Gluten-Free All-In-One For Dummies. Dummies Consumer

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Chapter 1

      Gluten-Free from A to Z: The Basics of Being Gluten-Free

      You may not be feeling it, but you’re lucky to be looking into the gluten-free lifestyle now, when you’re much less likely to receive a quizzical look when you ask questions about food. It wasn’t long ago that people hearing about gluten would ask whether you meant glucose and finding gluten-free products on typical grocery shelves was the stuff of science fiction.

      These days, gluten-free-ness is one of the fastest-growing nutritional movements in the world – and for a lot of good reasons. People everywhere are feeling healthier, more energetic, and finding relief from a range of illnesses and discomforts, like celiac disease and even menopausal symptoms. This chapter gives you a basic rundown of what living gluten-free is all about.

      What Is Gluten, Anyway, and Where Is It?

      Gluten has a couple definitions; one is technically correct but not commonly used, and the other is commonly used but not technically correct. For the purposes of most of this book, here’s the common definition: Gluten is a mixture of proteins in wheat, rye, and barley. Oats don’t have gluten but may be contaminated by having been processed on the same equipment as gluten-containing grains, so they’re forbidden on a strict gluten-free diet, too.

      You can find lots of information about what you can and can’t eat in Chapter 4 of Book I, as well as a detailed listing of safe and forbidden ingredients at www.celiac.com or other websites. But you need to have a general idea of what kinds of foods have gluten in them so you know what to avoid. Foods with flour in them (white or wheat) are the most common culprits when you’re avoiding gluten. The following are obvious gluten-glomming foods:

      But along with these culprits come not-so-obvious suspects, too, like licorice, most cereals, and some natural flavorings. When you’re gluten-free, you get used to reading labels, calling manufacturers, and digging a little deeper to know for sure what you can and can’t eat.

      You have to do without those foods, but you really don’t have to do without. There’s a subtle but encouraging difference. Food manufacturers make delicious gluten-free versions of just about every food imaginable these days. You find out more about those options and where to buy them in Book II, Chapter 3.

      You may see lots of labels proudly declaring a product to be wheat-free (some of which, like spelt and kamut, aren’t really wheat-free at all). When something says it’s wheat-free, it doesn’t mean the food is gluten-free.

      

Gluten is in wheat, but it’s also in rye and barley – and most people don’t eat oats on the gluten-free diet, either. So something can be wheat-free but still have other gluten-containing ingredients, like malt, which is usually derived from barley. In that case, the product is wheat-free but not gluten-free.

      Anyone who’s spent more than a day on planet Earth has been barraged with messages hailing the virtues of wheat – especially in its whole form. Wheat and other grains hog most of the food pyramid(s), suggesting you should eat gobs of it, and it’s touted as a good source of fiber and nutrients. Wheat does provide some health benefits, but you can find those benefits in other food sources, too. So how can wheat be at the root of so many health problems?

      For three reasons, wheat may not be the key to perfect dietary health: