{"id":107,"date":"2007-01-08T10:53:31","date_gmt":"2007-01-08T09:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/?p=107"},"modified":"2016-04-21T18:50:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T17:50:00","slug":"foods-you-can-eat-and-avoid-gluten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/foods-you-can-eat-and-avoid-gluten\/","title":{"rendered":"Foods you can eat and avoid gluten"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/01\/gluten-free-grains.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"580\" height=\"248\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/01\/gluten-free-grains.jpg 580w, https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/01\/gluten-free-grains-300x128.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/01\/gluten-free-grains-100x43.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/>You&#8217;ve got a diagnosis, and they said &#8220;Don&#8217;t eat anything containing wheat, oats, barley or rye &#8211; avoid all gluten&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>OK &#8211; but what does that mean?  What can you eat?<\/p>\n<p>Your first thought might be &#8216;oh, that&#8217;s not so bad &#8211; only four things to avoid&#8217; but after a trip to the supermarket, and looking at some labels, you might be thinking &#8216;I&#8217;m going to starve&#8217;.  <\/p>\n<p>Luckily, the truth is in-between, and you may end up with a healthier diet than when you were eating gluten, because you&#8217;ll probably eat more fresh and home-prepared food.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So &#8211; what can I eat?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Cereals and grains:<\/strong> rice, millet, maize, quinoa, tapioca, sago, buckwheat, teff and sorghum<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Meat fish and eggs:<\/strong> all are basically fine &#8211; just check any coatings, sauces and spices you add, and check wafer-thin meats too (sometimes wheat flour is added to make them &#8216;peel apart&#8217;)<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Dairy products:<\/strong> milk and most cream, cheese and yoghurt &#8211; check any added ingredients, and check ready-grated cheese (sometimes wheat flour is added to stop the slivers of cheese sticking together)<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Flours:<\/strong> rice, corn, potato, maize, gram, soya, chickpea, sorghum, tapioca and chestnut flours are all OK<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Fruit:<\/strong> all fruits are naturally gluten free &#8211; check ready-made pie fillings, though<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Vegetables:<\/strong> all vegetables are naturally gluten free &#8211; check any coatings, sauces and spices<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Fats:<\/strong> you can eat butter, margarine, oils, lard and dripping (if you want!) but avoid suet and check low-fat spreads<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Breakfast cereal:<\/strong> tricky one &#8211; check carefully, and avoid any containing wheat, oats, barley or rye.  You might also want to avoid malt extract<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Bread, crackers and crispbreads:<\/strong> avoid all the conventional ones, and eat only those labelled as gluten free, or those you&#8217;ve made yourself and know to be gluten free<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Cakes, pastries, cookies and biscuits:<\/strong> avoid all the conventional ones, and eat only those labelled as gluten free, or those you&#8217;ve made yourself and know to be gluten free<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Pizza and pasta: <\/strong>avoid all the conventional ones, and eat only those labelled as gluten free, or those you&#8217;ve made yourself and know to be gluten free<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Soup and sauces:<\/strong> check every time, in case wheat flour has been used to thicken a soup or a sauce<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Pies, quiches, flans and tarts:<\/strong> avoid all the conventional ones, and eat only those labelled as gluten free, or those you&#8217;ve made yourself and know to be gluten free<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Puddings and desserts:<\/strong> check every time &#8211; meringue, jelly and most icecreams and sorbets will be fine, but unless specifically labelled gluten free, cheesecakes, pies etc will not be good for you<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Snacks:<\/strong> nuts, raisins and seeds are all naturally gluten free, but check any added coatings and check all packets of crisps (chips) and other savoury snacks &#8211; we&#8217;ve been caught out by these before, especially when the recipe is changed<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Sweets (candy):<\/strong> check every time &#8211; chocolate is usually OK to eat, but not if it covers a biscuit!  All sorts of unexpected sweets contain wheat, such as Smarties, here in the UK, and licorice<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Alcohol:<\/strong> wine, spirits, liqueurs and cider &#8211; avoid real ale, beer, lager and stout (unless specifically labelled as gluten free)<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Soft drinks:<\/strong> coffee, tea, juices, cocoa, fizzy drinks and most squashes &#8211; but check that they don&#8217;t contain barley or &#8216;cloud&#8217;, and don&#8217;t drink from vending machines<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Spices and seasonings:<\/strong> pure salt, pepper, herbs, vinegar &#8211; check spices and mustard powder for added flour.<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Spreads and preserves:<\/strong> jam, marmalade, honey, nut butters<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Pickles and dressings:<\/strong> check every time<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Cooking ingredients:<\/strong> yeast, bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar &#8211; check baking powder for added flour<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There &#8211; that&#8217;s not so bad, is it?  Lots to choose from, and you&#8217;ll soon get in the habit of checking food labels and asking for the recipe.  The next thing to worry about: cross-contamination.  More on that soon &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--adsense--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;ve got a diagnosis, and they said &#8220;Don&#8217;t eat anything containing wheat, oats, barley or rye &#8211; avoid all gluten&#8221;. OK &#8211; but what does that mean? What can you eat? Your first thought might be &#8216;oh, that&#8217;s not so bad &#8211; only four things to avoid&#8217; but after a trip to the supermarket, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[157,1,161],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-getting-started","8":"category-living-gluten-free","9":"category-stay-healthy","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.free-from.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}