Sneaky Gluten containing foods

Sneaky Gluten containing foods: 

Everyone with Celiac knows to avoid things with wheat, barley or rye.  However, there are things that are sneaky.  Foods such as the basic soy sauce contain large quantities of gluten. 

 Sauces: For soy sauces, use ones marked gluten free or ones that have never contained them.  La Choy Soy sauce doesn't contain gluten and costs the same as regular soy sauces. Watch things like Worcestershire, Teriyaki, BBQ, ketchup, mustard, liquid smoke and many others.  Some do use gluten while others do not. Also watch flavored Mayo's. 

Flavoring: Vanilla, Almond, lemon and such can contain gluten.  Carefully read the ingredients.  It does not need to be marked gluten free but it does need to be checked.

Tea: Yes regular in a bag or loose leaf tea may contain gluten.  Why? This is a question that has never been answered for me.  I found this one out the hard way. Watch Celestial seasoning and Bigelow as they have gluten in some of their flavors. 

Candy: Everyone should know to stay away from anything with cookies in it.  However, licorice, some caramels, hard candies and those types should be checked.  For example Werther's original do contain gluten and should not be eaten by those with celiac.  They hide it in the type of syrup used.

Ice Cream: Blue bunny and some others contain gluten and should be watched carefully.  The only ones nearly guaranteed to not contain gluten are Sherbet and Gelato.  Avoid anything with cookies or cookie dough, also some candy bar flavors.

Alcohol: Everyone should have figured out that most beer contains Gluten; however did you know that flavored vodka can have gluten in it as well.  It is true that most distilled alcohol is gluten free but that doesn't mean they cannot add it for flavor later.  Also avoid wine coolers and flavored beverages as they tend to use malt. 

Cereals: Things like Rice crispies should be gluten free right?  Nope, they add malt flavorings, wheat starch and other ingredients to make it unfriendly to those of us who are unwary.  Carefully read all ingredients, and stick with the boxes that say gluten free on them.  Being gluten free doesn't mean costing more, most Chex, fruity pebbles and many others are listed correctly as gluten free. They are safe and cost the same amount as other cereals. 

Cheeses: yes even the safety of dairy products is denied, while regular hard cheeses "Should" be fine I am talking about things like cottage cheese and cream cheese.  Makers tend to slip gluten into the mix for flavor or texture enhancers. Sneaky peoples, also watch sour cream and creamers.

Spices: I personally didn't think to change out my spices when I went gluten free.  Well many contain wheat flour used to make sure that the spices don't clump together.  I have noticed this especially in things like white pepper and pie spice.  This was a nasty lesson to learn since they are not the most used spices in the rack.  Make sure you read the ingredients on each spice you buy, also it was time to get rid of most of them anyway right???

Salad Dressings: I love the words modified food starch in my dressings, it means I can no longer eat it.  Most food starches are gluten based and should be avoided.  If it says things like modified corn starch or modified rice starch you are safer and should check the rest of the ingredients. 

Broth: things like Campbell's chicken broth are now off the menu for many of us.  Why? Please see the answer I gave for the tea.  They contain gluten and should be avoided.  Also many Bullion flavors contain gluten.

Cooking sprays: These can contain gluten as a way to keep your food from sticking to the pan.  Make sure yours is gluten free before using it.

Canned foods: Some canned foods will add gluten to improve the flavor or it is mixed in a sauce that is added to the items.  Check all canned foods before buying or consuming.

Snack Chips: Things like Doritos are misleading since it is a corn chip, corn chips should be safe.  They are not, some corn chips add wheat flour to them for texture and others contain gluten in the flavor mixture.  So far the only gluten free Doritos is the cool ranch flavor and who knows what that factory looks like.  Make sure that you carefully watch the "corn" and "potato" chips that you eat.  

Cross contamination.  Avoid fryers that make more than one food type, if you go out to eat and your dining partner snags your drink after eating gluten, you are going to need another drink.  If your household is not gluten free, you may need your own butter, mayo, jelly, and toaster since those items are easily contaminated.

These are all the items I have personally gotten into over the last year, things that I didn't think would contain gluten have made me sick, hopefully by writing this at least one person will avoid the same mistakes I have made.

For more tips on sneaky gluten free foods please check out

http://xgfx.org/the-big-cupboard/sneaky-gluten/
http://www.fuelingyourfitness.com/top-ten-sneaky-foods-that-contain-gluten/
http://vegetarian.lifetips.com/cat/62075/gluten-free-foods/index.html