While being a celiac can improve your over-all health, it can be annoying when you run into the three most hated food items for wheat avoiders. Already restricted by almost a fifth of a regular diet, celiacs have even more trouble because they suffer from cross-contamination with wheat products. This means that every surface that a celiac’s food touches must be properly sanitized prior to cooking. Sometimes it feels like you can’t escape that pesky white flour. It’s in items you would never think of.
If you’re avoiding wheat make sure you’re reading every bag of gummy bears because even one of the most iconic brands, Haribo, could contain wheat. This item is even more frustrating because the ingredients list says that the dextrose could be from wheat or corn. There’s a huge difference between the two ingredients for a celiac. One could make you extremely sick and take you several weeks to recover from while the other is completely harmless.
Another annoying product for celiacs to avoid is soy sauce because it’s in so many marinades and sauces for meats. This ingredient is nearly impossible to dodge in a Chinese restaurant. They use this stuff on everything. It’s best to avoid this cuisine all together unless you prepare it yourself. Soy sauce is tough to exclude from a meat marinade in most restaurants so make sure to always notify the staff of your special dietary restrictions. Thankfully Kikkoman makes a gluten-free soy sauce for all your cooking needs at home.
Oh, and just forget about any soup because there is usually wheat in chicken broth. Regular enriched-wheat flour is also used to thicken some soups. Progresso makes a gluten-free chicken broth for soup at home but sadly eating that New England clam chowder on the deck of your favorite seafood restaurant is no longer a date night.
To learn more about what products to avoid, check out this really helpful article: https://www.healthline.com/health/allergies/gluten-food-list#foods-to-eat