Beyond Know How

Most products made from wheat, rye or barley flour will contain gluten. It may seem as though eating gluten free is as simple as eliminating these foods from your diet permanently. If it was a matter of avoiding wheat, living gluten free would not be an issue. But gluten is used in so many other products that living gluten free can become very complicated. Luckily there are plenty of gluten free foods that you can eat on a gluten free diet. Just about every regular gluten-containing food has been made in some fashion without gluten. Xanthan gum is usually used in these foods to give the elasticity that is lost with the removal of gluten. Some people don’t like the taste of xanthan gum, but I’ve never been able to notice it.

If you’ve been having stomach or GI tract problems lately, a gluten allergy may be the cause. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and sometimes in oats, and some people have an allergic reaction to the substance. Gluten allergy information is not always easy to find, it essentially means that you have to eat a gluten free diet. This diet will completely avoid all sources of gluten, which can be found in surprising places. Any sort of commercial bread product or pastry product is sure to have been made from wheat flour, which is the number one source of gluten. You can make your own gluten free bread, using brown rice flour, that is better than what you’ve gotten used to eating.