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.