Food & Fitness

Even though going gluten-free can be difficult, you still have many food choices! Focus on eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products (those that do not have gluten-containing additives), beans, eggs, nuts, and lean meat, poultry, and fish.

There are still many healthy whole grains and starchy carbohydrate foods to choose from that do not contain gluten:

• Amaranth
• Arrowroot
• Beans (kidney, black, soy, navy, pinto, etc.)
• Buckwheat
• Corn (look for pure corn tortillas)
• Flax
• Gluten-free baked products (made from corn, rice, soy, nut, teff and/or potato flour)
• Kasha
• Millet
• Potatoes (sweet potatoes are best)
• Quinoa
• Rice (brown or wild rice is best)
• Sorghum
• Soy
• Tapioca

Keep Counting Carbs

It is still very important for those who follow a gluten-free diet to count their carbs and take insulin/medications in balance with their carbs. Continue to follow your diabetes meal plan but replace foods that have gluten with other healthy carbohydrate sources.

Be aware that some gluten-free products that you buy in the store will have a different amount of carbohydrate than the usual product (for example, a piece of gluten-free bread is usually higher in carbohydrate than whole wheat bread). It is very important to check the serving size and the number of carbs in each serving size.

Next: Gluten-Free Meal Ideas

You can find resources and organizations that deal specifically with gluten-free issues by searching for "gluten-free" or "celiac disease" in your favorite search engine.