What Can I Eat and What Can’t I Eat If I’m Gluten Sensitive?
The above question can be answered in just line. You can eat foods that don’t contain any traces of gluten. That’s it. All you need to do is eat non-gluten foods. Isn’t that easy? Of course it is. Conceptually easy. In reality, it’s extremely difficult to execute in practice.
We live in a world where most commercially produced food contains gluten or gluten based additives and ingredients. A bottle of tomato sauce may have gluten based starches in it. A sausage may have gluten based fillers in it. Gluten is everywhere. How do you avoid it?
Very carefully. That’s how. You will need to check and re-check your food. You’ll need to see if there was any cross-contamination from manufacture down to retail. To make matters worse, major food companies lie on their food labels too. This is well within the laws since the FDA rules are a little lax.
Your best bet will be to cook your own food and use healthy wholesome ingredients. The healthiest and natural foods such as meat, eggs, poultry, vegetables, and fruit and many grains and legumes do not contain gluten. You do have a wide variety of choices.
The problem occurs when people wish to eat foods such as cakes, breads, etc. Foods that usually contain gluten. These are the normal comfort foods that they are accustomed too. In order to eat such foods, you will need to find gluten-free substitutes.
All this is troublesome to say the least, but that’s how the cookie crumbles. There is no other way to say it… and the cookie needs to be gluten-free too.
Below is a general list of foods you should and should not eat. Use it as a general guideline.
Foods with Gluten
• Breads, cookies, pizzas, pies, pastas, croutons, cereals, crackers
• Sauces such as soy sauce, ketchup, mustard, teriyaki sauce, marinades, BBQ sauce, salad dressings
• Curry powder, mustard powder, food flavoring
• Brewer’s yeast
• Canned vegetables may contain traces of gluten additives
• Yoghurts, puddings, processed cheese
• Most processed meats such as meatballs, sausages, meat jerky
• Beer that is produced with wheat or barley
Foods without Gluten
• Seafood, poultry, meat
• Eggs
• Vegetables and fruit
• Dairy products and unsweetened yoghurt
• Rice, oats, legumes, gluten-free grains
• Wine
• Corn
• Natural spices
These are just some of the foods. The list is by no means exhaustive and only serves as a general guideline. You will need to do more research so that you are better informed and can make wise food choices. If you’re gluten intolerant, do switch to a gluten-free lifestyle.
Many people know what they need to do but they don’t do it because it takes too much effort. If you’re gluten sensitive, unfortunately you don’t have much choice in the matter. You really do need to switch to a gluten-free lifestyle.
It will keep you healthy and prevent many ailments and health issues from taking root. It will require sacrifice on your part. Just remember that nothing worthwhile was ever achieved easily. You can do it if you take it one day at a time.
