I’ve always believed that the most important way to improve the lives of people with Celiac Disease is simply to increase awareness among those in your area.   One way to do this is to keep handy a list of facts about Celiac Disease.   If you’d like to review the latest statistics about Celiac Disease, the University of Chicago maintains a useful Celiac Disease fact sheet (PDF), which can easily be downloaded and stored on your computer.

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My recommendation would be for you to check out the Essential Gluten Free Shopping Guide by the team over at Cecelia’s Marketplace.   This book is considered a “must have” among the Celiac community and many people have come to rely on it while doing their shopping. 

Here is the description of the Essential Gluten Free Shopping Guide, according to Amazon:

Voted the ‘Best Seller’ on Gluten-Free Mall and the Celiac website. Frustrated in trying to find Gluten-Free Products in your grocery stores? Tired of calling food manufacturers and guessing on nutrition labels? Well, help is here! Introducing Cecelias Marketplace Gluten-Free Grocery Shopping Guide! This easy to use 4.5″ x 6.5″ book is a list of over 25,000 gluten-free alphabetized products. Popular brands like Heinz, Kraft, Del Monte, Frito Lay, as well as supermarket chains, such as Kroger, Wal-Mart, Publix, Safeway, Walgreens, and more. Just pick a product, look it up, and all the gluten-free brands are at your fingertips. Unlike CD-ROMs or gluten free computer software, this book is easy to carry to the grocery store for easy product confirmation anytime, anywhere. The book easily fits in one’s purse or back pocket. Either take this book with you or make your grocery list before you leave the house. This guide is not only designed for people with a celiac disease, gluten intolerance and gluten sensitivity, but excellent for family members, friends, chefs, dieticians, or others that needs to prepare gluten-free meals or learn about gluten-free products. In addition, Cecelia’s Marketplace Gluten Free Grocery Shopping Guide includes ‘Gluten-Free Kitchen Tips’ which gives family members, friends or chefs specific tips on how to avoid gluten contamination in the kitchen. As an added bonus we have also included 1,500+ ‘over-the-counter’ pharmacy products which included antacids, pain relief, hair care, supplements, vitamins & minerals, and more. This book is a must have in making gluten-free living easier!

If you spend a few minutes looking through the book reviews on Amazon, you’ll see what I’m talking about.   I’m not sure a book could possibly get better reviews!  

Note:  It looks like the 2009 version of the Essential Gluten Free Shopping Guide will be out shortly, but as of today it has not been released.  We will update this post with a link to the newest version once it is available.  In the meantime, you may want to add it to your Amazon wish list or pre-order it so you get it once the newest version becomes available!

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For a complete and current list of ingredients, you’ll want to check out Gluten Free Ingredients and Gluten Ingredients.  These two sites were built specifically for tracking food ingredients!

Ingredients That Contain Wheat:

• Anything with the  “wheat” in it (except buckwheat which is gluten free)
• Flours (unless the product says gluten free flour, or is made purely from a non-gluten source, like rice flour)
• Most baked goods including muffins, cookies, cakes, pies (see Gluten Free Recipes for gluten free versions of these products)
• Bread including wheat bread, white bread, and “potato” bread
• Pasta, pizza, bagels
• Durum
• Farina
• Bulgur
• Matzoh
• Cous-cous
• Semolina
• Emmer
• Eikorn
• Farro
• Graham

Known Relatives of Wheat:

• Barley
• Beer
• Malt flavoring, syrup or extract (found in most commercial cereals)
• Malt vinegar
• Rye
• Spelt
• Kamut
• Triticale

Ingredients That Do Contain Gluten:

• Oats (due to cross-contamination with wheat) – see the Truth about Celiac Disease and Oats for additional information.
• Brown rice syrup (often made with barley)
• Dextrin (usually made with corn, but sometimes made with wheat; maltodextrin is okay)
• Mono and dyglycerides
• Caramel color (most likely gluten free if made in USA)
• Modified food starch or modified starch (if it does not specify what kind of starch – confirmed modified corn starch is okay)
• Hydrolyzed or textured plant or vegetable protein (if it does not specify a plant/vegetable that is gluten free)
• Vegetable gum (source is unknown, but carob bean gum, locust bean gum, cellulose gum, guar gum, gum arabic, gum aracia and xanthan gum are gluten-free)
• Natural and artificial flavorings
• Seasonings and seasoning mixes

Glutens That Are Commonly Missed by New Celiacs:

• Soy sauces (some are okay, but most contain wheat), teriyaki sauces (which contain soy sauce), oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, and many types of marinades
• Commercial cereals (most are made from wheat and/or have malt flavoring which comes from barley)
• Flavored coffees or teas
• Imitation seafood (if ordering sushi, make sure that they use real crab)
• Imitation bacon
• Packaged bacon (some brands contain soy sauce)
• Processed meats
• Mexican food (some places buy marinated meats that contain soy sauce; corn chips are sometimes cooked in same oil as fried flour tortillas)
• Soups, stews, bisques, anything made from a “roux”
• Anything breaded, floured or marinated
• Some blue or green-veined cheeses
• Medicines — go to Gluten Free Medications for a current list
• Lipstick and any other non-food items that are likely to be ingested by accident (babies and kids who put hands in mouth).  Common examples include playdough, lotions, pastes, etc.

Confirmed Gluten Free Foods (okay to eat!):

• Corn, including polenta (verifyother ingredients that may have been added)
• Rice, including risotto (verify other ingredients that may have been added)
• Potatoes
• Amaranth
• Buckwheat
• Montina
• Millet
• Tapioca
• Quinoa
• Teff
• Sorghum
• Soy
• Distilled vinegars (including red, white and balsamic; malt vinegar is not ok) – Some people prefer to avoid vinegars made from gluten-containing grains
• Distilled alcohol (unless gluten containing flavorings are added) – Some people prefer to avoid alcohol made from gluten-containing grains

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