New To The Diet.

[Sam Bell]

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed the other day with a gluten allergy. Not as bad as Celiac I'm sure, but it's still been effecting me pretty badly for a while. I just had a question about some things and was curious as to whether or not they contained gluten or would impact me in any way. I'm new to all of this so when reading the ingredients lists I've mostly just been looking for any kind of mention of "wheat" and am not sure what else to look for. Today I had Reese's peanut butter cups, popcorn and grilled chicken strips, among other things that I knew explicitly labeled as gluten-free. I've been feeling rough the past few hours so I took a closer look at the ingredients and saw things like "dextrose" and "caramel coloring" and I'm not sure if those would effect me or not. Could anyone help me out and let me know if these are things to avoid? I'm thinking that maybe my body just needs time to adjust to the new diet and that's why I'm feeling pretty off, but I'm not sure since it's all so new to me. I also thought I saw somewhere that lactose intolerance could go hand-in-hand with a gluten allergy, but I'm not sure how certain that is either. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm honestly kind of overwhelmed right now.

[mushroom]

Hi Sam, and welcome.

I assume you are talking about gluten intolerance or sensitivity rather than a gluten allergy. I don't think there is any test for an an actual allergy to gluten as there is to say wheat. So yes, you would be looking to avoid anything that contains barley and rye, as well as wheat. Anything in the US that contains wheat must clearly state so, but barley is not required to be listed and rye is in very few foods, so barley is one to watch most closely for. It generally shows up as a sweetener, and also, of course, in beer. If you check out this link

https://www.celiac.com/celiac-disease/safe-gluten-free-food-list-safe-ingredients-r181/

you will find lists of foods that do and do not contain gluten which will be a good starting point for you. And if you are searching for a specific food, google it on here and there is probably a topic on it. Barring that, an email or a phone call to the company's 800 number is the way to go.you will find lists of foods that do and do not contain gluten which will be a good starting point for you. And if you are searching for a specific food, google it on here and there is probably a topic on it. Barring that, an email or a phone call to the company's 800 number is the way to go.

Healing is not an overnight process; gluten has done its damage and it will take a wile for your gut to start functioning properly, I'm afraid, so you will have to be a bit patient. Also, you may go through a kind of withdrawal from gluten for the first couple of weeks or so, but push through to the other side. Go easy on raw foods right now and try eating things that are easy to digest, no rough skins like on apples an tomatoes, corn kernels, etc. And go easy on the processed gluten-free foods - a whole foods diet that you prepare yourself is best - shop around the edges of the supermarket for meat, fish, veggies, fruits, and only sneak into the middle for some rice, perhaps some Tinkyada pasta and some Udi's bread.

Good luck on your gluten free journey.