Gluten-Free Diet

My doctor has told me I need to move to a gluten-free diet....yikes!!! All my life (and that is a very long time--ha ha) I have generally eaten whatever I wanted to eat. This change to a GF diet seems like such a huge mountain to climb. I know there are many others who have had to change to a GF diet after a lifetime of eating what they wanted with little or no restrictions. How does a person even get started on a change like this? What do you do when you go out to eat at a restaurant? What food can you eat on a GF diet? Does anyone know of a good reference book for this kind of diet? Anyone have any tested recipes that are good? Can anyone give me some encouragement that this is something I can do and survive through the change? Thanks for any guidance you can give me.

I appreciate your comment. I am not sensitive to gluten and for right now at least, the change over to a GF diet is something I "should" do not something I "have" to do. The doctor indicates that a GF diet will help me with some of the sympthoms (primarily pain and inflamation) I am experiencing from RA. I have seen some articles that support the idea that what we eat can and does have an impact on inflamation and I think it would be hard to argue with the whole idea that what we eat does impact the way we feel. I don't doubt there are many people who have successfully transitioned to a GF diet but it seems like a very difficult transition to me, being someone who is trying to make that big of a change later in life. I am beginning to gather some reading resources and we'll see how it goes.

[Barb135]

What's the reason for going on a gluten free diet?  Are you sensitive to it?  

There are many people who transitioned to a g/f diet; there are a lot of g/f foods in the grocery stores now and you can make your own breads, etc, using a variety of flours.  

There are a lot of good books regarding living gluten free.  You might check out your local book store and find the one that suits you best.  I'm sure it wouldn't be easy, but it is doable.