GLUTEN-FREE DIET

A poor diet of gluten, dairy, refined sugars, trans fats, and processed foods destroys the cellular function in your body and disrupts your digestive system. This leads to undigested proteins not being broken down and entering your bloodstream, leading to what’s called a “Leaky Gut.” Over time, your immune system will weaken and can lead to an autoimmune disease like Multiple Sclerosis, Chron’s, Lupus and Parkinson’s disease.

You have to read labels really close, the words are tiny and hard to read in a grocery store. Don’t just read the front of the product, you MUST read the ingredient list on the back of the product.

Going gluten-free has gotten A LOT EASIER today. There are gluten-free stores and gluten-free sections in your store, tons and tons of recipes. It makes life so much easier! When looking for recipes there are gluten-free cookbooks, ebooks, food blogs, Pinterest or Google it. When searching you don’t have to just look for Gluten Free recipes, you can also look for Real Food, Vegan or Vegetarian, Celiac, Organic.

Step One: How You Can Identify Gluten
When you first start out you need to educate yourself as to what gluten is. Gluten is the wheat, grains, and starches, it’s what holds things together.

Foods That Contain Gluten:
Barley
Bulgur
Couscous
Farina
Graham Flour
Kamut
Matzo Flour, Meal, Bread
Rye
Semolina
Spelt
Triticale
Wheat
Including White Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Durum Wheat, Wheat Germ, and Germ Oil, Wheat Bran, Wheat Grass Oats, oat fiber and oat bran are gluten-free but they may contain traces of gluten due to the packaging process. You can buy it only if it is certified as Gluten Free (GF). You could eliminate them for a while then reintroduce them to see if they cause a reaction.

Foods To Be Avoided:
All bread, all pastry items such as donuts, cakes, cookies, muffins, pies, bread/cake mixes, etc. Pancakes, waffles, cereals, crackers, dressings, croutons, bran. Pasta, pizza, flour tortillas, malt, commercial bullion and broths, marinades, sauces, gravy, breaded foods including vegetables, processed dry roasted nuts, beer. Meat substitutes, soy-based veggie burgers, caramel color or flavors. I was surprised at this one Rice Dream (rice milk).

These Are in the Gray Area:
Artificial color, naturals juices, non-dairy creamer, smoke flavoring, soy sauce solids, wheat gluten or wheat starch, dextrin, dextrin-maltose, food starch or modified food starch.
This includes fried foods, some candies, imitation fish, processed lunch meats and hot dogs, seasoned chips, salad dressings, soy sauce, seasoned rice, and potatoes.

Safe Flours and Grains:
Almond Flour
Almond Meal, this is a less finely ground version of almond flour, I usually find this in the bulk section
Arrowroot Powder/Starch, I use this in place of cornstarch for a thickener
Coconut Flour, I usually use Tropical Traditions or Bob’s Red Mill brands
Sunflower Seed Flour and Pumpkin Seed Flour, these are good substitutes for those allergic to nuts
Sweet Potato Flour
Sweet Potato Starch

Gluten Free Flours and Grains but Not Paleo Friendly:
Amaranth
Buckwheat
Chickpea Flour
Corn
Flax Meal, there is a lot of back and forth on this one, I avoid it
Millet
Potato Flour
Quinoa
Rice Flours
Sago
Sorghum
Soy Flour
Tapioca
Teff

Step Two: Read Labels
Labels change so you need to always read them. If something says “Wheat Free” it doesn’t mean it’s “gluten-free” they may have substituted it with barley. You can always contact the manufacturer, I have done this and then they sent me coupons (Whoo-Hoo!)

You’re probably thinking “I’m going to starve!” that’s exactly what I thought. Fortunately, you can eat all fruits & vegetables* (without stuff added to them, like sauces), grass-fed meats, free-range poultry, wild caught fish, seafood, eggs, nuts and seeds. Nuts, seeds and coconut flours. Sometimes spice mixes have gluten so read the labels, I no longer buy spice mixes I just make my own.

*If you’re on the Paleo or a similar diet, potatoes (only sweet potatoes are OK), corn and legumes are not allowed.
If you are just starting out and have not removed dairy yet, all natural dairy products are gluten-free, except for blue cheese. Blue cheese has an additive so check the label. If you have an autoimmune disease like MS you need to eliminate dairy, so I would start cutting dairy out.

Step Three: Remove All Gluten From Your House Today!
This will make it so much easier, and you won’t be tempted to eat something that has gluten in it. I either threw it away or gave it away, fortunately, the scouts were collecting food at that time so I gave them all my unopened food items. You need to remove all gluten from the refrigerator, the pantry, cupboards, cabinets, and spice rack.