Gluten And Dairy Free Meal Plan Ideas

Did you know that the biggest food allergies are gluten and lactose? According to studies, those who experience difficulty in digesting gluten face challenges in digesting lactose too.

If you suffer from both dairy food and gluten sensitivities, planning meals can be a challenge. But it is possible to work around these and create delicious and nutritious meals.

You can continue eating well-balanced meals that are rich in essential nutrients that your body needs to function optimally. Feel free to add vegetables, legumes, fruits, and lean proteins to prepare mouthwatering dishes.

Why is a gluten and dairy free meal plan beneficial for you?

A gluten and dairy free diet offers many benefits. You can avoid having highly processed foods because these are usually the ones containing dairy and gluten. Dairy foods have inflammatory properties which can cause acne, insulin resistance, and cancers. Foods having gluten are high in the Glycemic Index that spikes blood sugar levels.

If you can eliminate dairy foods and gluten, you automatically make way for more seeds, veggies, fruits, and nuts in your meals. These are all rich sources of antioxidants that can fight oxidative stress and inflammation in our body.

Know what a typical dairy and gluten-free meal plan looks like:

Foods to avoid: The first thing you must do is make a mental note of foods to avoid. These include yogurt, cheese, milk, ice-cream, cookies, bread, cakes, and grains except for rice, millet and quinoa.

Breakfast: For breakfast, you can choose from many options like chia pudding, strawberry smoothie without bananas, green smoothies, or even almond flour pancakes, etc. Cashew and orange oatmeal can be easy-to-cook with rolled oats, water, cashews, whole chia seeds, shredded coconut and real maple syrup. Alternately, you can choose to whip up cinnamon apple waffles with rolled oats, flax eggs, unsweetened almond milk, bananas, water, cinnamon, and apple. 

Smoothie: Green smoothie is a perfect addition to a dairy-free morning breakfast. To make this, you simply need to blend plant-based protein powder, spinach, ripe banana, ground flax seeds, water, and ice.

Snacks: For daytime snacks, you can choose to binge on carrots and hummus made with chickpeas. Dip baby carrots or celery into the hummus to satisfy your midday cravings.

Lunch: Lunch can be nutritious and wholesome if you choose to eat avocado toast with black bean veggies soup. Remember to choose gluten-free bread and use only a bit of salt and red chili flakes.

Crispy chickpeas and kale Caesar salad make for a tasty gluten-free lunch. For this, you must add coconut oil, chickpeas, and sea salt on a baking sheet for 25 minutes. Chop the kale for making the salad and add lemon juice to it. Blend roasted garlic, olive oil, Tahini, with sea salt in a blender and pour the salad dressing above kale for tossing together.

Dinner: Dinner can be made interesting with sweet potato lentils made into a vegetarian shepherd’s pie and salad. You need sweet potatoes, coconut milk, onions and carrots, coconut oil, celery, vegetable stock, cloves, rosemary, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. 

Other ideas: Alternatively, you can prepare a healthy bowl with dry quinoa, canned chickpeas, Brussels sprouts, carrots, coconut oil, avocado, and sunflower seeds. To make a salad to go with it, use organic olive oil, lemon juice, roasted garlic cloves, Tahini, sea salt, etc. You can blend ingredients to prepare the creamy salad dressing and top the quinoa with veggies and chickpeas mix, sunflower seeds, sliced avocado, and salad dressing. 

Besides these finger-licking dishes, there are plenty of other nutritious and tasty recipes for those keen to stay off dairy foods and gluten.