Gluten free foods do not have to be special products. There are many naturally gluten free foods that celiacs can enjoy every day. For instance, fresh fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, eggs, and most cheeses are free of the gluten proteins that make celiacs sick.

Ingredients in processed gluten free food products are free of harmful glutens unless the product or ingredient is accidentally contaminated during processing or handling. As an example, rice flour ground in the same mill as wheat flour may be contaminated with wheat gluten. Always check labels and ask vendors and manufacturers about the possibility of cross-contamination.

Remember that it’s important to avoid cross-contamination of your gluten free food when preparing it at home.

The following are gluten free foods, unless accidentally contaminated:

• Amaranth
• Arrowroot, arrowroot flour
• Baking soda
• Beans and bean flour
• Buckwheat and buckwheat flour
• Cassava (manioc flour)
• Chickpea – garbanzo, besan, channa
• Corn or maize – as meal, flour, starch, hominy grits, masa farina
• Cream of tartar
• Dal or dahl – a legume from India
• Dasheen – eddo or taro
• Distilled alcoholic beverages – rye, scotch, gin, vodka, bourbon, rum (See Canadian Celiac Association for additional information regarding updated legislation and labelling laws. https://www.celiac.ca/living-gluten-free/food-labelling/alcohol-and-labelling-in-canada/
• Eggs – if fresh
• Flax
• Fish – if fresh
• Fruits – if fresh
• Gelatin
• Green pea flour
• Gums – arabic, carob bean, carrageenan, guaica, guar, karaya, locust bean, xanthan
• Herbs – when packaged separately from other herbs and spices
• Invert sugar
• Kudzu
• Lecithin
• Legumes: seeds of plants, including:
  • Channa
  • Chickpeas
  • Gram
  • Lentils
  • Peanuts
  • Peas
  • Soya
• Malt sugar or maltol
• Maltodextrin
• Maltol (a sweetener not related to malt)
• Maltose
• Mannitol
• Millet
• Molasses
• Mustard flour (ground mustard)
• Nuts – which have not been salted or seasoned
• Poi – taro
• Potato
• Potato flour
• Potato starch
• Quinoa
• Rice – whole, bran, starch, flour, polishings
• Rice flour (glutinous, sweet)
• Sago – from palm trees
• Sorghum – a grain like corn
• Soya – bean, flour
• Soya starch
• Spices – when packaged or bottled separately from other spices
• Sugar
• Sweet potato – fresh and flour
• Tapioca – flour, starch
• Teff – a grass seed from Africa
• Tofu – made from soybean
• Vinegar – white, wine, balsamic, and apple cider
• Wine
• Xanthum gum
• Yam
• Yeast

For complete information on the gluten free diet, go to the Canadian Celiac Association web page and click on the heading: Living Gluten Free.