Starting a gluten-free diet may improve your life and help your body function normally (or at least close to it), but it will also narrow down your choices when it comes to food. This is why a gluten-free diet should only be started AFTER a medical check-up and under the supervision of a doctor and/or nutritionist.
The gluten-free diet involves totally eliminating from your diet products which contain gluten. This includes all the products containing wheat, barley, rye and spelt, as well as derivatives from them. So, say goodbye to all wheat flour breads, sticks and cookies, forget about noodles and pasta and keep your eyes wide open when purchasing any ingredient or semi-prepared food from the counters of your store.
Lately, most of the final products from local stores and supermarkets have more ingredients than you may think of. Preservatives, colorants or different types of chemical substances are meant to improve the taste, looks or enlarge products validity. This is how some apparently gluten-free products may prove to be as harmful for celiac as a loaf of wheat bread. Sauce and salad dressings, chocolate, seasonings, substitutes for dairy products, natural flavorings, licorice, soy sauce, bullions and broths are only some of the hidden sources of gluten. So, never buy one product without carefully examining its label first.
Many alcoholic beverages and spirits are made up from or with cereals. Beer is probably the most famous drink you should give up when you are on a gluten-free diet. Other spirits obtained from fermented and distilled cereals should also be excluded from your list of safe products. Malt vinegar should also be banned from your list for good.
Other non-food products which may hide significant quantities of gluten include make-up (especially lipstick which ingested may damage your small intestine like any other major source of gluten), toothpaste, play dough and even envelop gum. Medicines, including some vitamins use sources of gluten as binding or filling. The bad thing about them is that their label does not always give that information. If your pills or vitamins do not explicitly state they are gluten-free, then it is advisable that you switch to another brand or call the company for further clarification.
A special attention should be given to oats. Even though oats is not a gluten source, many of the celiac sufferers have reported allergies or intolerance to oats. This is why many doctors advise cutting down oat and oat products from a celiac diet, at least in the incipient phase of the treatment. If there are signs that no side effect is caused by this cereal, it can be slowly reintroduced in your diet.
The gluten-free diet is life changing in most aspects. While it considerably improves the quality of living, it eliminates the health problems and gives hope where depression had settled in, it also increases the cost of food and narrows down the list with acceptable ingredients. Yet, with the number of gluten-free products which have appeared on the market and in the light of the new regulations which acknowledge celiac problems, the gluten-free diet is starting to become more and more accessible to all types of people.