Need some help going Gluten free

start small... replace your wheat bread with gluten free bread, tortillas, etc... all depends on what you eat daily? I personally don't eat a lot of wheat, other than my homemade bread, so if I were to go gluten-free, it would be pretty easy. Breakfast can be certified gluten free oatmeal with pb and fruit, lunch can be a huge salad with grilled chicken, dinner can be meat/rice/veggies. If you must have "bread carbs," the Blue Diamond Nut Thins are amazing with cheese, corn tortilla chips are gluten-free, etc.

First off go to the doctor and get tested for celiac disease which is a quick test. If you think glutton is causing say intestinal problems you can have a crohn's disease where the trigger is glutton. Depending whether you have either is dependent of what steps must be taken. Celiac would be the extreme. Where for most eating something prepared in the same area that glutton has been can trigger symtoms. My cousin with crohn's triggered by glutton only has to avoid the food with glutton itself but never worrys about whether the food possible got glutten contamination or not. Eliminating celiac is important because that can tell you how little or how much you have to focus on the change. I for example can gain weight on all thing glutton and I have aspergers and going glutton free helps me loss weight and help my aspergers. So I make all the glutton free choices I can, but occasionally indulge. Flour tortilla a weakness of mine. But that's ok, I don't have a celiac so I can cheat on my glutton free diet. For an easy change start off with corn tortillas. They replace sandwich bread easily switch to wraps. Glutton free bread is so trial and error. Just bought some nasty rice bread. Hard as a rock, won't buy that brand again. There are options and most foods have an allergy section on its box. If it says glutton on allergies don't eat it. If its all corn based but doesn't say glutton free chances are the area the make it in is contaminated with glutton from making something else there for they can't say glutten free, but people like me and my cousin can eat it. Best bet is to pick on or 2 carb replacements you know are glutten free and eat whole raw fresh foods. If you prepared the meal from scratch you know what is in it. Also the are plenty of site that list glutton free foods. The work is already done google glutton free foods and make meal plans based on those items. Good luck

Oh and soy sauce has glutton in it beware. That is most people WTF.... Really? moments first time they eat Chinese food. There is glutten free soy sauce and kikoman makes a great one

I have celiac disease, so would definitely back up the person who suggested going to have the tests done. It is kind of a jungle out there and you will meet so many different opinions and suggestions. Fx. Spelt is NOT glutenfree but people who "only" have problems with wheat can usually eat it, where celiacs can't eat it. But hope glutenfree helps you get rid of your symptoms. It sure made me a new person. Feel free to send a friend request.

Check every label in the beginning. You'll find gluten/wheat listed in places you never would have thought of, like Rice Krispies (the regular ones) and canned soup. Gravy mixes, sauces, salad dressings etc. And someone mentioned oats, make sure if you keep them in your diet you find "certified GF" oats. They are very easily cross contaminated.

And it might be good to start slow. If you just think you have an intolerance (and you're not having severe issues) then you don't have to jump in all at once. Its easier to go slowly and succeed then try to do it all at once and find it so horrible that you don't want anything to do with it. Find some good websites, find some good sounding recipes, try out rice pasta (its really not bad), corn tortillas etc. and decide what you do and do not like and then worry about going 100% GF for awhile to see what happens.

I found the easist thing was to follow something similar to Paleo or South Beach. Lots of meats (or beans of you are veggie/vegan) and vegetables/fruits. For the first couple week try avoiding gluten-free recipes and replacements. That can get overwhelming cuz you have to buy a lot of special, expensive, ingredients which can be off-putting. I do a lot of rotisserie chicken and veggies. Keeps it simple. Good luck.

I've been gluten free for 3 years now (Celiac Dx). There's been a few times I've been glutened. Make sure you read all labels of packaged food. There's a lot of product out there that have gluten in them that is not easily recognized on the label. Obviously wheat, barley and rye are big no-no's. Many food products can appear to be gluten free but this is not the case.

A few hidden gluten items to watch for:
Malt
Soy Sauce (Tamari is wheat free and acceptable)
Starch (Make sure the starch list what it is from. I've been glutened from salad dressings before that had starch in them that appeared to be gluten free. After further research I found out the manufacturer uses wheat starch, but doesn't list it as being 'wheat' starch.

I buy everything fresh and prepare my foods myself (with the exception of a couple trusted restaurants). With all the gluten free items out there now, the change over is pretty simple - just initially expensive when getting rid of everything in the house and replacing staple items in the kitchen.

Good luck to you!

I've just recently discovered I have an allergy to wheat and flours, and I'm also looking for ways to go gluten free. I'm recommend reading (or at least skimming the first section of) Mark Sisson's "Primal Blueprint". Please feel free to send a friend request!

Everyone's comments are extremely helpful! I love this community!