Last week I talked about what circumstances someone might want to stop eating gluten in Gluten – what is the big deal?
So I thought it would be helpful to provide guidance on what you need to think about if you have decided to see if gluten is causing symptoms you are experiencing.
The process:
Remove all sources of gluten for up to 6 weeks, and then reintroduce different sources of gluten week by week to see if any symptoms reappear. For example, the 7th week you eat only gluten bread and record your symptoms. Week 8, you stop eating bread and start eating gluten pasta. Repeat until necessary.
Sometimes certain foods can cause symptoms while others do not, so it is important to see what foods specifically cause you discomfort.
Learn what contains gluten
Grains that contain gluten include:
- Wheat
- Spelt
- Rye
- Barley
- Malt
- Wheat starch
Foods that contain gluten:
- Beer and ale
- Bread
- Bulgar wheat
- Cakes
- Cereal
- Cookies/biscuits
- Crackers
- Flour
- Gravy
- Pastry
- Soy sauce
- Most packaged snack bars, crisps etc
Make sure you check ingredients lists for sources of gluten. I would recommend checking all sauces, spreads and packaged foods as gluten containing ingredients are often in these products.
Focus on what you can have
Rather than dwelling on what you can’t have, focus on what you can have. Remember this is temporary to see if symptoms improve. And if your symptoms do improve, you are gaining so much more than you think you are ‘losing’.
Here are grains that are gluten free:
- Rice
- Quinoa
- Oats
- Buckwheat
- Amaranth
- Corn
- Lentils
- Potatoes
- Sweet potatoes
Gluten free flour – here is a little tip of mine, if you are living with diabetes and want to stick to brown flours that digest slower, opt for brown rice flour, amaranth flour, or simply put some oats in a blender to make your own. The gluten free four alternatives from free-from isles will be white flour and could contribute towards sugar spikes. So sticking to brown rice, oats and amaranth may help to keep your sugar levels more stable!
Get organised
Write a shopping list: Write a shopping list or save online shops to make sure there are always meal and snack options. There is nothing worse than being hungry and having nothing available. This also makes it more likely you will give up and consume something that contains gluten!
Find the free-from isle: In every supermarket there will be an isle that has all of the free-from products. There will be an alternative for pretty much anything here, so make sure you know where it is to make your life easier!
Keep track: I’m going to be completely honest, some gluten free products are horrible! But with that in mind, it is really important to keep a list of the free-from products that are delicious (they do exist I promise!).
Find some awesome recipes: Or swap ingredients from your old recipes! For example, I always use brown rice flour for cakes, pastry and sauces, and red lentil pasta.
I also recommend purchasing the cook book ‘How to make anything gluten free’ by Becky Excell. This will help with both gluten free cooking and baking 🙂
Thank you for reading how to remove gluten from your diet! I hope you found this useful and if you decide to give gluten free a go, good luck! Be sure to subscribe and follow me on Instagram!
If you liked this post, be sure to check out My Type 1 diabetes diagnosis story! and Apple and Blackberry Crumble
