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At this point in time, you should know that I have been living a gluten free life for a LONG time. For somebody like me, who has had Celiac most of her life, eating gluten free isn’t really anything different for me, nor is it difficult. But I run across people all the time that have just begun their journey down the gluten free track and have NO idea what they can eat.
If this sounds like you, then this article is for you!
Gluten Free No-No’s
The first thing you were probably told when you were diagnosed (with any myriad of diseases that require a gluten free diet) was all that you couldn’t have. The biggies, or the Macros (if you want to look at it from a nutritional point of view) are:
- Wheat
- Rye
- Oats (CERTIFIED Gluten Free oats are fine though)
- Barley
Well, that is all great and wonderful but how the heck does that translate into daily life?
Good question!
With everything that has been going on in the food marketplace in the past 10 years or so, what we have run across is a Catch 22 with gluten free.
It’s good and it’s bad, primarily because of marketing and lack of proper education in the marketplace.
Here are 2 quick examples of ingredients that could or could NOT be gluten free, that most people don’t even know about:
- Glucose-Fructose Syrup – derived from either wheat or corn, but usually wheat because it is a cheaper commodity
- Maltodextrin – same exact deal here
I can’t tell you how many people I have helped to understand that gluten is stealthily hidden EVERYWHERE these days! And if you don’t know how to decipher the ingredients, you may just be making yourself more sick.
Yeah, because that is exactly what we are trying to do to ourselves!
I will create a longer article later that is geared specifically towards ingredients that gluten can be hidden in, but today I want to give you some more things that you CAN eat now.
YES to Gluten Free
So let’s talk about what you can eat! Here are some of the obvious:
- Fresh Fruits
- Fresh Veggies
- Rice
- Corn
- Quinoa
- Chia
- Teff
- Cassava
- Buckwheat
- Most Meat (know where it is sourced and how it is processed because sometimes other “stuff” is mixed in during processing, including wheat and barley
- Most Dairy (I have found some ice creams with gluten in them, and I don’t mean Cookies and Cream!)
- Wine
- Cider
- Water (This is my favorite GLUTEN FREE label ever, because when on Earth wouldn’t water be Gluten Free?)
The majority of the things listed above are other grains that you can eat that do not inherently contain gluten, which makes life easier for all of us on this journey.
But, there are some other things that you can eat (most of the time) if you read the actual ingredients or know where it is sourced. Those include:
- King Arthur Gluten Free line
- Annie’s Gluten Free line
- Cascadian Farms (labeled Gluten Free)
- LaraBars
- Glutino
- Kashi Gluten Free line
- Gluten Free Bake House line (if you have that available in your area)
- Kinnikinnick (they were one of the first lines that I could get my hands on that was decent, but they are out of Canada so I had to get it shipped frozen in bulk – Oh how the times have changed!)
- Store brand gluten free pasta, breads and baked goods (this is another huge change in the past few years, which is awesome! Keep in mind though, that while they may be gluten free, most of these store brands have a bunch of other junk ingredients to make the food taste good, so read the ingredients well before partaking)
- Gluten Free Beer (my favorites are Green’s and Glutenburg. YUM!)
- The list could go on!
The Takeaway
The great news these days is that there are SO many more gluten free options, including gluten free beer, which I am thrilled about. But, reading the ingredients is still, and ALWAYS, the best way to discern whether or not something is entirely gluten free. So don’t just read the marketing jargon, but read the actual ingredients for yourself.
If you want to go more in depth with specific foods that you want to eat, but aren’t sure about, then please schedule a Free 30 minute call with me HERE.
And if you are to the point where you have some great core ingredients but aren’t sure what to make with them, then you should grab my cookbook HERE.
I have compiled 22 of my favorite go-to recipes that are all:
- QUICK
- EASY
- DELICIOUS
- NUTRIENT DENSE
- BUDGET FRIENDLY
- GLUTEN FREE
So check it out and please let me know if there are specific recipes or dishes that you would like to see that fit into these categories and I would be more than happy to work on them for you.
What has been your favorite GLUTEN FREE find since going gluten free? What food/dish are you really missing since going gluten free that you would love to be able to incorporate back into your diet?
