When you begin the gluten free diet, a very difficult and an important task is knowing which foods contain gluten. Foods that contain gluten are very common in our society and are just about everywhere you look.

Breakfast

Breakfast is possibly the hardest meal to go gluten free in. There are many breakfast foods that contain gluten and it is essential that you know what to avoid. Basically all foods that contain bread are bound to contain gluten and thus should be avoided. Most cereals also use wheat products and thus are not gluten free so you should try to make sure you read the labels and eliminate any that contain wheat products from your diet. A short list of some common breakfast foods that contain gluten is as follows:

• Waffles

• Pancakes

• Most cereals (check packages)

• Baked Goods

o Muffins

o English muffins

o Bagel

o Croissants

o Biscuits

• Pastries

o Strudel

o Scones

o Cannoli

• Toast

• Banana bread

• Oatmeal

Lunch & Dinner

Breakfast is definitely the hardest to go gluten free but lunch and dinner can also be very difficult. Many sandwich foods are out of the question due to the wheat in the bread and this can cause some people to have to really change their normal lunch foods. You also can’t have the buns on common foods like hamburgers and hot dogs so those may be out of the picture unless you eat them without the buns. Most French fries and other sides are not gluten free so you want to be careful to look at the ingredients of the side dishes that you eat with lunch and dinner. Here is a short list of some common lunch and dinner foods that contain gluten:

• Sandwich breads

• Hamburger and hot dog breads

• Pasta

• Pizza

• Noodles

• Breaded chicken

Snacks and sweets that contain gluten

The snack and dessert food group also possesses many foods that contain gluten. Most cakes, cookies and cupcakes contain gluten and thus should be avoided whenever possible. There are the occasional gluten free cakes but those are hard to come by. For snacks, many crackers, doughnuts, chips and breads are filled with gluten.

Conclusion

There are many foods out there that you want to avoid putting on your gluten free grocery list but once you get the knowledge and experience that you need, it will be easier to live the gluten free lifestyle. On the positive sides, foods with high nutritional value such as fruits and veggies do not contain gluten so following the diet will not necessarily hurt you nutritionally but you have to make a conscientious effort to watch what you eat.