The Gluten Band Wagon

Recently, I came upon an article in Women's Health entitled Is Gluten Bad for your Body? This further proves how far along gluten-free diets have come out of the mist and into our daily lives. Chelsea Clinton's wedding included an entirely gluten-free cake while many celebrities (as mentioned in my previous blog) has hopped onto the Gluten-Free band wagon.

What was nice about the article is that it politely informed people that going genuinely gluten-free is not as easy said than done. Not only do people have to cut many foods with thickening ingredients (soy sauce, dressings, seasonings) but they also have to deal with the nutritional deficiencies that come with being gluten-free. The article states Gluten-free doesn't necessarily equal healthy, especially when people yank vitamin-enriched and whole-grain foods from their diets and replace them with gluten-free brownies...research suggests that those who forgo gluten may be more likely to miss out on important nutrients such as iron, B vitamins, and fiber.

With this in mind, the true health benefits that lie within the gluten-free diet include not eating as much processed food. Especially when one (such as my room mate) is allergic to gluten, most people stay on the safe side by not eating foods that have long lists of ingredients. For those of us who aren't allergic to gluten but would rather take advantage of the benefits that gluten-free eating comes with, we should focus on increasing our vegetable, lean protein, and fruit intake rather than finding yummy substitutes for regular cookies.

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That being said, if anyone was wondering what to do with bad/bruised/mealy apples that didn't involve 2 cups of sugar and a side of whipped cream, I learned how to make homemade applesauce. This is great because as I came to find, little to no sugar is really needed--the apples are naturally sweet.

Just peel, core and cube your apples and put them in a pot, covered with water (as if you were making mashed potatoes).

Boil for around 10 minutes, dependent on how many apples you have.

Mash with a fork.

If you're uncertain about water, always add less than more--otherwise your applesauce will be watery.

I like to add tons of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg to my applesauce.

I think I added only a tablespoon of sugar and this yielded 5 servings of delicious (and warm!) applesauce.