Wheat Free Diet
Gluten is the complex protein in wheat and some other grains. If the Doctor has recommended a wheat free diet you need to avoid the whole grain, not just the gluten, so check ingredients carefully.
WHAT TO AVOID (Always read the labels on packaged items)
Breads, buns, scones, pizzas, pancakes, biscuits, cakes, pastries, crisp breads, rusks, etc., made with, or including, either refined or whole wheat, wheat germ, bran, etc
Breakfast cereals containing wheat, wheat germ or bran
Flour-based thickeners in soups, stews, gravies and sauces
Most stock cubes
Battered and breaded foods
Products containing 'food starch' or modified starch (check the source as maize or tapioca) are alright
Semolina
Spaghetti, macaroni and other pastas from durum wheat
Bulgur (cracked wheat), couscous and spelt (ancient wheat)
Processed and tinned meats, corned beef, sausages, beef burgers, hamburgers, black puddings, etc., which may contain cereal
Monosodium Glutamate - E621 (flavour enhancer) in Chinese food, flavoured crisps, stock cubes, dried soups and sauces and processed foods
Soya sauce
Mustards and mustard powder
Some chocolates and other sweets i.e. liquorice, boiled sweets, seaside rock (may be rolled in wheat flour)
Some alcoholic drinks such as wheat beer, some whiskies, gin and some vodkas
Ground white pepper
Some mixed herbs, spices and seasoning mixes may contain wheat
Horseradish sauce
SUGGESTED ALTERNATIVES available from supermarkets and health food shops (Choose organically grown grains wherever possible)
Breads, cakes and biscuits made from rye, barley, corn, oats, brown rice, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, millet
German rye (pumpernickel) bread and rye crisp breads
Rice bran, soya bran
Puffed rice cakes and rice crackers
Corn, rice or millet crisp breads
Polenta
Barley couscous (not wheat couscous)
Porridge made from oats, barley, brown rice, and buckwheat also known as Saracen corn or millet
Puffed brown rice cereals, wheat free muesli, cornflakes, Millet rice (contains oats) e.g. (Nature’s Path and Pertwoods) from some supermarkets
Flour, e.g. rice, barley, rye, buckwheat, potato, soya, arrowroot, Quinoa, Arnaranth, Tapioca, cornflour (maize only), individual flours from health food shops or 'The Stamp Collection' flour, or Dove Farm flour from some supermarkets
Rice noodles
Buckwheat, barley, corn and rice pastas
Stock cubes - 'Just Bouillon' - additive-free - contains potato starch - available in supermarkets, Swedish Marigold
Soy Sauce – ‘Tamari’
Quinoa - substitute for couscous or rice.
Sago, Tapioca
Xantham Gum – used for wheat free baking.
Snacks
Humus:
Poppadums - made with gram/chickpea flour
Nuts/Seeds - pumpkin, sesame, pine nuts, sunflower seeds
Macaroons (made with ground rice and ground almonds)
Sesame seed sticks
Fresh or dried fruit
Plain crisps, plain tortilla chips
Useful Websites
Please note that any diets and dietary advice in the Patient Guidance section of our website are only intended for the patients attending our own clinics in Southampton and London. These diets are based on a recommendation made by one of the Centre doctors after an appropriate consultation. Our advice relating to use of a particular restricted diet is really only appropriate for individual patients who have consulted us and have been individually assessed by one of the doctors from the Centre and advised that they should follow a particular dietary regime. We do not recommend that people use restricted diets without proper medical supervision. We also recommend to our patients that they should not use a restricted diet for more than 6 weeks in the first instance without further consultation with us, as it may result in nutritional deficiencies. Sometimes food exclusion diets may be clinically effective in the long term, but their management will require a balanced nutritional approach.
We hope that visitors to our website who are not our patients will find much to interest them in this website; we aim to present useful, practical, considered and authoritative information on Complementary and Integrated Medicine. We strongly advise that you should not follow a restricted diet without proper medical supervision by a qualified practitioner.
