Gluten-Free Simplicity

Way #33: Memorize Basic Word Clues that Indicate Gluten is Hidden in Food Ingredients in order to Get Closer to Gluten-Free Simplicity.

  There are a few basic words that one might run into on a U.S. food label that indicate that Gluten is probably hidden in the ingredients.  If one memorizes these few words, one can probably avoid a lot of unnecessary gluten exposure.

  One might benefit however, from a little simplification of these words and this concept in order to more readily apply it to every day life in the supermarket.

  According to a website by Jackson / Siegelbaum Gastroenterology   there are a few words on food labels that may indicate gluten is in the product.  These are:

• “Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP) , unless made from soy or corn
• Flour or Cereal products, unless made with pure rice flour, corn flour, potato flour, or soy flour
• Vegetable Protein unless made from soy or corn
• Malt or Malt Flavoring unless derived from corn
• Modified Starch or Modified Food Starch unless arrowroot, corn, potato, tapioca, waxy maize, or maize is used
• Vegetable Gum unlessvegetable gums are carob bean gum, locust bean gum, cellulose gum, guar gum, gum arabic, gum aracia, gum tragacanth, xanthan gum, or vegetable starch
• Soy Sauce or Soy Sauce Solids unless you know they do not contain wheat” from http://gicare.com/Diets/Gluten-Free.aspx.
• There has been some concern over the term “Emulsifiers“  but I have yet to see a “for sure” that this is a sure indication of gluten.
• Other words to watch for that may or may not indicate Gluten content are “Stabilizers” and “Thickeners“.  Just remember that NOT all of these contain Gluten.
• There is also a great list of “Unsafe Foods” prepared by Scott Adams and published on Celiac.com.

Try and follow these steps in order to readily apply this information to a shopping trip.

1. Notice the 10 words in red (above).  These are the major buzzer words that should make you pause as you read the food label.
2. In order to memorize these 10 major buzzer words.  Consider constructing a word-tree or some sort of memory-bulding device such as this regarding a Grocery List from OneSmartClick.com.   Also, here are some tips from MSNBC and from the Brain Fitness Channel on memory tests and maintenance.
3. Next, notice that following each of the first seven major buzzer ingredients in red above there is the word “unless“, which is underlined and in italics. 
4. Note that the ingredients listed after each “unless” are anything BUT wheat. 
5. So, from here it is easy.  When reading food labels, let the words you have memorized in RED be your buzzer, then simply read along after each is noted on an ingredient panel to determine whether or not this time, it contains Wheat, Rye, Barley or Oats.  

  OK, I know this may not be as easy as I made it seem just now.  But if you try it, you will find out just how easy it was for you.

  I did and it has helped a lot.  It helped simplify my Gluten-Free Life Quest.

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