The Healthy Celiac Podcast
Hosted by Certified Health Coach, Belinda Whelan, who specializes in follow up care for women with Celiac Disease.
To find out how Belinda can support you, visit her website www.belindawhelan.com and while you're there be sure to download your FREE eBook '11 Mistakes People Make Living Gluten Free'.
For collaborations, please email me info@belindawhelan.com (no MLM opportunities please. 😊)
The Healthy Celiac Podcast
Hidden Gluten: 10 Foods You Didn't Know Were Risky Ep. 178
Can you be certain that your fave soy sauce or salad dressing is truly gluten free? In this episode, I uncover the hidden dangers lurking in everyday foods and stress the critical importance of reading labels every single time. From the unsuspected gluten content in processed meats to the concealed risks in French fries due to cross-contact, I expose ten common foods that can easily deceive you.
Learn why you must consistently check labels, even on products you think you know well, as ingredients can often change without notice.
Discover practical tips for navigating ingredient and allergy lists at popular spots like Starbucks and your local supermarket to ensure your choices remain gluten-free.
Find out how Ultimate Celiac System can support your Celiac journey here
https://belindawhelantraining.com/ultimate-celiac-system
Wish you could get gluten free meals on the table fast that the whole family will love? Check out Meal Plans Made Easy
https://belindawhelantraining.com/gluten-free-meal-plans-made-easy
Join my free community and grab your copy of 11 Mistakes People Make Living Gluten Free here https://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
Now, if you have ever been caught out by sneaky gluten in food where you just didn't expect it to be, then this episode is for you, and it's so important to learn about label reading and be checking your labels every single time you shop, because gluten can be sneaky and hide in places where you just never thought of.
Speaker 1:All right. So in today's episode, I want to cover off 10 really kind of common foods that trick people constantly. They are some foods that people don't think to check, unfortunately, and I wanted to talk about them just to highlight some of these key foods, I guess, so that you have more of an awareness and to remind you very much so how important it is to be vigilant and to be checking your labels every single time you shop. And, yes, that even includes when buying brands that you've purchased previously. And the reason for this is because some companies will change their formulations, they'll change their ingredients and sometimes foods that you've purchased previously can become no longer gluten free. So it's important to just do that double check every single time. It does become easier once you know how to read labels and let's just say you're purchasing a product that you've had once before and you know that's gluten-free. You are just quickly confirming that it's still gluten-free. You're not rummaging through the shelves trying to find one product in a sea of 10 maybe different products. So just to be vigilant and just a reminder to always be checking, all right.
Speaker 1:The first one is soy sauce. This catches so many people out because they just assume it is made from soybeans because obviously, being called soy sauce, it's very misleading. But the problem with soy sauce is most soy sauces are actually fermented with wheat. Okay, so any soy sauce that's made from wheat is a no-no. We do not want to be having that at all, whereas soy sauce can also be made gluten-free. So look for a gluten-free version and you'll be fine with that. If you buy a product that has soy sauce powder in it and it doesn't state that it's from wheat, then that is fine to consume, but just making sure that you're looking for that wheat ingredient because it is still full of gluten. So you need to make sure you rule out that soy sauce, all right.
Speaker 1:The second one is processed meats. So processed meats such as sausages and things like that, sometimes bacon. You might have heard me talk about this in a previous episode. So some processed meats have fillers and seasonings in them which come from wheat. So it's important to be asking at your butcher. It's important to be reading labels, looking for those ingredients and making sure that there's none of those added to those meats that you're purchasing.
Speaker 1:The next one is salad dressing. So salad dressing is a very easy one to slip by you, and there can be, you know, different ingredients within salad dressings that are made up of. You know gluten ingredients, and one of those is actually malt barley. So malt barley gets used quite a bit in salad dressings. So you can certainly purchase gluten free salad dressings. It's important to read those labels and look for them, or make your own salad dressings. It is so super cheap to make your own dressings. It's important to read those labels and look for them, or make your own salad dressings. It is so super cheap to make your own dressings and much healthier as well, because they have, you know, better ingredients in them. So that is an option as well, because we want to cut out as much of the nonsense out of our diet as possible.
Speaker 1:The next one one is gravy. So most gravies do have gluten in them. You specifically need to look for a gluten-free gravy. You will find that most of them do actually have wheat in them. So make sure you're reading your labels and looking for a gluten-free version. If you were eating out at a restaurant, you would probably need to avoid wheat-based gravies, because that's what most of them use. Some places do have gluten-free gravies. I've been very blessed to go to certain restaurants and pubs here in Australia and they've had the option of gluten-free gravy, so it's worth asking. So if you are eating out, absolutely ask the question is your gravy gluten-free? And if they are not sure, then you need to go without it or ask them to check for you. Or you might be really lucky and be told that yes, the gravy is gluten free. But if you're purchasing your own gravy in the supermarket, please again check the labels. Make sure that it's safe for you.
