Grain on the Brain: Get Familiar with Gluten Free Grains

Understanding how to properly interpret gluten-free claims and certifications is one thing, but fully understanding which ingredients to stay away from is a whole other field you must familiarize yourself with when starting a gluten-free diet. A product may claim to be gluten-free or a product may appear to be gluten-free, but it’s always important to check the ingredient list just in case.

CHECK FOR THE MAIN GRAINS CONTAINING GLUTEN

Wheat, barley, rye, malt. Keep an eye out for oats, too. Oats are naturally gluten-free, but are more often than not cross-contaminated with wheat. Make sure that if the ingredient list includes oats that they are specifically labeled as gluten-free oats.

In a world where it seems like nutritionists are discovering the newest, healthiest ultra grain every week, there are several other grains you could stumble upon that you may assume or guess to be gluten-free. However, it’s always better to safe than sorry. We recommend reading this list from Very Well Fit featuring 7 sneaky grains that you’d think are gluten free, but really are not.

When it doubt, you can always reach out to the company themselves to get the truth about their gluten claim.

GLUTEN-FREE

  1. Rice
  2. Buckwheat – The name may throw you off, but buckwheat does not contain wheat and is natural gluten-free
  3. Tapioca
  4. Sorghum
  5. Millet
  6. Teff
  7. Quinoa
  8. Amaranth
  9. Oats specified as gluten-free

GLUTEN-FILLED

  1. Wheat
  2. Wheat Varieties
    • Spelt
    • Kamut
    • Farro
    • Bulgar
    • Semolina
    • Durum
  3. Barley
  4. Rye
  5. Malt
  6. Einkorn
  7. Freekah
  8. Cross-Contaminated Oats or Oats Not Specified as Gluten-Free