So for whatever reason, you decided to try gluten free. Maybe your doctor suggested it. Maybe you read something the connection between gluten,inflammation, and PMDD and thought, what do I have to lose?
Or maybe you've simply been bloated and exhausted and rageful for so long that you're willing to try literally anything.
Whatever brought you here, welcome. Pull up a chair. This is the guide I wish someone had handed me.
Going gluten-free can be scary and highly overwhelming. When I first started, I thought. "Well, how hard can this be? I'll just avoid pasta and bread and order off th gluten free menu."
What I soon learned is that I was wrong. Very wrong. Going gluten would soon prove to be a lot harder than I thought.
Have no fear, I'm now living contently gluten free. I'll show you what I learned along the way and how I got there after grieving all my favorite foods.
What gluten actually is
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. It's what makes bread chewy and pasta hold its shape. It's also hiding in places you'd never expect: soy sauce, salad dressings, soups, medications, lip balm, communion wafers, diy products, dry shampoo and even the coating on some vitamins.
If you're going gluten free for symptom management, you'll need to know where it hides. If you have celiac disease, you need to know where it hides and then treat every hidden source like a genuine threat.
Cross contamination: the part nobody warns you about
This is where most gluten free guides miss the mark. They tell you what to eat and what to avoid, and they skip the part where those foods are processed is working against you.
Maybe the bag says gluten free and for many of those avoiding gluten, they do think it's enough. But it isn't. Gluten is hiding in food facilities, lingering in the air, and settling onto the very food getting into your body.
Cross contamination happens when gluten-free food comes into contact with gluten, directly or indirectly. A shared toaster. A cutting board that was used for bread. A colander that drained pasta last night. A wooden spoon that absorbed gluten over years of use. A shared butter dish where someone dragged a crumby knife. Or worse, in the facility that it was processed in.
Not every brand "lies" about their product being gluten free, but it's important to understand how omittting that they also manufacture products made with barley or rye, could ruin your gluten free streak.
In your own kitchen, you control this. In a shared kitchen or food processing plant, you don't.
This is something I wish I understood a little better when I began my gluten free journey.
Another thing I wish I knew, sometimes gluten free simply means that the product was indeed tested for gluten and came up as "gluten free" because it tested less 20PPM which is the industry standard to be gluten free. The problem with this? Most celiacs react to even smaller amounts of gluten, remaining sick for years after "going gluten free".
Not every Celiac is this sensitive, but the damage is being done wether we feel it or not. A very hard truth for some. I know it was for me. But, it explained why I stayed sick even after going gluten free.
Over time I learned which products to trust and which ones to avoid completely.
Now, keep in mind, my system is very sensitive and I am more cautious than most, but I also managed to get 3 other auto immunes under control once I went gluten free, my way. Not the grocery store way. 20PPM means nothing to my fragile ass system.
So if you're a senstive Celiac or are just simply curious how hard this disease truly is to navigate, come on in.
Here's what I learned along the way.
1. If you live with people who eat gluten:
Get your own toaster and air fryer. This is non-negotiable. Toasters are impossible to clean thoroughly and gluten particles become airborne during toasting, same with air fryers. (The air fryer kept me sick for 6 months before I finally caught on.)
Get your own cutting board, colander, wooden utensils, and cast iron if you use it. Porous surfaces hold gluten even after washing.
Store your gluten free bread, pasta, and flour separately, ideally in a different cabinet or clearly labeled containers. Shared flour bags are a contamination risk every time someone opens them.
Wipe down shared counters before you prep food. Flour is particularly problematic because it becomes airborne and settles on surfaces.
Sharing a gluten ridden kitchen is not for the weak. This is why my entire house went gluten free. I just don't have the strength for that type of chronic anxiety, forever questioning if today is going to be the day it gets me.
2. Cross contamination in shared buildings
This one gets almost no coverage and it's a real issue and I'm tired of pretending it's not just because some company slapped gluten free on a label somewhere, meanwhile the buildin is covered in microscopic pieces of barley.
