Q: I'm going to Trader Joe's today as it's day 1 of my Anti-Candida diet. I'm going to pick up some almond milk and millet bread, but are there any sweets I can have that are wheat, gluten and sugar free (stevia instead)? I know that sweets are not allowed but is there ANYTHING that I can have cookie or cake-wise? Also, I heard that I can eat grapefruit and green apples. True?
A: Yes definitely. I'm not familiar with the Anti-Candid diet, so not sure if it's just processed sugar you can't have, or all types of sugar, but I'm assuming processed sugar. There are lots of substitutes for wheat and sugar though. Wheat subsitutes are rice flour, corn flour, millet flour, soy flour, potato flour among others. There are also some substitutes for sugar, stevia as you mentioned, honey, maple syrup and home made fruit juices can also be used in cooking. You also mentioned milk, and a few milk alternatives are rice milk, coconut milk/cream and soy milk. A few of my family members, including myself have food sensitivities and have to avoid certain foods too. A favourite milk substitute we have, home made rice milk. We'd cook rice, then put it in a blender with a small amount of water, some dried fruit and nuts (appricot, sultanas, almonds, cashews etc) and blend it til it was fairly smooth. It's really yummy with cereal or porridge (oats have gluten as far as I'm aware though). A dessert (not cake or cookie) that you might be interested in is sago/tapioca. My dad makes tapioca with fruit juice and fresh fruit. I'm not sure exactly how he makes it but it's similar to making porridge, but cook the tapioca/sage in the fresh juice and fruit. I don't know any cake or cookie recipes off the top of my head, but you can make a slice relatively easy. Just mix dried fruits of your choice, puffed millet, nuts, shredded coconut. Make some juice from apples/oranges (the juice sweetens excluding the need for sugar) and mix into the other ingredients, to make the dry ingredients stick together. Press mix into a tray (with grease-proof paper) and bake. The result is really nice and a simple recipe that can be adjusted to your tastes. I hope I've been some help and not just babbling, but will give you links to 2 helpful gluten-free sites. Good luck