Kind Choices and Finding the Balance

This week I got to spend a lovely morning with a local gluten-free mum and her daughter chatting kind choices and the gluten impact. Here is her take on finding the balance, you can read more of her adventures over at wakemummymake.wordpress.com

“It was only a matter of time before a friend of mine who works for Prewett’s Gluten Free Biscuit company and I colluded. After a good few oohs and ahhhs, and some scrutiny of the pleasing packaging, we got going on one of my favourite subjects. Gluten.

Really?! Well, nearly. It’s not far behind chatting through the H&M catalogue and speculating on Channel 4’s The Good Wife.

I’m not committed to any specific way of eating, but instead have determined that as a family, we will make kind choices about as much of our food as possible. When I took up marathon training, I upped my carb intake to cope with the mileage, but the piles of pasta left me with bloating and itchy skin, and since then I’ve been a bit sensitive to gluten.

I got to digging into the differences between heirloom and modern wheat, and it became quickly apparent that the current crops of hybridised dwarf-wheat, and subsequently heaving shelves of refined flour based products just ‘aint natures way. We don’t seem to be designed to deal with the additional, adjusted amounts of gluten proteins that we are now presented with.

It seems kindest to ourselves then, to steer clear of the sticky stuff. And I’m definitely the better and more balanced for it.

Balance is my buzz word, and while I’d rather eat healthier, naturally gluten free alternatives than stock up on the supermarket ranges, biscuits are an exception. Surely everyone has a sweet spot sometimes? (I’ve got Anna from Frozen singing in my head… I wanna stuff some chocolate in my faaaaaaaccccee!) And when it does come calling, I’d rather have a treat on hand that won’t go against my grain, so to speak.

Enter my friend and a box of Prewett’s Gluten Free biscuits to work our way through. Well, someone’s got to right?! The littlest lady in residence got into the oaty box straight away, while I went for some fantastically layered Chocolate Bourbons.

With a pleasingly round take on the classic, it’s got posh poured all over it, thanks to the thick, velvety chocolate covering. Once bitten, it packs a good crunch with a tell-tale trail of crumbs, and the creamy filling has a satisfying spread to finish with.

The Chocolate Digestive biscuits are a great gluten free alternative too. The round wavy biscuits actually stay together a lot better than the originals, so the smoothness of the chocolate becomes a stronger part of the over-all taste. I’d happily keep these in the cupboard (or at least try too) for anyone, gluten-free or not, and would much rather swap them in for the usual run-of-the-flour-mill kids biscuits.

Every so often, a bourbon or two is truly being kind to yourself.”