My Food List
My List of Food
Here is my thorough list of foods I have to avoid, plus a list of food I can eat (just trying to be helpful). Not sure how many people this list will apply to, but hopefully it will help other people find a way of presenting their “bad foods” or validate someone else’s experience.
FOOD TO AVOID:
GRAINS
- gluten: wheat, rye, barley, oats (even so-called gluten-free oats)
(this includes soy sauce, some mustards, some bacon and ham, meat/tuna with broth) - corn: corn syrup, cornstarch, high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, any kind of corn, corn meal
VEGETABLES / FRUIT
- nightshades: tomatoes, potatoes, peppers (bell, paprika, pimento, jalepino, chilis), eggplant, kava kava, tobacco (yes, this is sometimes in food!)
- citrus: orange, grapefruit, mandarin, lime, kumquat, loquat
- beans: kidney, garbanzo
MEAT
- shellfish: clams, crab, oysters, calamari, abalone, lobster, mussels, shrimp, scallops
- beef: seasoned tri-tip
- processed meats: hot dogs, salami, hamburger patties, cold cuts, canned fish, jerky, bacon, sausage (some are ok – read the label)
DAIRY
- cheese: pepper jack, baked brie (in bread/pastry)
- milk: lactose-free milk
- butter: margarine
- ice cream: those with corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, baked goods (brownies, cookie dough), and candy bars
BEVERAGES
- alcohol: beer, coffee liquors, sweetened liquors
- non-alcohol: sodas, diet sodas, and fruit juices with citric acid and/or corn syrup
MISC
- spices: paprika, cayenne, chili powder, curry powder, iodized salt
- citric acid (this is a preservative that is in most prepared foods)
- aspergillus fungus: most soy sauce, tamari, tofu, tempeh, miso, black tea, Beano, vegetarian enzyme supplements, Lactaid, sake
- alternative sweeteners: Aspartame (Nutra Sweet), Sucralose (Splenda), erythritol and other sugar alcohols
- oils: corn oil, vegetable oil, Crisco, margarine
READ THE LABEL
- condiments: mustard, mayo
- packaged foods
- pork: ham, bacon, salami, sausage
- canned foods
- bottled beverages
- seasonings
- mixes
- make sure it doesn’t say “Manufactured in a plant that also makes products containing wheat”
- don’t buy from bulk bins – can be cross contaminated
FOOD I CAN EAT:
GRAINS
- gluten-free grains: rice, wild rice, amaranth, quinoa, sorghum, buckwheat, millet, arrowroot, tapioca, flax, organic corn (occasionally)
VEGETABLES / FRUIT
- broccoli, spinach, lettuce, mushrooms, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower
- roots: carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, radishes, turnips, parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes, daikon, beets
- beans: green beans, pinto, black, lentils
- fruit: apples, pears, bananas, berries, melons, apricots, peaches, plums, cherries, nectarines, avocado, grapes, lemons
MEAT
- poultry: chicken, turkey
- beef: steaks
- pork: pork
- fish: salmon, tuna, snapper, halibut, cod, sole
DAIRY
- cheese: plain cheeses (not flavored spreads)
- milk: regular milk
- cultured: sour cream, yogurt, kefir, buttermilk (read labels for starch, citric acid, corn syrup)
- butter: dairy butter
- ice cream: plain flavors with cane sugar, nuts ok, peanut butter ok
BEVERAGES
- alcohol: (small amounts) gluten free beer, wine, rum, tequila, hard cider
- carbonated: soda water, Virgil’s Root Beer Zero, Knudsen fruit sodas (except orange)
- dairy: milk, chocolate milk, egg nog (read labels)
- decaf low-acid coffee
- tea: red, some herbal
MISC
- spices: ginger, garlic, onion, shallot, black/white pepper, kosher or sea salt
- oil: most
- nuts: plain or salted nuts (not seasoned)
PACKAGED FOOD
all can be purchased at most grocery or natural food stores
- Parmasean risotto by Lundberg
- Lundberg Rice Cakes
- Lundberg Brown Rice Couscous
- Pamela’s Gluten Free Cookies
- Pamela’s Gluten Free Bread Mix
- Trader Joe’s regular or organic mayonaise
- Annie’s dijon or yellow mustard
- Annie’s box mac and cheese
- Amy’s frozen rice pasta mac and cheese
- Food For Life/ Trader Joe’s brown rice tortillas
- Food For Life Gluten Free Breads
- EnerG Gluten Free Breads
- Brown Cow, Stonyfield Farms, Trader Joe’s organic yogurts
- select Häagen-Dazs (5 Ingredient) and Ben & Jerry’s organic
- Rice Chex
- most Lara Bars
- Clif -C Bars (not regular Clif bars)
- Mary’s Gone Crackers
- Tinkyada/ Trader Joe’s rice pasta
- Armanino Pesto Sauce
- Trader Joe’s tapioca pudding
- Namaste mixes
- Health Valley Cream of Celery Soup
Oh, and I can’t stand cilantro. It’s gross. It does nothing wrong to me other than put its disgusting flavor in my mouth. Ew.
Now wasn’t that fun?
Thank you for sharing your food lists. I have been trying to find a connection between all of my food intolerances (almost identical to yours!) and my recent diagnosis of celiac disease. I had hopes that all of my non-wheat food intolerances (citrus, corn, black tea, shellfish, most legumes) would resolve once my gut was back in wheat-free order. It looks like this may not be the case! However, I am excited to read more about what you have found on your journey with your food and intestines. Thanks again, betsy
Hi Betsy! Thanks for your comment. It’s frustrating–I thought the same thing when I went gluten-free, that perhaps my other food intolerances would resolve. The only one that has gotten to be tolerable is I can sometimes eat organic corn and not feel any reaction, though if I over-do it or have it a couple days in a row, I will sometimes feel generally yucky the next day. I have had wild-caught shrimp a couple of times recently with no allergy reactions, which makes me wonder if it’s the shrimp or the way they are treated/farmed, and I did recently eat something with a smoked paprika rub on it and felt fine. However, I think it had been so long since I’d had paprika or any pepper, I caught my body off guard. My theory is that there is a greater problem causing so many of these foods to seem alien because it doesn’t make sense that so-called “normal” foods could cause problems for so many people. And while most people I’ve met have different arrays of problem foods, many are similar, especially if there is a problem with gluten.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your problem foods and I hope that at some point, this gets figured out because it’s becoming a bigger problem all the time as more and more people are affected by food intolerance. Take care