Gluten Free

Food
1

I am attempting to go gluten free (I may start by going ‘reduced gluten’ first) to see if it helps with some symptoms I’ve had in the past few months. I was actually tested for Celiac Disease as a child, just before my diagnosis with Type 1, but the gluten free diet I was on didn’t seem to help my issues (because in fact my symptoms were the beginning of my diabetes). But now I’m beginning to wonder if I might not have Celiac Disease…

Anyway, I don’t really know much of anything besides ‘avoid wheat, barley, and rye’.

What CAN I eat? I know there are other ingredients that have gluten that I have to avoid, but having a list of ‘safe foods’ may help me as I begin this journey…

2

Finding a good local support group can help you with foods and where to obtain them. All unprocessed meats without breading are naturally gluten free. All fruits, veggies, and beans are also naturally gluten free. It is when you start getting into the breads, pastas, cereals, crackers, snack, condiments, and even vitamins and some medications that you find hidden gluten. Read the ingredient lists, and you can even call the manufacturers about whether or not thier product has any gluten in it. Eating out at restaurants can also be tricky. If you order a salad, that is great! But if they put croutons on it, they have contaminated it with gluten. Some will place a sugar packet under the salad to make sure they don’t just scrape the croutons off and bring back the same salad. It is still contaminated with gluten.

Getting a true positive on the tests for Celiac may not always happen. There are many false positives. Sometimes checking for anemia, calcium, magnesium and vitamin D insufficiency may be good indicators that the malabsorption from Celiac is causing those deficits. If you are going to try gluten free to see if the symptoms disappear you must be completely gluten free. Try at least 2 weeks but one month would be a better trial. If you are going to be tested for Celiac, you need to be eating gluten. So don’t be tested right after being gluten free or you could get a false negative. Hope this helps. Keep us posted how it goes for you.

3

I also think i have celiacs disease. I have been gluten free for around 2 weeks now. Hope this helps.

PRODUCE
All fresh fruit, All fresh vegetables, Fresh herbs and spices

FATS AND OILS
Vegetable, canola and olive oils, Shortenings, Mayonnaise, Salad dressings

FROZEN FOODS
Plain frozen fruits and vegetables, Ice creams, sherbets, ices, Gluten-free frozen waffles

REFRIGERATOR SECTION
Milk, half-and-half, cream, whipping cream, Aged cheeses, Butter, Margarine, Yogurts, Cottage cheese, Sour cream, Cream cheese, Eggs,Tofu, Jello, Rice pudding, Tapioca pudding, 100% fruit juices

PACKAGES, CANS, JARS
Plain canned fruits and vegetables, Applesauce, Cranberry sauce, Canned beans and lentils, Spaghetti sauces, Canned fish (e.g., tuna, salmon, sardines), Organic packaged soups, Gluten-free pastas, Corn tortillas

SNACKS
Rice cakes, rice crackers, Soy crisps, Popcorn, Cheese puffs, Potato and corn chips, Jello, Candies, Chocolates, Dried fruits

MEAT AND FISH
All fresh beef and poultry, All fish and shellfish, Hot dogs and luncheon meats (For anything prepackaged or prewrapped, check labels for additives)

GRAINS, SEEDS, AND STARCHES
Quinoa, Rice, Buckwheat, Chickpeas, Flax, Sunflower seeds, Cornstarch, Potato starch

CONDIMENTS
Vinegars (but not malt vinegar), Mustard, Ketchup, Horseradish, Jams and jellies, Honey, Maple syrup, Relish, pickles, olives

BREAKFAST FOODS
Cream of Rice cereal, Puffed rice, puffed corn, Gluten-free cereals, Gluten-free frozen waffles

BAKING SUPPLIES
Sugar, Salt and pepper, Herbs and spices, Evaporated or condensed milk, Corn meal, Tapioca, Baking soda, Baking powder, Gluten-free flours, Baking chocolate, Cocoa

BEVERAGES
Coffee and Tea (but check the gluten-free status of flavored coffees and teas), Soft drinks, Fruit juice

NUTS AND BEANS
Dried beans and peas, Plain nuts, Peanut butter, Almond butter, Cashew butter

Here is the all the words associated with gluten.

