Gluten-free diet: weekly menu and shopping list

Today, a gluten-free diet is used for a variety of purposes. For some patients, it is prescribed by a doctor to prevent the development of complications in celiac disease, while others independently choose the discussed nutrition system in order to get rid of extra pounds. Interestingly, such a diet is often part of complex therapy for autism.

Goal of a gluten-free diet

The main goal of a gluten-free diet is to alleviate the condition of the patient with celiac disease. This dangerous disease of the digestive system cannot be completely cured by simply changing your own diet. But a special diet blocks all the main symptoms of the disease and allows the patient to quickly return to normal life.

avoiding bread on a gluten-free diet

The intestines, which cannot cope with gluten, are restored soon after a change in diet and return to full-fledged work. We can say that the disease "freezes". So that the patient is no longer bothered by the disease, a gluten-free diet should be observed for the rest of his life.

The specified nutritional system is also recommended for adults and children with congenital gluten intolerance. If you strictly adhere to it, you will be able to forget about all the unpleasant symptoms of allergies and avoid the appearance of dangerous consequences.

List of authorized and prohibited products

There is a whole list of foods that are strictly prohibited on a gluten-free diet. But everything else (not included) can be safely included in your daily diet without any special restrictions.

gluten-free and gluten-free diet

Prohibited foods and drinks which must be completely excluded from the menu:

  • all pasta and bakery products the composition of which contains gluten;
  • semolina, durum and sprouted wheat, oatmeal, barley, spelled, rye;
  • cookies, cakes, crackers;
  • canned vegetables and fruits;
  • alcohol (especially beer);
  • all instant cereals and soups (including bouillon cubes);
  • all bakery products;
  • fast food, semi-finished products (including ham, sausages, sausages);
  • crackers, crisps;
  • all types of mayonnaise;
  • buy yogurt;
  • crab sticks of all kinds;
  • modified starch;
  • ice cream;
  • chocolate, candy.

When purchasing ready-made products, a person following the specified diet should carefully study their composition for the presence of gluten.

It is only at first glance that it may seem that the list of bans has turned out to be too long.

gluten-free kitchen utensils and diet

In fact, there are many legal foods and drinks out there. Among them:

  • any gluten-free flour;
  • rice, buckwheat, corn, millet;
  • seafood, meats of various types, fish;
  • eggs (chicken and quail);
  • nuts, dried fruits, seeds;
  • legumes and soybeans;
  • cocoa, natural coffee, tea;
  • almost all fermented milk and milk products (only yoghurts from the first list should be excluded);
  • margarine, butter and vegetable oil;
  • gluten-free bread;
  • my dear;
  • all fresh vegetables, berries, herbs, fruits.

Gluten-free diet: menu of the week

You can quickly get used to this diet. To do this, you need to correctly compose your daily menu, trying to make it as satisfying and tasty as possible.

vegetables for a gluten-free diet

An example of a diet for a week with gluten-free foods is as follows:

  1. The first day will start with a large portion of rice porridge with milk and fresh berries. Top it off with a cup of coffee with a gluten-free bread and butter sandwich. For lunch, you can eat broccoli soup with grated cheese, chicken cooked in any way with potatoes and a vegetable salad. For dinner - wheat porridge with nuts, kefir.
  2. On the second day, breakfast will be cottage cheese with fruit and sugar, rice cakes with honey. Lunch - chicken soup, pilaf and vegetable salad. Dinner - baked potatoes with cream and salmon.
  3. The menu for the third day should include scrambled eggs with cheese and gluten-free bread for breakfast. For lunch - fish soup, chicken cutlet with rice, vegetable salad. For dinner - a casserole of cottage cheese with your favorite fruit.
  4. Breakfast on the fourth day will consist of a carrot salad with fried cheese slices and a handful of nuts. Lunch - vegetable soup, chicken bean stew. Dinner - pancakes with rice flour, fish sauce and fresh orange.
  5. The fifth day of the diet will include a hearty breakfast of honey pancakes (gluten-free flour), a lunch of chicken chops with boiled rice, and a dinner of baked fish with mushrooms and vegetables.
  6. Day 6 can start with cornflakes (gluten-free) soaked in milk, 2 hard-boiled eggs. For lunch you should eat borscht with meat, meatballs with mashed potatoes. And for dinner - buckwheat porridge with boiled chicken.
  7. Breakfast on the seventh day will include, for example, cheesecakes (with gluten-free flour) with a handful of dried fruits. For lunch, you can make cheese soup with fresh herbs and fish with boiled buckwheat. For dinner - baked chicken fillet with vegetable salad.

