So...What CAN you eat? (Part Two)

So, now that you know what to look for, grocery shopping should be a whole lot easier, right? Not necessarily....The first time you go gluten-free grocery shopping, I recommend setting aside a lot of time and bringing a notepad and pen with you. After spending so much time reading through tons of ingredients lists, you're going to want to write down what is gluten-free so you can get it next time. Keep in mind that there are TONS of foods that are naturally gluten-free. Here are some of them:

-Beans
-Buckwheat
-Butter and cheese: Watch for additives in these items. Usually if they're all natural or "real", they will be gluten-free
- Corn
-Flax
-Fruits and vegetables
-Juice: Only real fruit juice is guaranteed to be gluten free. Watch for additives.
-Plain meats and fish
-Milk and eggs
-Vegetable and olive oils
-Plain nuts
-Potatoes
-Quinoa
-Rice
-Seeds, sesame
-Sorghum
-Soy
-Tamari
-Tapioca

Some foods that you might think are gluten-free and aren't are:

-Bran
-Couscous
-Durum
-Farina
-Matzah and matzo
-Ramen noodles
-Spelt or Kamut
-Semolina
-Soy or teriyaki sauce

Here are some other foods that I've found that are gluten-free and not necessarily in the gluten-free aisle:
-Almost all varieties of Chex are gluten-free (yes, you can still have Puppy Chow!)
-Bugles
-Pringles and most other potato chips
-Rice crispies (You can have Rice Crispie bars, too!)
-Many frozen dinners/TV dinners that don't contain breaded meat, bread, or a desert are gluten-free
-Ice cream, as long as it doesn't contain brownie pieces or the like

As the gluten-free lifestyle becomes more prevalent, more and more companies are coming up with lists of their gluten-free foods online and more and more restaurants are coming out with allergen information sheets or gluten free menus. Here are some restaurants that have gluten-free options so you can dine out gluten-free, too:

-Boston Market
-Chili's
-The Old Spaghetti Factory
-Outback Steakhouse
-P.F. Chang's
-Ruby Tuesday
-Carlos O'Kelley's
-Boston's Gourmet Pizza
-Chipotle Mexican Grill
-Godfather's Pizza (you have to call a day ahead to order gluten free pizza)
-HuHot
-Joe's Crab Shack
-Olive Garden
-Red Robin
-Romano's Macaroni Grill
-T.G.I. Friday's
-California Pizza Kitchen:
-Hell's Kitchen
-Timber Lodge Steakhouse

So....What CAN you eat? (Part One)

Whenever I tell people I have Celiac Disease and can't eat anything with wheat, barley, or rye in it, their first question is usually, "So, what can you eat?" It's a great question, seeing as a large percentage of today's mainstream foods contain wheat, barley, or rye in one form or another. I felt pretty hopeless about food when I first found out I had to go on a gluten-free diet. I didn't even know foods existed that didn't have wheat, barley, or rye in them. At first I thought I would forever be confined to the tiny gluten-free aisle at the grocery store, forced to spend three dollars on a can of soup and five dollars on a bag of gluten-free chips. It wasn't until I started reading the book "Living Gluten-Free for Dummies" by Danna Korn that I realized there were so many more things out there that I could eat.

The best thing I've done for myself since going gluten-free is learning to read the ingredients on the food label. Once I knew what to look for on them I realized there was so much more out there that I could eat that wasn't just in the gluten-free aisle. And there are an increasing number of food companies that are labeling their foods as gluten-free, (like Post Cereals labeling Cocoa Pebbles gluten-free right on the box!). Once you know what to look for in the ingredients list, gluten-free life gets a lot easier.

Here are a list of some of the common ingredients in foods and whether or not they are gluten-free: (from http://www.clanthompson.com/res_info_lists_show_items.php3?category=Food%20Ingredients&category_id=4 and from my own experience/research ):
-Artificial flavor: Yes
-Benzoic Acid: Yes
-BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) (added to foods to prevent fat spoilage): Yes
-Brewer's Yeast: No
-Bulgur: No
-Caramel Color: Sometimes....It is usually made from corn, but there are times when it isn't
-Citric Acid: Yes
-Dextran: Yes
-Dextrin: Sometimes...This is rarely made from wheat and is usually made from corn, potato, arrowroot, or rice
-Glycerin: Yes
-Hydrolyzed Meat Protein: Yes
-Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein: Yes
-Isomalt: Yes
-Lactic Acid: Yes
-Malt or Malt Flavoring: No
-Maltodextrin: Yes
-Modified Starch or Modified Food Starch: Sometimes.....It can be made from wheat
-Mono- and Diglycerides: Yes
-Monosodium Glutamate: Yes
-Niacin: Yes
-Nitrates: Yes
-Polyethelene Glycol: Yes
-Riboflavin: Yes
-Sodium Ascorbate or Ascorbic Acid: Yes
-Sodium: Benzoate, Citrate, and Nitrate: Yes
-Stearic Acid: Yes
-Sucrose: Yes
-Textured Vegetable Protein: Yes
-Triticale: No
-Vanillan: Yes
-Whey: Yes
-Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum: Yes


As you can see most common ingredients in foods are okay to eat. Once you know what to look for, grocery shopping won't seem like such a daunting task anymore.