Shopping for Gluten Free Living
If you or someone in your household has celiac disease, you have to find foods that are gluten free to prevent the painful and inconvenient reactions that happen when the gluten protein is consumed. With this autoimmune disease, gluten triggers the body to attack the intestines when it is consumed, causing diarrhea, muscle cramping, and abdominal pain. Not only is the reaction uncomfortable, but it can happen at unpredictable times, depending on the intestinal activity of the sufferer. In order to avoid these occurrences, some precautions while shopping is necessary.
Your first choice in your shopping adventure should be fresh fruits and vegetables, not canned products or prepared foods. Nature takes care of its own, and those are the choices that do not contain gluten. Lean meats, such as chicken, fish, and turkey are also good choices. If you want pork or beef, be sure the fat content is low, and steaks and chops have been trimmed to remove excess fat, since the animal fat can contain glutens consumed by the animal before butchering. You have to avoid any foods that contain rye, wheat, barley, oats, or malt flavorings. However, depending on where you shop, you can find some prepared foods that are gluten free.
The biggest thing to remember is to read labels. Some products, such as rice cereals or flours, state they are gluten free. But some can contain gluten levels above the recommended level of 20 parts per million (ppm). In most cases, someone with celiac disease needs foods that are less than 10 ppm to avoid severe reactions to the gluten protein. Processed foods often contain flavorings that contain malted wheat or barley in order to thicken sauces. These are usually above the recommended levels, although the label may say “gluten free.”
There are lists available of the different food additives that contain gluten, but they are extensive. Your best option is to choose the foods that nature has given us, rather than the foods that are created for your convenience. Although food preparation times may be longer, you have to consider the consequences of eating those foods that have that hidden enemy in them. Even small amounts of gluten can cause havoc, so it is important to know what you put in your body, and how it will react. That ground turkey hamburger on a lettuce bun will be a better choice than that fatty beef burger from a fast-food restaurant. That is, if you want to avoid a lot of suffering.
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