Anyone who knows me, anyone who has read this blog, or even anyone who has sat with me at any sort of meal knows that I’m a carbs girl. Bread, pasta and pizza are my favorites, and never would discriminate a fresh baked pastry. A month and a half ago that all changed. I stopped eating gluten. People that know me know look at me like I’ve gone crazy. You? No gluten? Danya is still surprised every time she sees me. And then comes the question- but why????

The answer is quite surprising, and not your typical no-gluten answer. I don’t have Celiac or any other type of digestive disorder. I am not allergic or on some sort of health craze. So here it goes.
The past few months I worked on my first TV show, a cooking show hosted by the one and only, Shaily Lipa. It was an amazing experience with crazy hours and lots of time to hang out with the people on set. During the actual filming of the show there was a lot of down time. My down time was spent getting to know the girls on set with me- the make-up artist, the hair stylist, and the wardrobe stylist. The four of us had great camaraderie and spent hours chatting about life, and some other superficial activities like facebook stalking, and taking selfies.
Out of the four of us, two don’t eat gluten. And after countless selfies I began to realize that the two gluten free girls had really slim figures, and me and the other non-gluten girl had some extra pounds (of pure love obviously). I started to think that there was something to the non-gluten diet. Both of the girls non-gluten girls do workout regularly (as do I), but they swore that eating a non-gluten diet simply cuts back that puffy feeling that we women feel. I felt it most of the time.
And so I stopped eating gluten the last week of filming. And I honestly feel that my life has changed. I don’t weigh myself ever (thats another story that maybe one day I will tell), but I know that I have lost weight. And more importantly I feel lighter, have more energy and therefore just have a better overall feeling. And the most surprising thing about it, is that its not even that hard. I find something to eat for every meal, I eat more fruits and vegetables, and a eat a much more balanced diet.
So from now on I don’t promise that every recipe will be gluten free, but I will definitely try to add more to the repertoire.

Crunchy Cauliflower Salad
I tried a salad similar to this one at a picnic I was at, and I tried to replicate it. I think it came out even better. It’s best to eat this salad soon after you pour the dressing over it, so that the cauliflower remains crispy. I used a food processor to cut the cauliflower, but it can also be done by hand.

Ingredients for about 6 servings:
For the salad:

1 large cauliflower,  broken into florets and cut into very thin slices

3-4 celery stalks, very thinly sliced

1 cup dried cranberries

½ cup almond slivers, toasted

For the dressing:

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons honey

Preparation:

1. Mix all of the salad ingredients in a large serving bowl.
2. Make the dressing: Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients until combined.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well so that all of the cauliflower is covered. Serve at room temperature.