I want to make sure I begin this by saying I don’t believe gluten/dairy-free, etc. is necessarily healthier if you do not have a sensitivity to them. I do firmly believe that avoiding processed food and eating food closest to it’s most natural source is what is best for the body, but I do not recommend special diets (gf, df, etc.) unless your body really does best when you avoid these foods. You know your body best. Further more, none of this is for the purpose of weight-loss. You will never hear me giving tips for weight-loss, etc. We just believe in loving yourself and your body and treating it well with exercise and healthy eating, having balance and not panicking and loving wherever that leaves you.
Gluten free
- You don’t necessarily need to search for specific gluten free recipes, you can make almost any recipe gluten free! Tips are below and as always, feel free to reach out with any questions. First off, for the most part, the only recipes the below tips do not apply to are: pastries, yeast breads, and cinnamon rolls
- Breads (not yeast ones), muffins, cookies, brownies, most cakes, some pie crusts
- sub a 1:1 gluten free flour blend for the flour. I prefer this brand. I do wish the ingredients were “cleaner”, but it’s the best option I’ve found.
- While I typically prefer to use Almond flour in my cooking because I feel like its just so nutrient dense and “clean”, but if you are missing your traditional foods, a 1:1 flour sub is the perfect sub and is not a bad option!
- For pie crust, it just may fall apart more, so it may require more squishing together on your part.
- Soups, frying, any time you are supposed to thicken
- Arrowroot flour subbed 1:1 for flour
- Soy Sauce
- I prefer to sub 1:1 with coconut aminos because my body doesn’t do great with soy, but you can use a gluten-free soy sauce or tamari (I have not personally used tamari, but will try and report back on if it’s a 1:1)
- Pasta
- There are a lot of gf pasta options out there, but I really encourage you not to just grab the cheapest one. These are typically full of additives, corn, soy, etc. and are bad for you along with tasting horrible. On my “By Product” Page, I list the pastas I recommend, but I’ll list them here as well. I love Jovial, Tinkyada, and Trader Joe’s brown rice pasta
Dairy-Free
- Butter
- Coconut oil can be subbed for butter 1:1 in most recipes and is my sub of choice for those without a sensitivity to coconut. Use just as you would butter i.e. if a recipe calls for softened butter, just use the coconut oil straight out of the jar. If it calls for melted, melt the coconut oil
- Ghee is another great sub for butter, here is an article explaining what it is and here is one explaining who it can work for
- Milk
- Any dairy-free milk can be a 1:1 swap. Just make sure you buy a brand with no additives (only things you would find in your kitchen). My page, “By Product” lists some brands I recommend, but the only I can whole-heartedly recommend is Malk or making your own. Almond Cow has a machine for this that saves money and packaging in the long run if you plan on using a lot of dairy-free milk
- Yogurt
- I like Coyo
- You can also make your own (post on that soon!)
Coconut sensitivity
- Coconut Milk
- Sub any milk (even dairy-free) for coconut milk.
- Coconut Oil
- Sub avocado oil any time melted coconut oil is called for
“Cleaner Swaps”
- Brown Sugar
- Maple syrup can be subbed for brown sugar in many recipes but it takes some adjusting
- Sugar
- Honey can be subbed for sugar in many instances, but the ratio does take some playing around with ratios
- Shortening
- Coconut oil or butter is a great sub for shortening
- We try to not buy any processed food (items with ingredients not found in your kitchen). What we do is make snacks in bulk, freeze most and that way we always have healthy, homemade snacks on hand!
Reach out with questions or subs you’d like to know more about! I will update this list as time goes on!