Gluten free
Many people begin a gluten free diet for different health reasons. This may mean that they decide to reduce or exclude gluten foods from their diet to lighten the load on their digestive organs, or for conditions such gluten intolerance, Coeliac Disease or inflammatory bowel diseases.
In the beginning this may seem an overwhelming and hard decision to make due to the dietary restrictions, but in fact today there are many foods catered especially for Coeliac's or people with gluten intolerances.
For example there is a range of foods from Orgran, Leda or Freedom Foods or alternatively contact the Coeliac Society in your state and they will send an information pack detailing foods and ranges to avoid as well as recipe ideas.
It is also a good idea to buy the book the Additive Code breaker as it reveals food ingredients that are derived from gluten.
It is currently estimated that approximately 1:100 people in the Australian population have some sort of gluten related intolerance.
Foods that contain gluten are:
- wheat
- rye
- oats
- barley
- and to a lesser degree spelt and kamut
Gluten is the protein component found in these grains and many people do not have the digestive capacity to process them efficiently.
Many digestive complaints are improved if gluten is excluded from the diet, such as bloating, constipation, wind, pain, diarrhoea and undigested food particles in the stool.
Gluten free grains:
Most gluten free grains you may already be familiar with, such as rice and corn. However, there are other exotic grains readily available in health food stores which are also gluten free such as:
- Quinoa
- Rice
- Corn (maize)
- Tapioca
- Buckwheat
- Millet
- Sorghum
- Teff grain
- Amaranth
Other gluten free nuts, seeds and legumes:
And still there are other nuts, seeds and legumes (found as flours) which can be used in cooking breads, pastas, cakes and biscuits to provide better nutrition and Gluten free variety. These are:
- Almond flour
- Arrowroot
- Chickpea (besan)
- Lentils
- Carob
- Coconut flour
- Job's tears
- Soy
- Sesame
- Sunflower seeds
- Chestnuts
- Potato flour
Helpful gluten free resources
Gluten free foods
Orgran www.orgran.com
Freedom Foods www.freedomfoods.com.au
Basco www.basco.com.au
Gluten food guide
Additive Code breaker - getwell.com.au or amazon.com
Introduction to food intolerance - fedupwithfoodadditives.info
Coeliac disease
Coeliac Society - www.coeliac.org.au