Wheat. Where is it, and how to avoid it?

Many of you would have already at some stage attempted a wheat exclusion diet along the road to good health, and no doubt discovered this grain is insidious! And for those about to take the non-wheat diet challenge take note!

Wheat is often found lurking in fairly benign stock cubes and even soy milk (think malt), and at times can even be discovered sneakily lolling around in rye sourdoughs and children’s sweets! Outrageous indeed. So what follows is a comprehensive, but by no means exhaustive list, of possible wheat sources. No excuses now for any slip ups in that wheat exclusion diet!

Flour, bread, pasta, cereals, noodles, biscuits, cakes, breadcrumbs, spelt, kamut, couscous, burghul, semolina, triticale, wheat germ, wheat bran, soy sauce, thickener added to soups and salad dressings, malt, soups with noodles or spaghetti, imitation meat products (such as gluten dishes found in some Asian cuisines), hot dogs, imitation crab meat, ice-cream (check labels), ice-cream cones, cottage cheese with modified starch, licorice, beverages such as beer, ale, malted milks, cereal coffee substitutes, Worcestershire sauce, MSG, modified food starch, vegetable starch, natural flavourings.

The lesson is obvious. Read all labels; the less processed the food the better, less opportunity for unwanted and unnecessary wheat additives.