Breaking Down Food Labels for a Gluten Free Diet Plan
When on a gluten free diet plan, particularly for celiac disease or gluten intolerance, it’s essential to read food labels. Even seemingly innocent foods can contain gluten. Yet how do you decipher the food label jargon? We’ve compiled a list of ingredients that commonly indicate the inclusion of gluten, aside from the obvious wheat, rye, barley, and most oats. Carrying a list of foods and ingredients to avoid can help you navigate the grocery store aisles with ease. Here are a few terms that you should steer clear of:
- Soy Sauce
- Teriyaki Sauce
- Whole Meal Flour
- Wheat Grass
- Vegetable Broth: Not all broths contain gluten. It’s best to read ingredients carefully. The same goes for stock cubes.
- Chicken Stock
- Caramel Coloring: Again, not all caramel coloring is made with gluten. It depends upon the manufacturing process.
- Dextrin
- Abyssinian Hard
- Wheat triticum durum
- Amp-Isostearoyl
- Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Wheat Starch, or Wheat Gluten
- Barley Hordeum vulgare
- Atta Flour
- Malt: including Barley Malt, Malted Milk, Malt Vinegar, Malted Barley Flour, Malt Flavoring, Rice Malt, and Malt Extract.
- Bleached Flour
- Bran
- Bread Flour
- Brewer’s Yeast
- Brown Flour
- Bulgur Wheat
- Cereal Binding
- Chilton
- Club Wheat
- Triticale: Avoid anything with this prefix or suffix.
- Triticum: Avoid anything with this prefix or suffix as well.
- Kamut
- Spelt
- Couscous
- Durum Flour
- Semolina
- Graham Flour
- Crisped Rice
- Disodium Wheatgermamido Peg-2 Sulfosuccinate
- Dinkle
- Einkorn
- Emmer
- Farina
- Farro
- Filler
- Fu
- Germ
- Granary Flour
- Groats
- Hing
- Hordeum Vulgare Extract
- Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein
- Maida
- Macha Wheat
- Matza, Matzah, or Matzo
- Meringue
- Meripro 711
- Mir
- Nishasta
- Perungayam
- Roux
- Seitan
- Rusk
- Suet in Packets
- Tabbouleh
- Udon
- Wild Einkorn
It is also wise to check with a manufacturer before ingesting food with artificial coloring and flavoring, clarifying agents, baking powder, emulsifiers, enzymes, food starch, glucose syrup, plant or vegetable protein, HPP, HVP, miso, mixed tocopherols, stabilizers, vegetable gum, protein hydrolysates, and any sort of starch.
While this list may seem intimidating, most of these ingredients are found in highly processed foods. Sticking to fruits, vegetables, gluten-free whole grains, lean meat, fresh dairy, and other whole foods, ensures that you can eat a delicious, balanced gluten free diet to lose weight and maintain your health. Try our recipes so that you don’t feel deprived. Keep a copy of these ingredients with you so that you can take the guesswork out of your trips to the grocery store. Knowledge and preparation are the keys to successful gluten free living.