•Abyssinian Hard (Wheat Triticum duran)
•Avena (wild oat)
•Barley (Hordeum Vulgare)
•Barley malt, barley extract
•Beer, ale, porter, stout, other fermented beverages
•Blue Cheese**
•Bran
•Bread flour
•Broth**
•Bulgur (bulgur wheat, bulgur nuts)
•Bouillon
•Cereal (cereal extract, cereal binding)
•Cracker meal
•Croutons
•Couscous
•Dinkle***
•Durum***
•Einkorn, wild einkorn***
•Emmer, wild emmer***
•Edible starch
•Farina
•Farro***
•Filler
•Fu
•Flour (Including but not limited to: all-purpose, barley, bleached, , bread, brown, durum, enriched, gluten, graham, granary, high protein, high gluten, oat, wheat, white)
•Germ
•Gluten, Glutenin
•Graham Flour
•Hordeum, Horderum vulgare
•Hydrolyzed oat starch, hydrolyzed wheat gluten, hydrolyzed wheat protein
•Kamut ***
•Malt, malt beverages, malt extract, malted milk, malt flavoring, malt syrup, malt vinegar
•Matzo (Matzah)
•MIR (wheat, rye)
•Miso (may contain barley)
•Mustard powder**
•Oats, oat bran, oat fiber, oat gum, oat syrup*
•Oriental wheat
•Rice malt, rice syrup, brown rice syrup**
•Rye
•Soy Sauce**
•Seitan
•Semolina
•Spelt***
•Sprouted wheat
•Tabbuleah
•Triticale
•Udon
•Vital gluten
•Wheat, wheat berry, wheat bran, wheat germ, wheat germ oil, wheat grass, wheat gluten, wheat starch, whole wheat berries

4

I don’t do 100% gluten free, but I avoid all processed wheat. The only bread that doesn’t spike me is Eziekel Sprouted grain bread. Even the gluten free breads spike me. There are lots of gluten free support and recipe blogs online. I get a lot of my low carb recipes from them and just sub out the sugar. I do feel better and have lost lots of weight.

5

Gluten can also be an ingredient in lipstick. Reduced gluten won’t help if you have Celiac Disease. Any gluten even in the most minute amount will cause a reaction. The good news is that if you do have CD & go gluten free, healing yourself of symptoms only takes about three months.

6

Hi Kari,

I am a type 1 myself and have a blog with all gluten free (and grain & fruit free) recipes. Check it out at http://www.paleogirls.com. I have other articles there as well, but you can search just for recipes :slight_smile:

7

Everything I find online though says that MOST people with CD experience certain symptoms, but that some experience less severe symptoms or experience no symptoms. So I don’t know that ‘a reaction’ will always necessarily be caused by consuming a small amount of gluten.

celiac.com says ‘the signs and symptoms of celiac disease vary among individuals, ranging from no symptoms, few or mild signs and symptoms, to many or severe signs and symptoms.’

The Mayo Clinic’s website also says that some people may experience no gastrointestinal problems even with CD.

8

One sign may be that you just feel better, more energtic by eliminating gluten. You said that it might help with some symptoms you’ve had in the last few months. What are those symptoms?

9

Fatigue, bloating, gas, nausea in the mornings (which only lasts about an hour, but it’s happening about 4x a week)

10

Hi Kari. I’ve probably had Celiac Disease all my life, but it became apparent at the same time that I was diagnosed with Diabetes about 18 years ago. This is a really good discussion on Celiac. If you want to continue discussions at a later date, we have two groups: “Celiac and Diabetes” and “gluten free diabetics”. Best luck.

11

Those symptoms could be due to any food sensitivity, but gluten is a good place to start.