How to eat when you have celiac disease

Eating a gluten-free diet isn’t easy. But if you take your time to read labels and ask questions, you can stay on a gluten-free eating plan.

Foods to avoid

Do not eat any foods that contain gluten. These include foods made with wheat, barley, rye, or triticale (a wheat-rye cross). Common foods that contain gluten include:

• Bagels.
• Bread.
• Breakfast cereals made with wheat, barley, or rye, or that have the term “malt” or “malted” in their names. Malt is made from barley.
• Crackers.
• Pasta.
• Pizza.

Avoid all beer products unless they say they are gluten-free. Beers with and without alcohol—including lagers, ales, and stouts—contain gluten unless they specifically say they are gluten-free.

Avoid oats, at least at first. Oats may cause symptoms in some people, perhaps as a result of contamination with wheat, barley, or rye during processing. But many people who have celiac disease can eat moderate amounts of oats without having symptoms. Health professionals vary in their long-term recommendations regarding eating foods with oats. But most agree it is safe to eat oats labeled as gluten-free.

Carefully read food labels. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that if a food sold in the U.S. is labeled gluten-free, then it must contain less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten. Look for hidden gluten. Foods such as ice cream, salad dressing, candy, canned and frozen soups and vegetables, and other processed foods may have hidden gluten.

Foods you can eat

On a gluten-free eating plan, you can still have:

• Eggs and dairy products. Some milk products may make your symptoms worse. If you have questions about milk products, ask your doctor. Read ingredient labels carefully. Some processed cheeses contain gluten.
• Flours and foods made with amaranth, arrowroot, beans, buckwheat, corn, cornmeal, flax, millet, potatoes, gluten-free nut and oat bran, quinoa, rice, sorghum, soybeans, tapioca, or teff.
• Fresh, frozen, or canned unprocessed meats. (Examples of processed meats to avoid are hot dogs, salami, and deli meat.) Read labels for additives that may contain gluten.
• Fresh, frozen, dried, or canned fruits and vegetables, if they do not have thickeners or other additives that contain gluten.
• Certain alcohol drinks, including wine, liquor (including whiskey and brandy), liqueurs, and ciders.

When you eat out, look for restaurants that serve gluten-free food. You might ask if the chef is familiar with cooking without any gluten. Also look for grocery stores that sell gluten-free pizza and other foods. The Internet can be another source of information on gluten-free foods.