Ever wondered if meat is gluten free? It's a question that I'm asked frequently and the answer might surprise you! Join me as I discuss the misconceptions around gluten absorption in grain-fed animals and provide reassurances that plain meat is, indeed, gluten free. However, it's not all cut and dry as some meats can contain gluten.
I share a personal story, recounting a gluten encounter with bacon from a local butcher, reminding us of the continuous vigilance necessary for managing celiac disease.
Practical suggestions, like opting for pre-packaged meats with clear gluten-free labels, can help avoid unintentional gluten consumption.
Learn more about Ultimate Celiac System here
www.belindawhelan.com/ultimateceliacsystem
Join my free community and grab your copy of 11 Mistakes People Make Living Gluten Free here www.belindawhelan.myflodesk.com/11mistakes
Check out my Daily Health Tracker here
HEALTH TRACKER | The Healthy Celiac (belindawhelan.com)
And I would love to connect with you on Instagram thehealthyceliac
If you have a spare moment, please pop over to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review. Thank you!
Music Credit bensound.com
Ever wondered if meat is gluten free? It's a question that I'm asked frequently and the answer might surprise you! Join me as I discuss the misconceptions around gluten absorption in grain-fed animals and provide reassurances that plain meat is, indeed, gluten free. However, it's not all cut and dry as some meats can contain gluten.
I share a personal story, recounting a gluten encounter with bacon from a local butcher, reminding us of the continuous vigilance necessary for managing celiac disease.
Practical suggestions, like opting for pre-packaged meats with clear gluten-free labels, can help avoid unintentional gluten consumption.
Learn more about Ultimate Celiac System here
www.belindawhelan.com/ultimateceliacsystem
Join my free community and grab your copy of 11 Mistakes People Make Living Gluten Free here www.belindawhelan.myflodesk.com/11mistakes
Check out my Daily Health Tracker here
HEALTH TRACKER | The Healthy Celiac (belindawhelan.com)
And I would love to connect with you on Instagram thehealthyceliac
If you have a spare moment, please pop over to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review. Thank you!
Music Credit bensound.com
Welcome back to this week's episode of the show. Now, today's topic is something that comes up over and over again, and every time someone asks me this question, they always start with this probably sounds like a silly question, and I'm a big believer in. No question is a silly question If you don't know the answer to something or you feel uncomfortable about asking it. Don't worry about that, because the best way to learn is to ask questions. Think back to when you were a child. That's how you learn. You ask questions. By doing this, you find out more. So the question that I get asked all the time is is meat gluten-free? And there's two parts to this and we're going to cover that off in today's episode.
Speaker 1:So meat in itself. So the problem that people can't wrap their head around is that most animals eat grain fed product like they fed grain, rather, and people are concerned that when those animals eat the grain, that when you then go and eat the animal, that you're consuming that grain. But that's not how it works. So it's something that you actually don't need to be concerned about. So let's just say your meat that you purchased from, say, the butcher or your supermarket. That meat, if it's plain and has nothing on it, then it's safe. It's not something that you need to be concerned about because that animal is not absorbing any gluten proteins into the actual meat itself, so that is not something that we need to worry about. So I hope that answers that question. But when it comes to meat, you can still buy meat that has gluten in it, and this is why I bang on all the time about reading labels and finding out what is in your food, because sometimes, yes, you will find that there is gluten in your meat, and there's some products that we need to worry about more than others, and some that are pretty much you can guarantee that they'll be fine. So let's talk about that and figure out what you need to be concerned about.
Speaker 1:So, for me, I have always been very careful with everything, and up until about three years ago, we were buying bacon from our local butcher and we would get it all the time, and we got so comfortable with the fact that we knew the bacon was gluten free that we stopped asking. You know we were going there so regularly. We stopped asking if the bacon was gluten free, and what happened was I started to feel uncomfortable. I started to feel like I was getting very slight gluttening symptoms, but they weren't as severe as if I would normally get gluttened and they would happen. They would disappear, they would come back. And it turned out that the butcher had stopped making their own bacon and they were buying the bacon in from another supplier and that bacon was injected with a wheat liquid, making it no longer gluten-free. And it was only by fluke that I found this out and I kicked myself that I'd stopped asking and I'd become complacent. I'd become so comfortable because I've been living with celiac disease for such a long time at that point and I felt confident in my butcher that I forgot to ask. I just stopped asking and it's a fantastic reminder and it's been really great for me as well to no longer be complacent and to still ask.
