On this episode of LIVEKINDLY With Me, Desiree Nielsen, R.D. answers all the most pressing questions about eating a gluten-free vegan diet. She also whips up three, delicious-looking gluten-free and vegan recipes to take you from breakfast to dinner.
Although eating gluten-free may seem restrictive, Nielsen says going vegan on a gluten-free diet isn’t as difficult as one might think. This is because plant-based foods, such as fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and legumes, are already naturally gluten-free.
But, what exactly is gluten anyway? “Gluten is a protein that is naturally occurring in wheat, barley, and rye and all of the grains and products associated with them,” Nielsen explains. So gluten can be found in everything from sandwich bread to packaged and processed products like trail mix.
And whether you adopt a gluten-free, vegan diet for health reasons or by choice, you still have a number of delicious foods to choose from. Here’s what to make for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes, From Breakfast to Dinner
No, you’re not going to starve on a gluten-free, vegan diet. There are *plenty* of plant-based foods to choose from that don’t contain gluten. Here’s what Nielsen likes to eat in a day.
Breakfast
“We should probably talk about oats because there’s a little bit of confusion around gluten and oats,” she explains. “Oats don’t inherently contain gluten,” she adds. “However, in our current food supply, they’re cross contaminated with gluten.” This doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on this tasty breakfast staple. Just be sure to shop for gluten-free certified pure oats.
For those newly diagnosed with celiac disease—an autoimmune disease that’s triggered by the presence of gluten in the gut—Nielsen says it’s not typically recommended to introduce gluten-free oats into your diet until healing has begun. “So usually 6 to 12 months after your celiac diagnosis and your antibodies have come down,” she explains.
Ready for breakfast? Here’s how Nielsen makes a delicious-looking strawberry chocolate overnight oat.
Lunch
Cruncy. Tangy. Refreshing. This soba noodle salad is bursting with flavor.
“Soba noodles are a traditional buckwheat noodle from Japan,” Nielsen says. Although buckwheat sounds like wheat, it’s botanically a seed that’s not related to wheat, making it gluten-free.
“However, most conventional soba noodles actually add a bit of wheat flour so soba is not gluten-free food on its own,” she continues. She recommends shopping for 100% pure buckwheat soba noodles labeled as gluten-free.
Dinner
For dinner, Nielsen shares one of her family’s favorite recipes: creamy chickpea coconut curry. “It’s great because it comes together really quickly on a weeknight and it contains ingredients you probably already have in your pantry,” Nielsen says. These include coconut milk, canned chickpeas, and broccoli. Here’s how to make it.
