The Gluten-Free Habits That Made My Life 10 Times Easier

When I first went gluten-free, everything felt overwhelming. Reading every label, worrying about cross-contact, trying to figure out what was safe… it was a lot. But over the years, I’ve built small habits that have made my gluten-free life so much easier. 

In today’s episode, I’m sharing those habits — the simple things I do almost without thinking now, but that completely changed my confidence, my routines, and my sanity. Stick around to the end, because I’ll share the one habit I wish I had started way sooner.

Mentioned Resources:

Find Me Gluten Free: https://www.findmeglutenfree.com/premium?coupon=TGFE 

Simple Mills Soft Baked Dark Chocolate Almond Flour Bars: https://amzn.to/4j1UqKz 

 This episode is brought to you by Find Me Gluten Free—your go-to app for discovering safe, gluten-free dining options wherever you go!
Get your exclusive discount for our listeners at theglutenfreeengineer.com/findmeglutenfree
Because dinning out gluten-free shouldn’t be a guessing game! 

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Mission
• 0:37 Origins And Engineering Approach
• 1:15 Habit 1: Pre-Check Restaurant Menus
• 2:25 Habit 2: Keep Safe Snacks Handy
• 3:29 Habit 3: Memorize Easy Meals
• 5:09 Habit 4: Double-Check Ingredients
• 5:24 Habit 5: Bring A Safe Dish
• 6:00 Habit 6: Separate Tools In Blended Kitchens
• 7:04 Habit 7: Listen To Your Body
• 7:11 Newsletter Invite
• 7:22 Bonus Habit: Track Safe Restaurants
• 7:45 Thanks, Resources, And Subscribe