Airborne flour is a legitimate concern for people with celiac. Wheat flour and other gluten ridden flours can stay suspended in the air for hours. If someone in a shared kitchen is baking, that flour is landing on surfaces, on your food, and in your lungs. Now just imagine what that is like in a facility that processes barley and doesn't have to disclose it. For celiac, this can be sadly enough to trigger a response.
3. Restaurants and eating out
Gluten free menu does not mean gluten free kitchen. Not even a little. And gluten friendly, never means gluten free.
Most restaurants prepare gluten free options in the same kitchen, on the same surfaces, with the same utensils as everything else. For gluten sensitivity, this is probably fine. For celiacs, this is for certain a problem. So if you've been gluten free for a while but are still getting sick, this is something to consider.
Ask specifically: is this prepared in a dedicated gluten free area? Are the fryers shared? Is the pasta water shared? A good restaurant will know the answers. A restaurant that gets defensive or vague is telling you something.
And remember, regardless of what they tell you, cross contamination is always possible in a non-dedicated gluten free facility. It's a risk that you have to be willing to take. It's not a risk I'm willing to take on most days, but plenty of people do. The choice is always yours. I just wish I had figured this part out sooner for myself.
Dedicated gluten free restaurants and certified gluten free kitchens exist. They're worth finding if you have celiac.
4. What to actually eat
The good news is that most whole foods are naturally gluten free. Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, legumes, rice, potatoes, and most dairy don't contain gluten. The problem is everything that's been processed, packaged, or prepared in shared facilities.
Read every label. Every time. Formulas change.
Learning how to cook mostly from scratch is the route I ended up taking, but that isn't always possible for everybody.
Look for certified gluten free labels on packaged foods, especially oats or oat containing foods. Oats are naturally gluten free but almost universally contaminated during processing because they're grown and milled right alongside wheat.
While we are on the topic of oats, keep in mind that there are roughly 10% of Celiacs that can't have oats at all due to their immune system identifying its protein as a threat. Most celiacs can tolerate them, but for the handful that can't, it can keep you sick if you continue to consume oats.
Some severe Celiacs have to go entirely grain free to get relief, but that isn't as common.
5. Gluten hides in the strangest placesSauces & Condiments
- Soy sauce: Traditionally brewed with wheat as a primary ingredient.
- Malt vinegar: Made from barley, unlike apple cider or white wine vinegars.
- Salad dressings: Often rely on wheat flour or modified food starch to stabilize and thicken texture.
- Barbecue sauce: Frequently contains soy sauce, malt vinegar, or wheat-based thickeners.
- Teriyaki sauce: Built on a traditional soy sauce base which includes wheat.
- Gravy: Standard restaurant or pre-packaged gravies use a wheat flour roux to thicken.
- Marinades: Store-bought varieties often utilize soy sauce or wheat starches for consistency.
- Worcestershire sauce: Certain brands incorporate malt vinegar or soy sauce solids.
Packaged & Processed Foods
- Bouillon cubes: Frequently utilize wheat flour or gluten-derived fillers to hold the small cubes together.
- Imitation crab (Surimi): Uses wheat starch as a binder to shape and hold the fish paste.
- Deli meats: Cold cuts, hot dogs, and sausages often feature wheat gluten as a filler or texturizer.
- Veggie burgers: Many plant-based meat alternatives rely directly on seitan (vital wheat gluten) for a meaty texture.
- Flavored potato chips: While potatoes are safe, the seasoning dustings frequently contain wheat starch or malt vinegar.
- Dry roasted nuts: The seasoning blends on some brands require wheat starch or flour to help the spices stick to the nuts.
- Canned or cream-based soups: Chefs and factories commonly toss in wheat flour to add thickness and creaminess.
- Rice pilaf / boxed rice mixes: Often mixed with hidden orzo, which is a small wheat pasta shape.
- Oats: Naturally gluten-free, but highly prone to severe cross-contamination if processed on shared wheat machinery.