Speaker 1:So you may find that some bacons will have a wheat liquid injected into it. A lot of hams have the same thing, because these are classes like a processed meat, so they are definitely something worth checking. I no longer buy my meat like that from the butcher my loose bacon. I buy it packaged with a gluten-free label on it so that I know 100% that it's safe and that you know the butcher hasn't this wheat, got it from someone else or they've made it, I don't have to worry about it. It's just another thing that I can double check the label and it's safe.
Speaker 1:Now, when I very, very first got diagnosed with celiac disease, I didn't have that much of a clue about what I was doing and I remember my best friend and I catching up for lunch and she offered to bring over some food, made sure that she had to, you know, make sure it was all gluten-free, check everything, read all the labels, look for everything that was safe. And when she got here she said to me I was going to buy us a roast chicken. So here in Australia it's quite common to buy a roast chook, as we call it, and you can get it from the supermarket. And I have fond memories of roast chooks. They are delicious, they smell amazing and I honestly thought that I could just pull the meat off it and it would be safe if I avoided the stuffing. So, so naive, absolutely no idea in my very early days about celiac disease and gluten-free. Like it took me a while to get there, but anyway. So when she asked if they had any gluten-free roast chickens at the deli section of the supermarket. They said to her even if we had some roast chickens without the stuffing, they're still not safe because we inject a wet liquid into them to keep them plump and moist. So many people wouldn't know that.
Speaker 1:So, again, it's not as simple as just buying something, avoiding the stuffing if you're getting a roast chicken and thinking that you'll be safe. So we do need to make sure that these weak liquids aren't being pumped into the meat that we're purchasing. And it's for that exact reason that they're doing it, so that the meat remains tender and moist. And some people also say it's very cheap to inject water into meat to make it weigh more so they can charge more. Okay, they could well. They don't charge more as such. They're charging for the water weight rather than the weight of the meat. So it's very sneaky if that's the real reason why they're doing it or you know just another reason and perhaps combining those two. So it is important that we make sure that, when we're buying things, that this weight liquid isn't injected into the food that we're purchasing.
Speaker 1:If you are purchasing something that's packaged, it should have an allergen warning on it to let you know, because wheat, being one of the top allergens, has to be labeled. So if it's not packaged, so let's just say you go to a Deli Catescent and there's all the different meats out you may decide that that's not the safest option for you. Some people will buy meat from a Deli and they're okay with it, but again, you need to make sure that each particular item in that Deli Catescent is gluten-free. So that can involve asking the person that is going to package it up for you to go and check the packaged item out the back, make sure it is labeled gluten-free and that it's safe for you. Some people are concerned with the fact that another piece of meat may have dropped into the tray that that one was in, so you can request to have it sliced separately for you. For a while there, our supermarket did have a dedicated gluten-free slicer, but they've since stopped doing that, which is quite a shame. I'm not sure what happened there, but they did used to offer that option. But, like I said, we avoid that and we just buy the packaged bacon now, just so there's no risk and it's completely safe. So that is definitely something to look out for when you're buying those types of Deli meats. You know your hands, your bacon, your turkey, that type of the sliced turkey, those types of things.
Speaker 1:Now, when it comes to packaged meat, it's just important to look for what you are buying, what is in that product. So we do buy some seasoned products. So we shop at a variety of different supermarkets. I don't know about you, this has just become normal for me since having celiac disease that we shop at probably three different supermarkets and their butcher. So we do get our plain meats from our butcher and we shop at various supermarkets because they offer different products and different price points. So we do buy some meats from Audi, and Audi does a great range of different seasoned chickens and they seem to be really popular with my kids and they always get eaten and they're excellent value, but they are not all gluten free. So it's a matter of you know making sure that those ingredients that are being added to the meat are actually gluten free, but we don't need to worry about the plain meats, okay. So the plain chicken, like I said, if you buy, say, chicken breast that's packaged and it should just be chicken breast, if there's no other additives, there's nothing changed to that chicken breast. You can be rest assured that that is a safe option, okay.
Speaker 1:So if in doubt, always just ask. You can ask the question. You can ask the staff to double check for you. You can contact suppliers. You can contact the supermarket. You can ask questions. It is okay to ask questions. Please don't ever feel like you know you're being silly or you're being a burden or it's a problem, because it's not. It is always your health at stake and it is always important to make sure that you are eating safe, gluten free food. So I hope that answers the question of is meat okay for gluten free? Is it safe for us with Celiac disease, and to help you kind of think about what you should be looking for when purchasing meat. So thanks so much for tuning in and I will look forward to sharing more with you next week. Have a great week and I'll talk to you then. Take care bye.