You need to be careful when you shop, as grains, especially wheat and corn, can be found in an incredible variety of forms in processed foods—hidden as additives, thickeners, coatings, or cheap “bulk.” Avoiding foods containing hidden grains can be difficult because wheat and corn, in particular, come in some tough-to-recognize names. You will be shocked at how many processed food products contain grains—frozen dinners, bottled salad dressings, dry salad dressing mixes, seasoning mixes, canned soups, instant soup mixes, candy bars, licorice— the majority of foods filling the aisles in supermarkets.
So it is important to recognize these aliases to remain safely grain-free. Of course, the best way to avoid hidden sources of grains is to eat whole foods that don’t require labels in the first place, such as vegetables, eggs, and meats. But on those occasions when you need something with a label, such as premixed salad dressing, mayonnaise, even ketchup, it’s important to be aware of such hidden sources of grains. Also note that many medications and nutritional supplements contain wheat or corn.
Here are the not-so-obvious foods and ingredients that are really wheat. A question mark (?) following an item means it is either variable or uncertain (given manufacturers’ reluctance or inability to specify the source).
Caramel coloring (?)
Caramel flavoring (?)
Dextri-maltose
Emulsifiers
Farina (often in hot cereals)
Fu (gluten in Asian foods)
Gravy
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
Maltodextrin
Modified food starch (?)
Panko (a bread crumb mixture used in Japanese cooking)
Roux (wheat-based sauce or thickener)
Seitan (nearly pure gluten used in place of meat)
Stabilizers
Textured vegetable protein (?)
There are hundreds of common food ingredients derived from corn, such as dextrose, dextrin, maltodextrin, high-fructose corn syrup, fructose, maltitol, polydextrose, ethanol, caramel coloring, and artificial flavorings, that will not be identified on the label as being corn-sourced. However, the process to generate these products from corn reduces zein protein content to negligible levels, so they are generally not a problem for grain exposure for the majority (though these ingredients, especially sugars like fructose, pose problems of their own). Because of the many ways that corn-derived ingredients can make their way into processed foods, the best policy for the ultrasensitive is to avoid processed foods as much as possible.
To see a more comprehensive list of hidden sources of grains look in the Appendix sections of both Wheat Belly Total Health and Undoctored.
Fructose. What negative effect on my blood our overall health does this have?
Anthony Santo wrote: «Fructose. What negative effect on my blood our overall health does this have?»
About the same magnitude as glucose, but along different metabolic pathways. It’s particularly sinister because it doesn’t show up at all on BG (blood glucose) meters.
Perhaps the most recent discussion of fructose is: Fructose—A wolf in sheep’s clothing
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Phytoestrogen foods as a replacement for gluten free and nightshade free diet made my weigh go up and stay up. Exercise didn’t work to reduce. Once I left out the phytoestrogen foods (good foods, clean foods, just tipped towards too many phytoestrogen food items), I felt lighter, lost pound after pound and found that I could eat again – but with a different focus, avoiding phytoestrogen foods.
Now those food items, work great for other women. They utilize the phytoestrogen foods in a way I did not. That’s what I noticed. I’ve been clean living for over one year (1), nearly two years, and then made this final adjustment. It’s easy, it’s picky – but hey, I am happier knowing this topic and you have to offer. Just another work-around.
Little Ava wrote: «Phytoestrogen foods as a replacement for gluten free and nightshade free diet made my weigh go up and stay up.»
Can I ask what program you are describing? It doesn’t sound like Wheat Belly or Undoctored, and I can think of other programs which emphasize phytoestrogen food, and where, yep, weight gain would be a risk (among other things).
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These emails are incredible!
Really trying our best in our household to eat foods label free. Since reading Wheat Belly, I have become obsessed with label reading. I lost 35 pounds and feel fanstastic. Those pounds are going to saty off!
Youmstate that many medications and nutritional supplements have grain or corn derivatives in them. Can you be more helpful? How do we determine if our supplements and meds have these?
Nancy wrote: «How do we determine if our supplements and meds have these?»
Meds and supplements tend to be little different from processed foods with respect to adverse ingredients.
The top priority with meds, of course, is to get off them where possible. That makes the issue just go away.
With supplements, and unavoidable meds, the same skill set is required as for processed foods. A discreet Gluten Free claim is always welcome. In the Supplement Central study I did last year, I identified several things to beware of in supps.
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“… the best policy for the ultrasensitive is to avoid processed foods as much as possible.”
I get the point, but that statement really applies to everyone, ultrasensitive or not.