If you’re seeing more and more gluten-free options on restaurant menus and grocery shelves these days, you may be wondering why gluten-free eating matters to so many people. Or maybe you’ve been disappointed by gluten-free products, and wonder if it’s worth the sacrifice.
In honor of National Nutrition Month®, Mightylicious wants to help people understand celiac disease and learn why a gluten-free diet is a smart choice for many.
What is gluten?
Gluten is a protein found in many grains including wheat, spelt, rye, and barley that becomes sticky when mixed with water. This stickiness helps the flour rise and gives adds a characteristically toothsome texture to baked goods.
What is celiac disease?
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten that affects about 2 million Americans. It damages the lining of the small intestine, causing digestive problems and preventing the body from absorbing nutrients. Long-term complications can be serious and may include malnutrition, anemia, and issues with the nervous system and reproductive system.
How do know if you have celiac disease?
If you suspect that gluten is causing discomfort, ask your doctor for a celiac disease screening. This typically starts with a blood test. If certain antibodies are present, a tissue biopsy can confirm any damage to your small intestine. The doctor may recommend a gluten-free diet and follow up after a few weeks. If your symptoms improve, they may confirm that you have celiac disease.
Who else may want to avoid gluten?
People with gluten sensitivity or food allergies may experience discomfort after eating foods that contain gluten. By avoiding gluten, they may find relief from a variety of digestive symptoms as well as congestion, breathing problems, and other difficulties.
What foods should people on a gluten-free diet eat?
A healthy gluten-free diet includes fresh fruit and veggies, nuts, eggs, legumes, and unprocessed meat, poultry, and fish. Most people, including those with celiac disease, can tolerate a variety of grains—buckwheat, corn, quinoa, soy, and rice, to name a few.
Since many processed foods contain “hidden” gluten, it’s important to read the labels. The main culprits are wheat, barley, rye, and oats, which are typically found in cereal, pasta, beer, snack food, and baked goods like bread and cookies.
Wait—you mean no cookies?
Don’t panic! Not long ago, gluten-free pastries couldn’t hold a candle to the real thing. Mightylicious founder Carolyn Haeler, an avowed foodie who was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2012, searched high and low for a cookie that could satisfy her craving. She learned that rice flour—the most frequently used flour in gluten-free cooking—just doesn’t work well for baking.
So she set out to create a gluten-free flour blend that looks, tastes, and behaves like wheat flour. The result has been a complete game-changer: enter Mightylicious, the amazing gluten-free cookie with an indulgently delicious taste and perfect texture, declared a “top pick” by FOOD & BEVERAGE Magazine 2023.
Hand-crafted from clean ingredients in small batches, the lineup includes 4 scrumptious vegan varieties—Chocolate Chip, Grandma Arline’s Oatmeal Coconut, Double Dutch, and Oatmeal Raisin—along with mouth-watering Peanut Butter, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip, and Brown Butter Shortbread flavors.
All Mightylicious cookies (6.4 oz bag, MSRP: $7.99) are certified gluten-free, Kof-K Kosher, preservative-free and non-GMO.
Find Mightylicious online and in retail outlets including Walmart (231 outlets nationwide), Whole Foods, Costco, King’s, Price Chopper, and more.
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