The published menu is indicative. It can be adjusted according to your own taste and the list of allowed foods. In many ways, the diet also depends on the purpose for which the discussed diet is chosen. If in order to lose weight, all products should be cooked, boiled, baked with a minimum amount of oil. It is also advisable to reduce the portions. As for drinks, you can complement your meals with coffee, tea, cocoa, compote, berry juice, fresh fruit juice and other permitted options.

Gluten-free diet menu for a child

If a gluten-free diet is prescribed for children, then in this case the menu should be drawn up according to the age of young patients. A baby and an older child can be offered various cereals with berries and fruits for breakfast - buckwheat, millet, rice. The main thing is to cook them yourself, and not to buy quick mixes.

For lunch, cheese, meat or fish soup is suitable. It can be supplemented with meat or chicken cooked in any way, garnished with potatoes and other favorite vegetables. Children especially like mashed soups. Croutons for such a treat can be prepared exclusively from gluten-free bread.

Dinner should consist of fermented milk drinks or vegetable salads with seafood. You can offer your child a serving of cottage cheese with fruit, a casserole or cheesecakes.

Gluten free diet for autistic children

Even doctors recognize the effectiveness of such a regimen as part of a comprehensive therapy for autism. A few decades ago, specialists managed to establish the relationship of the disease with dietary protein. A specific diet can block the existing disorder to some extent. This effect is due to a decrease in the amount of proteins and peptides.

For a healthy person, these substances are harmless, but in the body of an autistic patient they can cause processes that worsen mental disorders. Plus, a gluten-free diet helps normalize bowel and brain functions.

Healthy Recipes

Today there are many interesting recipes for gluten-free dishes. They will make it easy to tolerate a diet and even indulge in treats.

White bread

Ingredients: 210 g of boiled water, 3 tbsp. the. vegetable oil, 2 tbsp. fast yeast, 1 tsp. the. Apple cider vinegar, one whole egg and one protein, 280 g flour (gluten free), 2 tbsp. xanthic gum.

white bread for a gluten-free diet
  1. Yeast dissolves in warm water, after 10-12 minutes a whole egg, protein and oil are added to them.
  2. The remaining ingredients are placed in the bowl of the blender and begin to whisk slowly. Gradually, the mixture of the first stage is added to them. At the end, the speed of the device increases.
  3. The mass is placed in an oiled loaf pan. Leave warm for an hour then bake in a hot oven for 45 minutes.

Apple pie

Ingredients: 3 sweet and sour apples, lemon, 3 tablespoons of eggs, 160 g of sugar, a glass of low-fat kefir, 70 g of butter, 210 g of rice flour, 1 tbsp. baking powder.

apple pie for a gluten-free diet
  1. Apple slices without the skin are placed in a bowl, poured with lemon juice and a beaten mixture of eggs and sugar. The melted butter is sent in the same container.
  2. The dry ingredients are mixed and added to the dough. They are mixed with the ingredients of the first stage. The dough is transferred to an oiled mold.
  3. The pie is baked for 45-50 minutes.

How Does a Gluten Free Diet Help You Lose Weight?

The discussed diet, perhaps, can be used to get rid of extra pounds. Having given up on flour products, sweets, fast food and other enemies of an ideal figure, a person quickly begins to lose weight.

The best part is that it uses the licensed products with no special restrictions on portion size. Such a food system does not involve fasting, so the diet is quite easily tolerated.

What is the gluten-free diet for?

The recommended gluten-free diet program generally provides an overall healthier effect for the body. Metabolic processes return to normal, slags and toxins are removed. It is just to use a diet for the sole purpose of getting rid of extra pounds, and cleansing the body is allowed only after prior consultation with a specialist.

gluten free bread

With celiac disease, autism, gluten intolerance, the discussed diet is not only recommended, but an indispensable part of general therapy. Only with this way of eating can you achieve relief or complete disappearance of the symptoms of the listed ailments, as well as prevent the development of their dangerous consequences.

The pros and cons of weight loss diets

The positive result of the refusal of gluten is manifested by the fact that a person with individual intolerance to such a substance reduces the probability of an allergic reaction to zero. And a patient with celiac disease thus takes care of the normal functioning of his gastrointestinal tract, which is not able to perceive gluten. As a result, the total calorie content of the patient's diet also decreases, which helps to get rid of extra pounds without much effort.

If we are talking about the dangers of a gluten-free diet and products, it lies in the minimum amount of protein that the body receives with this diet. To maintain the normal state of muscle tissue, it is necessary to fill the deficiency of this element with authorized natural products.