Gluten Free Diet
Here is a basic list of foods with and without gluten. You can eat anything you like, so long as it doesn't have gluten in it.
Foods to avoid (these have gluten in them)
- Flour, and all food made with wheat flour (there are lots of different non wheat flour brands comming out, check the labels to find one)
- Most cereals, bran, rolled oats (you can eat popcorn, polenta, rice)
- Rye
- Pasta (you can eat rice noodles or gluten free pasta)
- Any type of bread, roll, muffin etc (eat gluten free bread instead)
- crispbreads, crackers
- hydrolised vegetable protein (instead eat fresh/frozen/canned veges)
- textured vegetable protein (TVP)
- Any processed meat or fruit (eat any unprocessed meat or fruit)
- Milo, Nesquick, artifical cream
- cheese spreads, pastes and dips (eat any other cheese)
- many soups (check the packets)
- cakes and busicuts (eat gluten free cakes and busicuts instead)
- Check desserts, sweets, jams, spreads, sauces, and drinks to see if they have gluten (read the label)
- Beer (anything else is fine)
- Chips/Fries from takeaways
This is not a complete list of foods to avoid, but once you get the idea it is easy to check packets before you buy them. You can also ask check at restaurants if their sauces contain gluten (just tell them you are allergic to it).
Foods you can eat (Gluten Free)
- Yoghurt
- Fruit
- Veges
- Bacon
- Eggs
- Baked beans
- Any specialty gluten free products you find such as gluten free chocolate cake, pancakes, cereals, breads
- Hollandaise sauce
- Rice Noodles
- Sushi
- Chocolate (plain)
- Nuts
- Fish
- Potatoes (maximum 1 per day)
- Most Thai food (check with them)
- Risotto
- hummus, baba ganoush, tzatziki
- Most ice cream
- mashmallows
and the list goes on! So basically you can eat anything, but if you want to eat something with gluten in it you have to find a gluten free substitute. Gluten free substitutes are now becomming so popular that you can even find them in your supermarket.
Try going gluten free for a month - once you've tried it I bet you'll never go back.
If you like cooking, and want to make gluten free recipes then I suggest you have a look at this book - it has loads of gluten free recipes that are yum!
