What do you mean I can't eat that????

You may have realized by now that an overwhelming number of products on the local grocery's shelves contain gluten.  I know, it's staggering.  My very best advice for becoming gluten-free is to ditch the processed food completely and just eat whole foods in their natural, as God intended, state and avoid wheat in all it's forms.  Eat the apple as an apple not as Apple Jacks.  But being as this mindset is not always realistic, and since we all crave less than healthy treats on occasion (can you say pumpkin pie? cheesecake? creme brulee?), it's good to be mindful of those gluten containing ingredients.


The Obvious Culprits
Gluten is the protein component of wheat, barley, rye and triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye).  It's what gives baked goods their structure - in other words, it's what helps bread be light and fluffy and full of lovely yeasty air holes.  Because of this desire to create the highest-rising baked goods, wheat has been bred in the last 30+ years to have higher and higher gluten content.  This may account for the rise in gluten sensitivity.

So the obvious culprits when looking at ingredients to avoid would be anything containing wheat, barley, or rye in all their forms.  But this is where it starts getting tricky; besides the obvious breads, pastas and baked goods made from wheat flours, there are many, many other forms of wheat including spelt, bulgar, graham, matza, kamut, semolina, etc. 


The Sneaky Ingredients
Many processed foods contain ingredients derived from wheat or one of its cousins.  For example, most malt and malt flavorings come from barley.  Soy sauces, despite its name, is brewed from a combination of soy and wheat (tamari soy sauce is often gluten-free, read the label first though).  Beer contains barley (and sometimes wheat), and many alcohols are distilled from rye or wheat.  Bummer, huh?


I thought about compiling an exhaustive list of gluten-full foods and ingredients but honestly, it's already been done.  See the Unsafe Gluten-Free Food List from Celiac.com.  For a more basic version, see Checklist of Foods and Ingredients to Avoid in a Gluten-free Diet from dummies.com.


Here is a quick list of foods to avoid or carefully read the ingredients list before consuming:
Bread & bread products
Traditional baked goods like cookies, cakes, doughnuts & pies
Candy
Bread crumbs including planko crumbs
Crackers
Chips
Canned sauces & gravies
Gravy mixes
Spice mixes
Pre-mixed marinades & sauces (for example, teriyaki)
Soy sauce
Breakfast cereals (cold & hot)
Pretezels
Pizza crusts
Frozen pie crusts
Phyllo dough
Pasta
Imitation crab meat
Stuffing
Refrigerator biscuits & rolls
Cookie dough
Croutons
Salad dressings
Canned soups especially cream soups
Soup mixes
Biscuit and bread mixes
Cake mixes
Cereal, energy & protein bars
Protein & energy shakes
Malted products
Ice cream cones
Lunch meats & hot dogs
Puddings