What is Gluten Free?

Eating Gluten free can be tricky. Many things that you think are gluten free aren’t. I got caught by two of them. The first was bulgur (that was how I figured out I had a gluten allergy as I had heartburn immediately after eating it). The second was soy sauce (let’s just say my co-workers thought I was drinking at lunch, but I was buzzed from the soy sauce!).

The biggest thing is to read labels. Not everything is labelled gluten free that you CAN eat, and things you think are ok may contain gluten.
Contains gluten:

Barley, bran, bulgur, couscous, durum, emmer, farina, fu, gliadin, gluten, gluten peptides, graham flour, kamut, matza, mir, rye, seita, semolina, spelt, triticale, wheat, wheat berry, wheat germ, wheat grass, wheat gluten.

Foods that are gluten free (or may be gluten free):

Almond flour, amaranth, rice, arrowroot, rice flour, buckwheat, chickpea flour, coconut flour, corn, corn flour, corn gluten, cornstarch, flaxseed, gram flour, hemp, groats, hominy, kasha, kudzu, malt (questionable), modified food starch (questionable, and who likes anything that’s called “modified” anyway?), oats, oat bran, popcorn, potato flour, quinoa, sesame, sorghum, starch, sweet potato flour, tapioca, taro flour, tef.

Source: Celiac Sprue Association

So the list of what you CAN eat is longer, but I have to admit, is much more difficult. Just try to grab a meal on the go that doesn’t contain gluten! It’s not impossible…just more difficult. Breakfast is the worst for me as most breakfast foods are pastries, bagels, english muffins. When did that happen?