Wyche Jason - 100 best quick gluten-free recipes

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Its a common late-afternoon or evening refrain: Whats for dinner? Consumer research says that its the most stressful time of the day for families who want healthy meals but have little time. Gluten-free? That just makes it more complicated, because gluten-free families often prepare most of their meals rather than dining out to avoid inadvertently eating gluten.

However, having followed the gluten-free lifestyle for more than 25 years now, I feel well qualified to say that if there ever was a time to be gluten-freeand not have the quest for safe food dominate our livesit is now. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2013 identified the guidelines for gluten-free food labeling. And there is rapidly expanding acknowledgment by food manufacturers and food market owners of the growing need for gluten-free foods. In fact, the market for gluten-free foods is expected to reach $6.6 billion by 2017. Gluten-free is big business! This book will help you take advantage of this progress to quickly get meals on the table.

From a bakers perspective, gluten is a component of wheat flour that provides wonderful elasticity in bread dough but can toughen piecrusts and biscuits if the dough is handled too much.

Scientifically, gluten is a naturally occurring protein in wheat and related grains such as barley, rye, kamut, spelt, and triticale. It wasnt long ago that oats were also on this list. Oats do not inherently contain gluten, but they were previously banished from the gluten-free diet because of possible contamination with wheat in the field or during processing. Today, several companies offer pure, uncontaminated gluten-free oats, but check with your physician first to make sure theyre right for you.

Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disorder that affects the digestive process of the small intestine. When gluten is eaten, the hair-like cilia that line the small intestine and absorb nutrients from food become inflamed and eventually flatten, thus inhibiting the absorption of important nutrients into the body.

Dr. Alessio Fasano, medical director of the Center for Celiac Research, says that approximately 1 in 133 Americansten times more than originally thoughthas celiac disease, and he calls it the most prevalent genetically transmitted condition in the world. This means that nearly three million Americans are living with this condition.

Unlike many other diseases, there is no pill, no vaccine, and no surgical procedure to cure celiac disease. The only treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet. If gluten is ingested, the intestines are damaged even if one doesnt exhibit the typical symptoms of diarrhea, bloating, gas, or fatigue. In fact, experts say that roughly one-third to one-half of celiac patients do not exhibit these typical symptoms.

Celiac disease must be managed with the help of a gastroenterologist, who performs a series of testspossibly including a small-bowel endoscopy while the patient is sedatedbefore a final diagnosis is made. For more information on celiac disease, see .

Dr. Fasano coined the term non-celiac gluten-sensitivity as a label for those of us (6 to 7 percent, or between 18 and 21 million Americans) who dont have celiac disease but are still sickened by gluten. I am in this category. My response to gluten was brain fog, fatigue, and nasal congestion and stuffinessoften resulting in sinus infections that lasted for up to a year at a time. Then the antibiotics required to treat them were another blow to my system, and sinus surgery to correct all the damage from the infections was yet another setback. Other people have stomachaches, headaches, rashes, joint achesto name just a few symptoms. Consuming gluten may not kill those of us with gluten sensitivity (or gluten intolerance, as its also called), but it certainly compromises the quality of our lives.