How to Switch to a Gluten-Free Diet
Gluten is the binding protein in wheat and other grains such as rye and barley. For people with gluten sensitivities or celiac disease, avoiding gluten is a must. Sufferers of celiac disease experience many debilitating symptoms from eating gluten. After you switch to a gluten-free diet, you should begin to feel better. Use these tips to go on a gluten free diet.
Things You'll Need
- Gluten-free recipes
- Gluten-free flours
Tips For You
- Eliminate all the gluten containing grains from your diet, including wheat, rye, barley, and triticale. Also eliminate oats, since oat crops can be cross-contaminated with wheat. The following steps outline how to remove these grains from your diet - a seemingly simple, but actually daunting, task.
- Educate yourself about eating gluten free before you switch to a gluten-free diet. Eating gluten-free involves knowing a lot more about the food you're eating than can be covered in this article. It's worth saying again: education is the key to success when you do the gluten free diet.
- Assemble gluten-free recipe resources. Subscribe to the magazine, Gluten Free Living. Visit websites targeted for celiac disease or gluten-free diets. Obtain cookbooks designed for people with celiac or food allergies or sensitivities.
- Read all product labels of packaged foods to find sources of gluten. Gluten hides not just in breads, crackers, cookies, cakes, pasta and pastries, but in beer, frozen meals, sauces, candies, gravies, soy sauce, granola, and many other products.
- Learn other names for gluten-containing ingredients on product labels. Modified food starch, for example, though sometimes derived from corn, may in some cases be a wheat product. Wheat can be called many things on product labels, including flour, spelt, kamut, semolina, durum, and seitan.
- Learn which products typically harbor gluten but neglect to mention the fact on the labels. Some spices use wheat as a filler but do not include wheat on the labels. Sometimes marshmallows and candies are packaged with wheat flour to keep them from sticking to each other.
- De-glutenize your kitchen. Keep gluten-free foods from getting contaminated by even trace amounts of wheat. Same with your pots, pans, and kitchen utensils. For advice on how to remove any traces of wheat and other gluten-containing grains, visit www.celiac.com.
- Now that you're informed, make your switch to a gluten free diet! Ask for gluten-free options when you go out to eat. Make sure your server understands what gluten free means before you eat the restaurant food that is supposed to be free of gluten.
- When eating food someone else has prepared, be bold. Ask about all the ingredients. If you can't get a complete answer or suspect there might be gluten in the food, don't eat it.
- If you are not already a cook, learn the basic principles of cooking and baking. If you formerly used many pre-packaged food products, you will need to do more of your own cooking to avoid gluten.
- Instead of wheat flour, substitute mixtures made from flours and starches that are based on gluten-free grains and legumes such as white rice, sweet rice, brown rice, sorghum, potatoes, tapioca, corn, and beans. Use these blends to mimic the action of wheat in recipes. Experiment with different flour blends until you find one that works for you and your family. One common blend is 2 cups white rice flour, 1/3 cup potato starch (not potato flour), plus 1/3 cup tapioca flour or starch. Refer to your gluten-free recipes for exact flours to use and proportions.
- Use gluten free pasta instead of wheat-based pasta in recipes. Brown rice pasta is a delicious substitute. Do not use pasta made with spelt, which contains gluten.
- Find gluten-free cookies, bread, and baked goods at natural foods stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. You can also find baking mixes for brownies, chocolate cake, French bread, pie crust, and other treats in health food stores.
