!44: List of Gluten Free Foods - What to Look for, and What to Avoid

!±8± List of Gluten Free Foods - What to Look for, and What to Avoid

So, you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a digestive disorder called Celiac disease, and your diet has to be changed to something completely new.

You may be wondering, what exactly Celiac Disease is. The short answer, is the body's inability to process the protein Gluten, which is found in various wheat or grain products. On the surface, this may seem like it will cut out just about all of your guilty pleasures, or favorite foods. Rest assured, that is not the case, many items now have non-gluten alternatives to sacrifice very little, if any of the flavor, and still offer all the nutrition as Gluten containing products.

Do not worry, you do not have to cut out all of your favorite foods and live off of a strict list of unappetizing foods, or drinks. The lists of ingredients you can still eat or use as ingredients in the preparation of other meals, while slightly modified, is still as wide as ever, only now, it may be more important than ever to check the ingredients in some of your food choices, knowing what to avoid can make preparing foods, much easier and still allow you to be as creative as ever in the kitchen.

To start with, it is important to know what types of foods or products to avoid in general, however, some of the items listed do have non-gluten alternatives. When building your Gluten Free grocery list, products to avoid include:

Note: The lists below are only a small sampling of what can be on each list, for a complete list of products, consult your doctor, pharmacist, or consult a nutritionist.

Bread and Bread Roll Rye Bread, Pumpernickel Yorkshire Pudding Pretzels Cakes Muffins Pastry or Pie Crust Biscuits or Cookies Crisp Breads Bulgur Wheat Durham Couscous Semolina Scones Anything in Breadcrumbs All Bran Sponge Puddings Breadcrumbed Ham Barley water drinks Malted Drinks Muesli

There are also products that contain wheat or flour, but are available in a non-gluten variety, be sure to check the label and ingredient list. Products with non-gluten alternatives can include:

Stuffing's Pancakes Pasta - Macaroni, Spaghetti, Etc... Crumble toppings Pizza Some Breakfast Cereals

It is also vitally important to know that other available products often do include wheat, or wheat products that contain gluten as either an ingredient in the creation of, or used as a filler. These can include:

Sausages Luncheon Meat (filler) Blue Cheeses (can be made with bread) Gravy Powders and Stock cubes, such as OXO Matzo Flour/Meal Shredded Suet in packs (flour can be used to keep the strands seperate) Seitan (does not contain Gluten, it is Gluten) Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protien Baked Beans (gluten can be in the sauce) Farina Meat and Fish Pastes Pates and Imitation Crab Meat Self Basting Turkeys Sauces - thickened with Flour Cummunion wafers Soups (Roux based: made with flour) Mustard - Dry mustard powder has Gluten Instant Coffee (filler) Brown Rice Syrup Cheap Brands of chocolate Some Potato chips (read ingredients carefully) Soy sauce (Tamari is ok) Drinking Chocolate Licorice Chutneys and Pickles Salad Dressing Curry Powder and other spices White Pepper Malt Vinigar Supplements Some Toothpaste Some Lipsticks Some medicine or pharmaceutical products.

With such an extensive list of items or products to avoid, it is understandable to wonder what is safe to eat, or prepare foods with. Luckily, the list of safe items is just as long, examples include the following Gluten free food products;

Vegetables such as:

Artichokes Asparagus Beans Broccoli Carrots Celery Corn Cucumber Garlic Kale Lettuce Mushrooms Okra Onions Peas Peppers Potatoes Radish Spinach Sweet Potatoes Turnips Etc... Fruits Apples Bananas Blueberries Cranberries Dates Figs Grapes Kiwis Lemons Limes Oranges Passion Fruits Plums Raspberries Strawberries Tangerines Watermelons

Meat and Poultry products are often okay;

Beef Buffalo Chicken Duck Lamb Pork Turkey Veal Venison Dairy Products Butter (check to verify no gluten containing products were used) Cheese (expect blue cheese) Eggs Milk Yogurt (unflavored, plain) Even some other grains are safe: Almond Flour Bean Flour Brown Rice Buckwheat Corn Flour Corn Starch Dal Flaxseed Millet Pea Flour Potato Flour Rice Soy Flour In addition, other safe items are: Eggs Fish and Shelfish Honey Jams Rice cakes and rice crackers Tofu (made from Soybeans) Yeast Vegetable Oils

Some drinks you can have are:

Champagne Fresh Ground Coffee Fruit Juice Milk Soda's Vodka Tea Wine and wine coolers

Finally, some prepared foods can be bought already made and are Gluten Free, some brands or products to watch for include:

Baked Goods from Glutino, KinniKinnick and Ener-G Foods Baking mixes from Bob's Red Mill, Pamela's Products, Cherrybrook Kitchen Cereals from Brands such as Enjoy Life. Pasta's made from corn, such as Glutano and DeBoles Pasta made from Potatoes like Patado Even Pasta Made from rice, like Tinkyada and Notta Pasta

Hopefully, these lists of safe and unsafe products and ingredients can help you to better plan your new shopping list, yet still enjoy some of your family's favorite foods.