Speaker 1:All right, the next one, again for eating out. So French fries or hot chips, we like to call them here in Australia so can 100% be unsafe for us, and the reason for that is generally from cross-contact. So if you're purchasing French fries or hot chips and it's made in a deep fryer where they also deep fry something else that contains gluten grains so let's just say, maybe a schnitzel that's battered in gluten crumbs and they deep fry that and then they put the hot chips in that same deep fryer. There's that risk of cross contact from that happening. Some hot chips are also coated in gluten to stop them sticking together. So that's another thing to look out for, and a big one here in australia is chicken salt, so lots of chicken salts have gluten in them. So you just need to ask the questions and be looking for these ingredients and making sure that the person making those hot chips or those french fries is well versed in what is happening with them behind the scenes. It's also important when you're looking in a supermarket, if you purchase bags of hot chips to make at home, again just check the ingredients. Don't just assume that it's chopped up potatoes. There can be gluten in there to stop them clumping together. Some hot chips are processed where they're not even chopping up potatoes. It's all mushed up and things are added to it and then it's formed in the shape of a chip. So reading those labels, eliminating any forms of gluten whatsoever, making sure that's not listed on the label, all right.
Speaker 1:The next one is a category of foods and it's basically lollies or candy, you may, and chocolate. So unfortunately, gluten lurks in so many of these products and here in Australia it's like it's a mind game, really, like some of the brands. It's just ridiculous. It's in so many things, it's in so many products. A big company here in australia called cadbury has may contain gluten on so many of their products, whereas you know they're such a huge company they could make it a whole area where they just manufacture their gluten-free products and not have that may contain statement on there, but unfortunately there is that. But aside from the may contain, there are lots of different lollies and treats where gluten lurks, and a really big one is licorice. So it's hard to find gluten-free licorice. You can find it, but licorice has wheat in it generally. So it's important to be, you know, confident that the licorice that you're buying is safe and doesn't have that wheat added to it. So again, I'm just going to keep saying it Read those labels, read those labels, read those labels.
Speaker 1:All right, the next one is imitation seafood. So crab sticks have a wheat binder in them, so not a safe choice. I don't know if you could find imitation seafood meat or crab meat. I've personally not bothered looking because it's not something on my radar. I don't really like it. But if it's something that you like and you've never even considered this, it's a processed food, it's fake, it's not even a real like, it's not real seafood, it's just yeah. But if it's something that you do like and you do enjoy, please make sure that you're getting a version that is gluten-free. If you buy it from, say, a seafood stand or some butchers may sell it as well, ask the question, double check. If they don't know, I would not purchase it because it's more likely to have wheat in it than to not have it in it. So that's one that I would say just avoid. It's not worth it.
Speaker 1:The next one is soup mixers. So a lot of soup mixers do have gluten in them, whether that's the stock that is used in them or it's used as a filler. Again reading those labels, making sure that it's not in there. But you'd be very surprised how many soup mixers have gluten in them, and a lot of them also use pearl barley. So pearl barley is very common in soups. So again reading those labels, just going to keep saying it all right.
Speaker 1:The next one is spice mixers. So many spice mixers are made up of multi-ingredients and they have seasoning blends or they may have anti-caking agents in them and they can be derived from wheat, so there is a risk when buying them. You would think that you know purchasing a thing of seasoning should be safe and all the rest of it, but not the case. Read the labels, make sure that there's no gluten containing ingredients on the label and you'll be sweet. So definitely worth checking. All right.
Speaker 1:And then the last one is flavored tea and coffee. So tea and coffee are naturally gluten-free. So coffee in its natural state is gluten-free, as is tea. So tea leaves are naturally gluten-free, but it's what these companies add to them. So if you were to buy, say, a sachet of seasoned coffee or a sachet of seasoned tea or tea bags, or however you buy it, loose leaf tea, there is still that risk that gluten has been added to those teas and coffees.
Speaker 1:And this is also important.
Speaker 1:When you are, say you know, going Starbucks or going out for a tea or coffee, asking what is actually in their products.
Speaker 1:If you are not just buying a standard tea or coffee, if you were buying some sort of you know concoction of flavoured this and that it's got all these different ingredients in it, you need to ask look for their allergy list, look for their allergy list, look for their ingredients list, if they have that available to you, and rule that out. Same again when shopping in the supermarket making sure that if you are buying any of these kind of fancier versions of teas and coffees, that there's no gluten containing grains in them as well. So that's 10. That's just 10. There's so many more, but that's just 10 that I find trip people up and people are complacent with and not careful with. So I hope this inspires you to be extra careful when you are shopping, when you are eating out and when you're looking for safe, gluten-free food next time that you head out. So thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you have learned something in today's episode and I look forward to talking with you again on next week's show. Have a great week, take care. Bye.
