If you have celiac disease, or that disease of the digestive system which hampers the absorption of the nutrients from the food you eat, you might want to find ways on how to avoid gluten, as gluten is not tolerated by your body.
If you have celiac disease and you eat foods with gluten and even use products with gluten, your immune system will react to it, damaging the small villi or hair-like projections in the walls of your intestines that are responsible of the absorption of nutrients from the food you eat. With the damaged villi, you will end up malnourished even if you eat a lots of food each day.
This condition can also lead you to anemia, and may develop complications such as osteoporosis, diseases of the liver, and cancer as well.
If you have celiac disease and you want to know how to avoid gluten, here are a few tips you might find useful.
- Have a diet free from wheat. Cereals such as wheat are rich in gluten thus you have to avoid them. Aside from wheat, barley and rye are also gluten-containing. It also includes other wheat products such as wheat bran, cracked wheat, wheat starch and even wheat protein. Einkorn, kamut and spelt should also be included in your list of not-to-eat foods.
You may also be fooled by other wheat products such as flour - from the bromated ones to enriched flour, white flour, semolina and even the plain flour.
Breads, muffins, cakes, biscuits, cookies and pastas contain gluten as well, so you may want to avoid them too. Custards, gravies and others sauces and soups may also have used wheat to thicken them. Barley water drinks also contain gluten as well as malted drinks also have gluten.
Keep in mind that gluten may not just be present on the usual foods that we think are made of wheat, barley or rye. Gluten can be hidden in some other products such as in sausages and luncheon meats, in soups, in soy sauce, fish paste, salad dressings, certain brands of chocolate, gravy powders, as well as in malt vinegars and white pepper.
The best way of course on how to avoid gluten is to avoid these foods and check the label. Some countries have allowed labeling of the gluten-free products and that makes it easier for you to get a gluten-free diet. However, keep in mind that some food items may not contain ingredients that contain gluten but fillers, binders, thickeners and other things used in its preparation may contain the gluten.
Remember too that gluten is not just about food. Beauty products such as lipsticks, lip balms, lip gloss, as well as vitamins and supplements may also contain gluten, which can also be difficult to spot.
Although it is always wise to consult a dietician when it comes to identifying every food and product that has gluten, you can however identify some basic foods and products that contain gluten so you can avoid them as early as possible and research on reliable sources some detailed information on the products that you should avoid.
Author Resource:-
Carolyn Anderson is an advocate of healthy living. For a guide to help you have a gluten-free diet, check out Essential Gluten Free Guide. Also check out Raw Secrets, a great guide to help you on a healthy and nutritious vegan diet.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.massagebyben.com/articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites 