Phase 1 - Start Eating

Ready to go gluten free? Before you go out and rack up your credit card bill on gluten free specialty foods from your local health food store…read on.

Grocery Shopping

Keep things simple when you start out. Go back to basics and stick to foods that are naturally gluten free. Whole fruits, vegetables, meats, milk, eggs…make sure that the foods you are eating haven't been processed in any way. While it is unlikely that those pre-sliced mushrooms and the 1/4 watermelon are cross contaminated you don't actually know. That roasted pork? You're better off to roast your own for now. Rice *should* be gluten free, but you still have to check with the manufacturer unless the package is labelled gluten free. Lundberg makes (and labels) a lot of gluten free products, including rice.

A great rule of thumb to help you out with grocery shopping is to stick with Kraft. Kraft will properly label all of their products. If there is any risk of gluten cross contamination it will clearly be stated on their ingredients list as wheat, rye, oats, or barley. If you don't see any of these words on a Kraft product then you're safe. Kraft makes a lot of condiments so start reading labels on for salad dressing, Miracle Whip, peanut butter etc.

I don't recommend trying gluten free bread or flours right from the start. It might be more of a change than your body is ready for. It's best to introduce these foods slowly.

Kitchen Tools

Buy yourself a new cutting board and designate it as gluten free. Or if you already have a glass cutting board you can continue using it. Gluten is sneaky stuff and is impossible to get off of wooden or plastic cutting boards. Same goes for wooden spoons, colanders and scratched up frying pans. Buy yourself new ones if you need them. Stay away from those knives with the tiny serrations - those little grooves are a great place for gluten to grip onto.

I will be making some great product recommendations in upcoming posts.

Phase 2 - Remove the Obvious Gluten
Phase 3 - Try Some Gluten Free Grains
Phase 4 - Eliminating Cross Contamination in the Kitchen
Phase 5 - Removing Other Hidden Sources of Gluten
Phase 6 - Scour the Stores and Start Baking!

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