Sweets & Beverages
- Licorice: Wheat flour is a primary structural ingredient used to bind this chewy candy together.
- Malted milkshakes: The "malt" added to the shake is derived directly from barley.
- Beer and ales: Brewed directly from barley or wheat grains.
- Wine coolers / flavored hard lemonades: Frequently use cheap barley malt as their alcoholic base instead of grapes.
- Energy bars / granola bars: Often contain non-certified oats or wheat-based syrups to keep them sweet and bound.
- Certain chocolates: Low-quality chocolates or candy bars can feature wheat flour emulsifiers or barley malt flavorings.
- Flavored coffee and teas: Certain artificial flavorings or spray-on aromas carry a gluten-based carrier protein.
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Natural Flavors: Can contain hidden barley/malt due to insuffcient laws in the USA
Hidden Restaurant Traps
- Restaurant scrambled eggs: Some establishments mix pancake batter into their liquid egg mix to make omelets fluffier.
- French fries: Frequently dusted in a wheat flour batter for crispiness, or fried in shared oil with breaded chicken nuggets. Tip: Mcdonald's fries are not gluten free in the USA.
- Fried onions: Crisp toppings for burgers or green bean casseroles are almost always coated in wheat flour.
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CROSS CONTAMINATION IS VERY LIKELY IN RESTAURANTS
NON FOOD ITEMS- FINGERNAIL BITERS BEWARE
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✉️ Office & Stationery Supplies
- Envelopes and stamps: The lick-and-seal adhesive on traditional envelopes and postage stamps can use wheat starch as a binder.
- Stickers: The sticky backing on some craft stickers can contain gluten-based glues, creating a risk for children who lick them.
- Finger-moistening rounds: The sticky gel pads used by bank tellers or office workers to count cash and paper can incorporate wheat derivatives.
🧼 Oral Care & Personal Hygiene- Toothpaste and mouthwash: Certain formulations use gluten as a thickening agent or stabilizer, causing direct daily ingestion.
- Dental floss: Some flavored dental flosses or types coated with specific waxes rely on grain-based ingredients to hold the flavor or texture.
- Hand sanitizer: Certain sanitizing gels utilize wheat germ oil or wheat amino acids to condition the skin. Eating food immediately afterward transfers the gluten directly into your system.
- Dry shampoo: Many spray-in dry shampoos rely directly on wheat starch or hydrolyzed wheat protein to absorb excess scalp oils.
💄 Cosmetics & Beauty Products- Sunscreen and lotions: Manufacturers frequently include wheat germ oil or oatmeal derivatives to soothe and hydrate the skin.
- Mascara and brow gels: Gluten derivatives are often used to help makeup expand, curl, or hold its shape on your lashes.
- Hair spray and styling gels: Wheat proteins are highly effective at helping styling products "hold" hair fibers together.
🧸 Household & Recreational Items- Pet food: Dry kibble and canned pet food are notoriously packed with wheat gluten fillers. Feeding your pet transfers dust or residue to your hands.
- Laundry detergent: Some liquid detergents and fabric softeners use wheat-based surfactants or stabilizers to keep ingredients mixed evenly.
- Communion wafers: Traditional wafers used in religious ceremonies are legally required by canonical law to contain wheat gluten.
Not listed above, drywall and plywood were two items that shocked me to my core. Stay vigilant.
The honest truth
Is going completely gluten free easy?
No. It's a nightmare at first.
But the good news is, after hours upon hours of devastating grief, comes the relief of going gluten free. It gets easier as you go. Websites like find me gluten free make it a lot easier when traveling. I make sure to choose the spots that celiacs have left postiive reviews of, just to be safe. This has saved me a lot of heartache and systemic pain.
I put together a list of trusted products that I use so that you don't have to go through the same painful trial and error process that I did.
If you're interested, I'll send you the list for free, right to your email.
Simply use the chat button below at the bottom of the screen.
Looking for more PMDD symptom management resources? Visit the PMDD Guided Library for guides, tools, and everything we know so far.
