Reading Food Labels?

[Glutenbola]

I recently got diagnosed with celiac disease, I am going to be starting my diet soon and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I know to look for things that say gluten-free on them but, what about labels? What if you're not sure if something is gluten-free and you have to look on the back of the box for the side of the box for labels? What do I look for? I know I can't have wheat but that's basically it. Like I said, I'm new at this whole thing so, if anyone can help me just let me know! ☺️

Thanks !

[kareng]

Here is a good place to start -

 

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/91878-newbie-info-101/

 

 

Basically the things I see most often - Wheat, rye, barley, malt, barley malt, oats (in a product not labelled gluten-free, need gluten-free oats), spelt, couscous, soy sauce (should list wheat somewhere in the ingredients & some don't have wheat like San J).

[Glutenbola]

Thank you SO much ! (: big help !

[HappyMom623]

For me in the beginning, I ate whole foods like meat, veggies, eggs, fruit and cheese (assuming no other allergies). This helped me heal and not have to worry about labels. After that, I bought ONLY from the the gluten free isles in my grocery store. It was more pricey, but it eliminated a lot of worry. 3 years later, and I'm still learning things I can and can't have. Sadly, as much as I like cashews, almost all brands still make me sick. :-(

[Glutenbola]

I'm sorry to hear about that but... Thank you so much for the help! I hope you find some cashews you can eat! Lol (: maybe Google will have some answers for you on how to make your own?

[cap6]

Start off with good whole foods like meat, veggies and fruit.  Season with some herbs.  This way you don't have to worry about any ingredients - those foods are naturally gluten free. Plus whole foods, without any added ingredients, are easier to digest and help with a healing gut.  This way it makes it a whole lot easier to determine if a particular food is bothering you (other than gluten of course!!)

[JennyD]

Seconded on all of the replies above with one addition. There is an app called "The Gluten Free Scanner" that scans bar codes and lets you know if the item is gluten-free or gluten-free with a chance of cross contamination, etc. I don't rely on this solely, I will still scan the label for the key words (Wheat, Malt, etc.) but if the scanner (which has about 60% of the items I have scanned) and the label check out I feel a bit safer buying the foods I am not sure about. I hope this helps!