The Gluten Free Diet

What is the Gluten Free Diet?

As the name suggests, a gluten free diet excludes all foods that contain gluten. So to understand what this diet is all about, first we need to answer the question, what is gluten?

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in rye, wheat and barley and therefore many common cereals and breads contain gluten. This means that gluten is present in many of the foods that are eaten by the mainstream consumer today and it’s not just foods that contain cereals and wheat you need to watch out for. Gluten has a way of hiding itself throughout an extensive range of processed foods in your supermarket.

Gluten sensitivity and celiac disease

Some people are diagnosed with a permanent serious disease called Celiac, their body reacting so severely to gluten that it requires them to be on a gluten free diet for the rest of their lives. However, a much larger portion of people are Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitive (NCGS). Both conditions are hereditary and do not have a cure as such, but rather are managed with the gluten free diet.

Many go through life with undiagnosed NCGS, living with a range of conditions and ailments. Testing is unlikely to pick up NCGS and for the most part, establishing sensitivity to gluten often requires the acquisition of a gluten free diet.

Health benefits of a gluten free diet

Those trying the gluten free diet have reported back with extremely positive results, claiming the aleviation of various ailments and an overall feeling of general well being. The wide net of complaints and conditions that have been traced back to NCGS includes

• Headaches/Migrains
• Mouth ulcer
• Over or underweighty
• Low immunity/successtible to disease
• Skin complains
• Irritablity
• Yeast infections
• And most commonly complaints and issues related to the digestive system and stomache (e.g. Irritable Bowel Syndrome)

Weight Loss

Because the gluten free diet removes so many processed foods and the foods that tend to make people put on weight, weight loss appears to be an inevitable side effect of what essentially can be an extremely healthy and balanced diet. It takes some getting used to but if the diet can relieve you of symptoms and/or helps you to establish your healthy ideal weight, the gluten free diet is well worth the effort.

Gluten Free Diet plan

At first, a gluten free diet can be quite intimidating. You may not realize how rampant gluten is until you try to exclude it. Once you familiarize yourself with the types of foods that you cannot eat, can eat and what to look out for on food labels, then it is just a matter of making the lifestyle adjustment.

Gluten Free Diet food list

So let us take a look at the foods that you can be sure are safe to eat on a gluten free diet.

• All sorts of fruits and vegetables, even processed but not if gluten has been used for processing (additives, thickening etc)
• Eggs
• Various alcoholic beverages such as wine, spirits, ciders, liqueurs
• Frozen and canned meats without sauce or marinades
• Dairy products are okay
• Anything made from corn
• Snacks and food made from rice such as rice crackers
• Snacks and food made from corn such as tacos, tortillas, corn chips, popcorn
• Plain chocolate
• Coffee, tea
• Mineral water
• Starch and flour made from the following
  > Rice
  > Soybeans
  > Corn
  > Buckwheat
  > Tapioca

Gluten and food labeling

A sure way to establish the presence of gluten in the food we purchase is to find food labels that specify this (“gluten free” and the like). Some people falsely think that labels indicating the exclusion of wheat means that gluten is also absent from the food but this is not always the case.

Often labels will indicate that the product may contain traces of gluten.

Foods to avoid

Reading food labels will become important for those on a gluten free diet. This will also translate to eating out. You will start to realize that maybe you can have the salad, but without the dressing.

List of foods to avoid (unless gluten free is specified on the labeling)

• Wheat, rye, oats, spelt, barley and any food containing them
• Soy sauce
• Malt
• Labels stating gluten, glutenin or gliadin
• Bran
• Semolina, durum, couscous, bulgur

Shakes & meal replacements

Shakes are a very easy and satisfying way of obtaining a healthy gluten free meal. There is enough demand to warrant a large range of gluten free shakes available online and in health and fitness stores. Shakes come in a variety of flavors and are to be used as recommended. Shakes should not be used for every single meal but a part of a gluten free diet plan that includes whole foods.

Casein

Some take the gluten free diet a step further by excluding Casein from the diet. Casein is a protein found in milk so as you can imagine, a casein free diet excludes a lot of the dairy you may be accustomed to.

Casein foods to avoid

• All dairy products, which otherwise would have been allowed on the gluten free diet
  >Milk, yoghurt, butter, ice-cream, cheese, goats milks, milk solids
• Labels that indicate casein or caseinate