones. In fact a serving of GF bread actually has more carbs then a serving of regular bread (see more GF bread info here).

Now why eat Gluten Free if it isn’t for weight loss? For some it is literally a fact of life or death. There is a serious disease called Celiac- which attacks the villa in your lower intestines and makes it so your body can not absorb the nutrients you need. You are literally starving yourself and 99% of those who have this disease do not even know it. There are over 300 symptoms which range from mal nutrition, to depression, to anemia, fatigue, and severe stomach pains. But you can also have something call Gluten Intolerance. This is just as bad as Celiac and should never be down played. Gluten Intolerance and Celiac have a lot of the same symptoms and if not taken care of can lead to other issues like Diabetes and thyroid issues among other things. You can find out more by going to this post. If you find this is something you may be dealing with please please please- go talk to your doctor and get tested for Celiac. Celiac is a genetic so if you have it, chances are others in your family have it and don’t know it!

Since going gluten free I have had fun trying to convert some of our favorite recipes into Gluten Free ones. But I have also experimented some. Today I wanted to share with you our new favorite bread. This is an Apple Cinnamon Bread that I tried out a few weeks ago and is a big hit! You can use regular flour but I listed what kind of flour I used.

• 1 1/2 cups of an all purpose flour (I used Gluten Free Pantry from Glutino)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup applesauce