When first going gluten free, or if you’re not gluten free but you want to bake gluten free items, the amount of flour varieties can be quite overwhelming. If you search online, you’ll find all sorts all-purpose mix recipes combining some sort of rice flour, a couple of starches, and sometimes sorghum too. The more daring ones will sometimes have chickpea flour, which to me seems weird. Oh and let’s not forget the gums. Let’s face it though. Even an all-purpose mix can be limiting.

When I first discovered my gluten intolerance, about two years ago, I lived in an apartment with no oven. I did manage to bake some cupcakes in my toaster oven, 6 at a time. It’s important to keep in mind that your gluten free batters should be less runny than their gluten-containing equivalents. Have I ever mentioned that my first two batches of cupcakes came out like pudding?

In this post, I’ll talk about the different kinds of flour I like to use. Some are more important than others. Some I only use for bread, and I realise that not everyone has the patience to make bread.

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Rice Flour – Your basic gluten free flour. To be used in combination with other flours/starches, unless you just need a tablespoon or two to thicken a sauce. This is pretty much a must have in your pantry. I find that it has the most neutral taste out of all the gluten free flours. White rice flour isn’t very different from brown rice in flavour, but the nutrients have been stripped, so I would recommend avoiding it if you can. Look up all purpose gluten free flour mixes to know in which proportions to use for your typical stuff.

Sorghum Flour – Comparable to brown rice flour in taste, though I would say it’s a tad stronger. Its texture is usually a bit grainier, and it’s a bit of a heavier flour than brown rice flour. When in a pinch, unless you’re making something very delicate, you can often use sorghum flour instead of brown rice flour. I like it in breads.

Potato Starch and Tapioca Starch – These starches are usually used in all-purpose flour mixes. They help lighten the mix. Use a combination of the two for best results.  You may want to tread lightly when using one of these starches in a recipe that calls for cornstarch because the texture may be off a little.

Okay, I’m aware I’m starting to publish an awful lot of posts that don’t relate directly to food. I’m a fan of anything healthy, even if it’s not nutrition related. In my defense, all the alternatives to cosmetic chemicals I’ve been using have been made from food items. You can read about how I gave up shampoo and the flaxseed hair gel I make.

I read quite a bit about using castor oil as an alternative to harsh facial cleansers. I’ve had acne since I was ten years old and I feel like I’ve tried everything since. I even tried taking Accutane for a month, but stopped when it started causing me health problems. My organs have never quite forgiven me, even though it was just about three years ago. My night vision is also permanently affected. If you’re considering Accutane, I would advise against it.

I’ve tried a variety of facial cleansers, each one more expensive than the last. The trouble with these is that they’re loaded with harsh chemicals that dry out your skin. Dead skin cells accumulate and clog your pores, causing pimples. The right way to help acne is to moisturise your skin while cleaning it. This is where castor oil comes in (with a bit of help from olive oil).

The recommended proportions for acne-prone skin are 3:1 castor oil to olive oil. If you don’t have acne prone skin, I suggest doing a bit of research online to figure out the proper proportions for your skin type.

To do this skin cleansing routine, if you have anything longer than buzz-cut length hair, use a head band or a hair tye. Trust me. Castor oil is thick. It will get in your hair and not come out without a shower. I pour a pretty small amount of the mixture in the palm of my hand, rub my hands together, and start massaging it into my skin using circular motions. I then turn on the hot water (as hot as it will go), wet a facial towel, then press it flat to my skin for a few seconds to “steam” it. I then gently rub the oil off, repeat the steaming process, and rub the remainder off.

I think the bottle of castor oil I bought cost about $10. I expect it will last me at the very least one year, and that’s just being conservative. Trust me, a little goes a long way. I found it with the avocado oil and other similar oils in the beauty section of my health food store.

Little bonus: if you’re doing the baking soda thing instead of shampoo, rub a bit of castor oil on your scalp once a week about 10-15 minutes before showering to reduce itchy scalp and generally improve the health of your hair.

Back when I thought I may have Celiac Disease, I spent hours on the internet doing research about anything and everything which remotely touched on CD. I looked up sources of gluten and was horrified to find out that everyday products like shampoo and lipstick can often contain gluten. Once I found out I didn’t have CD, finding alternatives to cosmetics didn’t seem like such a priority anymore.

Since I’ve been seeing a naturopath, my health has been a lot better. I figured that, since I’m feeling better, I could now work on improving other aspects of my health. I’ve been working on removing all the “crap” from my diet for the last year, and I recently decided to go one step further than my diet. I am now eliminating, one by one, all the products that contain all kinds of harsh chemicals and carcinogens. Step 1: Shampoo/conditioner.

Before you go getting all grossed out, let me mention that I use a natural alternative to shampoo. You may have heard of the “No-poo” movement. There are different ways of going about it. I chose what appears to be the most common method according to my very good friend, Internet (we go way back). My new shampoo consists of baking soda (make sure it’s aluminum free) and water. Different people use different proportions. I’m working on reducing the amount of baking soda required. I’ve read of anywhere between 1:4 and 1:16 of baking soda to water proportions.

Since baking soda is alkaline, it’s a good idea to balance it out with an acidic substance. Most people do this with apple cider vinegar. I guess you could call me a conformist because I, too, use apple cider vinegar. I promise, if you decide to try this, you won’t smell like vinegar. Unless you don’t rinse it out, that is. It’s very easy to rinse out.

And now about the dryness. There are all kinds of natural hair “treatments” or “masks” you can do. The only ones I’ve tried and can approve are the following: coconut milk (the full fat stuff), and mashed avocado and egg whites. The avocado and egg whites one left my hair looking kind of greasy, but after I washed my hair again, made it really soft and shiny. You can find all sorts of other ideas online, but since I haven’t tried them, I will not recommend them.

Resources online mostly seem to agree that it takes about three weeks to adjust. Your hair may be greasy at first, but it should balance out after three weeks. That’s exactly how long it took for my hair. On the 3 week “anniversary” of my switch, I noticed that I didn’t need to wash my hair according to my usual schedule anymore.

I’m still experimenting with homemade hair gel. Because I haven’t perfected it, I wouldn’t want to tell you all about it, and have you looking like you just got an electric shock. If you’re curious, my buddy Internet will tell you all about flaxseed gel, or agar with aloe vera gel.

So, there you have it, vegan gluten free food for your hair 🙂