Gluten in Foods You Wouldn’t Suspect

Gluten is a substance that’s frequently used for many purposes including providing certain textures, flavours and consistencies to food. Derived from barley, wheat and rye gluten as expected, it is commonly found in a lot of manufactured and preserved foods. But you’d be surprised at just how many items actually contain gluten in them as an ingredient that you might not even realise.

To safeguard you from its untoward effects and provide you with the gluten free knowledge needed to successfully pursue a healthy gluten free diet, here are some of the unexpected non gluten free foods you must take out of your pantry.

Oats:
Yes, it’s not gluten’s main source. But since it is prone to cross-contamination, it is not considered 100% gluten free.
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Instant/Canned soups and sauces:
This food item makes use of flour as thickener. And usually, that flour is made out of wheat.
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Condiments:
This shouldn’t be much of a surprise given the previous entry. BBQ sauces, bottled marinades, tomato pastes and even mustard make use of gluten as thickener and stabilizer. As such, you have to be vigilant about strictly using organic options. On that note, factory manufactured spices are also considered non gluten free foods.
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Preservative foods such as Candy/Lollies, Canned/dried Meats and Seitan (Wheat Meat):
It’s chewy. It’s artificial. And it’s preserved. Nothing screams non gluten free more than these characteristics. So don’t be fooled even though it doesn’t seem like such items would contain grains.
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Instant and concentrated drink mixes, as well as coffee alternatives.
It’s weird right? But these drinks are also packed with gluten since they contain malt based sweeteners. Malt is a derivative of barley.

Hopefully, this gluten free knowledge simplifies your transition to a more holistic diet and empowers you to be an active contributor to your well-being.