Transcript

Carrie Saunders: 0:00

Quick reminder before we get started on this episode. This podcast is based on my personal experiences and isn't medical advice. When I first went gluten-free, everything felt overwhelming. Reading every label, worrying about cross contact, trying to figure out what was safe. It was a lot. But over the years, I've built small habits that have made gluten-free life so much easier. In today's episode, I'm sharing those habits, the simple things I do almost without thinking now, but that completely changed my confidence, my routines, and my sanity. And stick around to the end because I'll share the one habit I wish I had started way sooner. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Gluten Free Engineer Podcast. I'm your host, Carrie Saunders. In 2011, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, a moment that changed everything. But I was determined not to let it hold me back. With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer the gluten-free lifestyle, breaking down recipes, safety tips, travel hacks, and everything in between to rebuild a life I love. Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or simply choose to live gluten-free, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we simplify the gluten-free lifestyle, make it fun, and prove that you don't have to miss out on anything. Welcome back to the show. Today we're talking about the gluten-free habits that made my life 10 times easier. And the first habit is always checking menus before going out to eat. This can really greatly reduce stress and surprises. I also love to use apps like Find Me Gluten Free, which you can find in our show notes, that can really help you determine whether a restaurant is going to be safe or not. You can also try to get kind of a feel from it based upon whether they mark things clearly on the menu as well. And then you want to know what questions to ask before you walk in. If you're celiac, you know, you want to probably use the words gluten allergy or celiac, depending upon how savvy they are. If you're, you know, sensitive, then you're just going to want to talk about you know gluten in general. And it helps you keep your confidence instead of being anxious. When you prepared yourself, looked at the menu, called ahead, even if you feel like you need to. Look to reviews online to see whether people feel safe there. And if the online menu looks sketchy, definitely call ahead or switch restaurants, is what I have found. It just, you know, makes things so much easier when you feel confident that you can eat the food there. And then number two is keeping safe snacks on hand. This is something I do. I keep a safe snack in my purse, and or you can do it in the car if you're not if it's not going to melt, or your laptop, or any sort of bag. It's just a great thing to do is to keep a safe snack on hand in case you get stuck somewhere and you're really hungry. And it can really prevent that panic hunger when you can't find options that you can eat. And it really protects you from making risky decisions that are going to make you feel sick if you eat something that's you know it's not going to go well with your body. So I always bring a simple mills granola bar, sometimes as simple as a fruit strip in my purse. Those are nice and small and they don't take up a whole lot of space. You can also bring, if you have the ability for refrigeration, string cheese, you can bring safe chips, you can bring just fruit, you know, bring an apple. Uh, you can bring gluten-free bars like I do, or even leftovers if you are, you know, going somewhere and you want to bring a snack in case you get hungry. And then the next habit is knowing your easy meals by heart. You will always have two to three reliable meals you can make fast. So determine what those are. What are your favorite two or three meals that are really easy to make and you can make them quickly? That can really help you on low energy days or last-minute dinners when something unexpected has come up. So really think about those favorite meals that you have that are also safe, that are really quick. I have several that I can do that take like 20 to 30 minutes to make, or even what I did the other day was I cooked some chicken on the uh stovetop in a castor and skillet and made some, you know, nice grilled-ish on the castor and skillet chicken, cut it up, you know, and then put it in a freezer. That way I can pull out that pre-cooked chicken anytime I want to and make a quesadilla with it, make you know, like a taco with it. I can put it on a salad. It's it's a really quick, easy protein. All I have to do is warm it up. I've already cooked it, and it's not store-bought, which, you know, sometimes the store-bought things are fine, but I find the store-bought precooked grilled chicken can be very salty, and sometimes they have extra ingredients I just really don't want in my body. So that's a great quick tip to have something really easy on hand to be able to make quickly. And then another thing is you want to make sure you get in the habit of double-checking ingredients even on trusted brands, because formulas can change without warning, and manufacturers switch facilities or suppliers sometimes, and this can save you from accidental gluten exposure. So if it's not a brand that is always dedicated gluten-free, I highly recommend that you do this or certified gluten-free if you're celiac. I highly recommend you're always double-checking the ingredients, especially those that serve both, you know, glutenful ingredients and gluten-free ingredients. And then the next tip is bring a dish to social events without apologizing. This gives you something safe to eat. You can just express it in the way that you want to share some of your food like everybody else's. It helps you feel included instead of isolated too. And it removes the pressure of relying on others' understanding of your food and needs. So, this is something I always do is make sure I bring a safe dish to social events. It's just natural. It just feels so much better doing that. Now, the next habit depends upon whether you have a gluten-free house or not. If you do not have a gluten-free house, then I recommend you keeping your own set of kitchen safe tools. So you want to have a separate toaster, you want to have color-coded cutting boards because gluten can hide in cutting boards. You want to have a dedicated butter, dedicated peanut butter or condiments. All these little small things help prevent major cross-contamination and exposure. So if you have a blended kitchen with both gluten and gluten-free items, I recommend you have these things separate. It's a really good idea too to even just have a cabinet in the kitchen that is your cabinet for your supplies and your foods, and maybe even a shelf in the refrigerator that's just for your stuff. And then the next habit is listening to your body instead of diet cultural rules. So there's no more pushing through brain fog, bloating, or fatigue. This is your body, and if you need to eat gluten-free, then you should eat gluten-free and not worry about what others think. So stop guessing and start noticing the patterns when you get sick. And this habit can really accelerate healing and make you feel much better so much faster. And if you love tips like this, you're going to want to be on our newsletter. Head on over to theglutenfreengineer.com and click on the link at the top to join our newsletter. And then that bonus tip I wanted to give you is the habit that I wish I had started way sooner. And that was keeping a tiny notebook or notes app of the list of the restaurants that were safe and the ones that weren't. It would have saved me so much stress, so much time. So start tracking your experiences now and it will become your personal gluten-free guidebook. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Gluten Free Engineer. If you found value in this story, please share it with someone who might need encouragement on their own gluten-free journey. For more tips, recipes, resources, and even links to my YouTube channel, head on over to theglutenfreeengineer.com. It's your one-stop hub to make gluten-free living simple, fun, and full of flavor. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss out on an episode. And we will see you next week. The Gluten Free Engineer Podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living with celiac disease and navigating a gluten free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide medical advice. Always consult with a qualified health care professional for medical questions, concerns, or advice specific to your health.