Gluten Free Foods List Software For Pda?

[Greg56]

Hi,

I just found this forum and am really excited about it. I am just starting the process of eliminating gluten from my diet and have quickly discovered how big of a job this can be.

I am wondering if anyone could advise me of a downloadable list of gluten free foods (all categories) so I can put it in a text editor on my PDA and then when at the grocery store I would be able to search the list for any items I might wish to buy to see if they are gluten-free.

I have found a PDA and computer application from Clan Thompson for doing exactly what I am asking but it is a bit spendy for me. It may be well worth the price if I only could know from people who have tried it whether or not it is worth it.

TIA,

Greg56

[melmak5]

This doesn't directly answer your question, but some stores have lists of gluten free products they offer... ex. Trader Joes and Whole Foods both have lists you can download from their website.

The thing that is tricky about this is you still need to be in the habit of double checking labels.

Companies can change product ingredients and not necessarily note it on the front of the package.

There are other tricky/confusing items like:

Rice Dream - some of their products are labeled "gluten free" but contain barley enzymes

You may also find things that are labeled gluten free, but your body still has a reaction to them due to cross contamination (I had this problem with Utz potato chips)

It can feel overwhelming and is a lot to start and it would be AWESOME for someone to hand over a list of things and say "these are safe - GO!" but you still have to double check and be careful.

That said, a few people on this forum have complied lists of vendors/companies that will fully disclose if there is gluten in their products as well as "safe" items but not do sound like a parrot here, ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK.

Welcome and hopefully good health is around the corner!

[Greg56]

Thanks melmak5,

I did finally decide to buy the onetime download of the database of gluten free foods from Clan Thompson for my Palm PDA. I think it will help out a lot. It gets updated 4 times a year but you need to pay $60 for the annual subscription. I just paid $30 for the onetime, current database and will see how much I use it. It does have 18,500 food entries of gluten-free foods. Some are listed as maybe (Unknown) and some as definitely (gluten-free) but each has an explanation of the source etc. so you are able to make informed decisions.

It will be nice to walk into a store, see an interesting product, then look it up on the spot to see if it has been okayed. At least I think this should be useful. I am very new to this.