Gluten-free foods
All Your Favorite Brands
- O’Dough’s
- Izzy’s
- Udi’s
- Maine Pie Co.
- Nantucket Pasta Goddess
- Against the Grain
- Blake’s
- Raised Gluten Free
- Blue Diamond
- Annie’s
- Amy’s
- Kinnikinnick
- Ian’s
- La Fabbrica
- Mary’s Gone
- Aleia’s
- King Arthur
- Bob’s Red Mill
- Wasa
- Made Good
- From the Ground Up
- Glutino
- Free for All
- Gratify
- Tate’s
- Goodie Girl
What is Celiac Disease?
Gluten is a protein found in all forms of wheat (including durum, semolina, and spelt), rye, oats, barley, and related grain hybrids such as triticale and Kamut.
When people with celiac disease consume gluten, the absorptive villi in the small intestine are damaged, preventing the absorption of many important nutrients. The long-term effect of untreated celiac disease can be life-threatening. However, with a completely gluten-free diet, the intestinal lining will heal completely, allowing most patients to live a normal, healthy life as long as they remain free of gluten in their diet. Even a small amount of gluten can cause symptoms to reoccur.
Although the gluten-free diet should be taken seriously, living and eating in the real world requires a sense of humor and a knowledge of both the diet and ingredients.
Stocking a Gluten Free Pantry
Gluten is hidden in many unsuspecting foods such as licorice, soy sauce, malt vinegar, some flavorings, most processed foods, self-basting turkeys, some cold cuts, and many prepared stocks and soups. Kinds of vinegar and alcohol that are properly distilled should not contain any harmful gluten. However, if additives have been added after the distillation process, they may contain gluten. Gluten is also used as a binder in some pharmaceutical products and can be the starch in unidentified food starch, modified food starch, caramel coloring, and hydrolyzed plant or vegetable protein. It’s also important to avoid products where the ingredients are of questionable origin or is listed as simply “natural flavorings, flavor extracts, or spice extracts,” as gluten may be used in processing them.