Getting Started!!

I have struggled with adhering to a gluten free and vegetarian diet for some time now.  Call it laziness, rebellion, denial.  It doesn't really matter.  What does matter is that I take care of myself so that I can take care of my family.  So here goes!

I have learned a bit about what I need to do to get started in this and tips to stick to it, but I am just going to start at the beginning.

FIRST STEP - What is "Gluten" anyway??



Well, GLUTEN in Latin means glue.  Which makes sense when you learn more about it.  It's a protein composite (made of gliadin and glutelin) which holds things (like dough) together.  It's also used to thicken foods like soups, gravies and sauces.  There are rumors that it is used in things like envelope adhesive but the official word from the Envelope Manufacturers Association is the rumor is false.

Gluten (the kind made of gliadin and glutelin) is only found in plants which are "members of the grass family" in techinical-ese.  Corn and Rice have proteins that are called "glutens" also, but they are not what we are talking about here.

What am I supposed to avoid? What a tedious answer this question has.  And here I break for a side note.... WE ALL SHOULD READ THE INGREDIENT LISTS ON EVERYTHING WE EAT. There.  I said it.  Regardless of whether or not there is a food allergy, diabetes or you are perfectly healthy, READ THEM.  You are what you eat.  You should know what that is.

Well, back to what we were starting to talk about, the obvious names to avoid on that important list is
Wheat, Barley, Rye and Spelt, Durum, Kamut and Semolina.  But it doesn't stop there.  Here is a pretty comprehensive list from a great website www.gfreefoodie.com

Amp-isostearoyl hydrolyzed wheat protein

Barley, Barley grass (may contain seeds)

Barley hordeum vulgare

Barley malt

Beer (Ale, Stout)

Bleached flour

Bran

Bread flour

Brewer’s yeast

Brown flour

Bulgur

Cake flour (meal)

Cereal

Binding

Couscous

Dextrimaltose

Disodium wheatgermamido peg-2 sulfosuccinate

Durum flour

Edible starch

Einkorn

Emmer

Farina

Filler

Flour (usually means wheat flour)

Fu (dried wheat gluten)

Gliadin

Gluten

Graham flour

Granary flour

Groats (barley, wheat, oat)

Hard wheat

Hydrolyzed wheat gluten

Hydrolyzed wheat protein

Hydrolyzed wheat protein pg-propyl silanetriol

Hydrolyzed wheat starch

Kamut

Macha wheat

Malt (made from barley)

Malt Extract, flavoring, syrup, or vinegar

Malted milk

Matzo meal, semolina

Mir

Oat bran, oatmeal, oats, rolled oats, groats, flour

Oriental wheat

Pasta

Pearl barley

Persian wheat

Polish wheat

Poulard wheat

Rice Malt (if barley or Koji are used)

Rye

Seitan

Semolina Spelt, small

Sprouted wheat or barley

Stearyldimoniumhydroxypropyl hydrolyzed wheat protein

Strong flour

Suet (in packets)

Textured Vegetable Protein – TVP

Triticale (a wheat-rye blend)

Triticale X triticosecale

Triticum vulgare flour lipids, germ extract, germ oil

Udon (wheat noodles)

Unbleached flour

Vavilovi wheat

Vegetable starch

Wheat (Abyssinian hard, club, common, durum, timopheevi, bulgur, Shot)

Wheat bran extract, amino acids

Wheat berries

Wheat durum triticum

Wheat germ, germ extract, germ oil, or lipids

Wheat grass (may contain seeds)

Wheat nuts, protein or starch

Whole wheat, flour

Wild einkorn, emmer

Whew.. what a list.  So that great website (www.gfreefoodie.com) also lists a bunch of foods that also MAY contain gluten.  If you are at all unsure, make sure you avoid it completely...

Remember the G-Free Foodie rule for safe eating: “If you don’t know, then NO!”

• Anti-Caking Ingredients
• Artificial Color
• Artificial Flavoring
• Binders
• Bouillon, cubes or powder
• Broth
• Caramel
• Color, coloring
• Cereal
• Cheese/ Blue Cheese, Bleu Cheese (starting molds may be introduced on bread crumbs)
• Curry powder (spices sometimes contain undisclosed flour to improve flow)
• Demiglace
• Dextrins
• Emulsifiers
• Excipients
• Farina
• Fillers
• Flavor, Flavoring
• Food Starch
• Glucose Syrup
• Gluten
• Gum Hydrolyzed plant protein (HPP)
• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)
• Ketchup
• Leavening Maltodextrin
• Maltose
• Miso
• Modified Food Starch
• Mustard (wheat flour may be a hidden ingredient)
• Mustard Powder
• Natural Flavor, Natural Flavoring
• Rice Syrup (may use barley enzymes)
• Seasoning
• Shortening (possible added vitamin E from wheat germ)
• Shoyu (soy sauce)
• Smoke Flavoring
• Soba Noodles
• Sour cream
• Soup Base
• Soy Sauce
• Spices (may contain flour to improve flow)
• Stabilizers
• Starch
• Stock, pre-made Stock cubes or powder
• Textured vegetable protein (TVP, same as HVP)
• Tomato paste (hidden ingredients may include HVP)
• Vanilla or other flavored extracts
• Vegetable gum
• Vegetable shortening (possible added vitamin E from wheat germ)
• Vitamin E

Well, that seems like a good place to stop on Day One.  Good news is in the future though.  Once we know what we can't have we get to openly CELEBRATE all the wonderful foods that we CAN HAVE.  Being Gluten free, as I need to remind myself as I make this commitment, does not mean that I am in a prison cell.  It means I have the freedom to feel GOOD, to be HEALTHY and to ENJOY life as a result of putting my body first.

Until we meet again :-)

Nicole