Cooking Gluten & Sulfite Free

Cooking Gluten & Sulfite Free
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If you suffer from both a gluten sensitivity and a sulfite intolerance, or you simply want to eliminate these from your diet, it's possible to cook healthy and balanced meals without them. While gluten is commonly used in a variety of cooking ingredients, sulfites are mostly found in wines and used as preservatives to help prevent things from spoiling. Eating fresh and local foods will naturally help you eliminate sulfites from your diet.

Eliminating Sulfites

To cook sulfite-free, remove all sulfites from the meals and beverages that you consume. To start, don't drink wine or cook with wine. As a result, check the labels on any other fermented products that you may consume. Don't consume or cook with dried fruit or potato products, the majority of which use sulfites as preservatives to help keep the food from going bad.

Eliminating Gluten

Gluten is a protein compound often contained in wheat, barley, and rye products. While eliminating wheat from your cooking will help remove gluten from your diet, certain wheat-free products may contain other ingredients that aren't gluten-free. If you're still interested in making starch-based foods, make quinoa pasta as well as other pastas and breads made from gluten-free grains, such as buckwheat and millet. Overall, reduce your intake of carbohydrates, such as bread and grains, to help you cook gluten-free meals.

Gluten and Sulfite Free Meals

Cooking gluten- and sulfite-free is relatively easy if you have access to fresh and local ingredients that don't use preservatives. For breakfast, eat fresh fruit, yogurt, or gluten-free oatmeal to start your day off right. For lunch, cook up a vegetable stew with chunks of beef, chicken or pork to provide a gluten- and sulfite-free meal. In addition, add corn-based products, such as tortillas, to your meals to provide you with a starch that's safe to consume for most people who suffer from gluten-intolerance. For larger meals, fresh vegetables and meats can be served with potatoes and corn.

Caution

While individuals who suffer from a gluten intolerance shouldn't consume gluten, it's important to consult a doctor or nutritionist to make sure that you're gluten and sulfite intolerant. Improperly diagnosing your particular allergies can result in continued pain and discomfort during meals, even after eliminating these elements from your diet. In addition, foods with gluten have certain essential nutrients that you must make up for by either taken supplements or eating more carbohydrates in some other fashion.

References

Article reviewed by Samantha Prust Last updated on: Jan 26, 2012

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