If you have been diagnosed with the digestive disorder celiac disease, you need to follow a gluten-free diet for life, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. You may also need to avoid dairy due to an intolerance, or you may decide to eliminate dairy foods from your diet. Fortunately, many healthy foods are free of gluten and dairy ingredients.
Causes
The grains wheat, barley and rye, along with spelt, which is a form of wheat, all include the protein gluten. Celiac disease results when people with a genetic susceptibility consume gluten, causing damage to their small intestines, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Symptoms include diarrhea, constipation, bloating, pain and potentially other non-digestive symptoms such as depression. Many celiac disease patients also need to avoid dairy-containing foods because they can't digest them. In some cases, you may want to give up gluten and dairy to treat another medical condition such as autism, but the American Academy of Pediatrics says there's little medical evidence to back up the diet in those cases.
Bread Products
Since you can't have products with gluten if you're following the gluten-free diet, you'll need to omit conventional grain products and replace them with products marked "gluten-free," according to the Ohio State University Medical Center. Manufacturers now make pasta, bread and sweets such as cookies with alternative flours such as soy, rice and corn. Since so many celiac disease sufferers also avoid dairy, many of these products also are dairy free.
Fresh Produce
To augment your gluten free and dairy free diet, you need to look no further than your local supermarket's fresh produce section. There, you'll find that you can eat almost everything, since fresh fruit and produce is gluten free and dairy free if it has no added ingredients, according to Ohio State University Medical Center. Watch out for products such as sauces and salad dressings that you might put on your fresh produce, because some of these contain gluten or dairy ingredients.
Protein Sources
Fresh meats, if they're plain, are both gluten free and dairy free, according to Ohio State University Medical Center. So you can safely add meat, poultry, fish and pork to your gluten free and dairy free diet. In addition, vegetarian protein sources such as beans and nuts contain no gluten or dairy, so they're safe to eat. You also can substitute soy or almond milk for cow's milk.
Processed Foods
Processed foods, unless they're specifically labeled gluten free and dairy free, often contain ingredients that you can't have on your diet, according to Massachusetts General Hospital. You should question flavorings and ingredients whose names you don't understand, and if you aren't sure whether a product contains gluten or dairy, contact the manufacturer to find out.
