The Foods to Eat and Avoid if You’re Going Gluten Free for Celiac Disease (2024)

Considering only a small amount of gluten can trigger symptoms, it’s important for anyone with celiac disease to be aware of the risk for cross-contamination when dining out. For instance, if you’re ordering a gluten-free fried food, Dr.Bertiger recommends asking someone knowledgeable at the restaurant how they fry their food. “If it’s fried in the same oil as gluten-containing foods, that’s enough to cause a problem,” he says. Many restaurants only have one fryer.

Additionally, you can call a restaurant during a non-busy time ahead of your meal to talk about your options. When you’re ordering, stress to the server that you absolutely need to eat gluten-free. If you’d like, you can explain why. (7)

Also, ask detailed questions about ingredients and how food is prepared. This helps the staff understand that you’re not eating gluten-free because you’re following a “trendy diet” (and therefore cross-contamination doesn’t matter as much), but that it’s a matter of your health.

A Word on Medication and the Risk for Gluten Exposure if You Have Celiac Disease

Many medicines contain gluten as fillers and binders, which can make treating celiac disease even more of a challenge.

Drugs are not required to note that there may be gluten in the formula on the label. “Sometimes even manufacturers don’t know,” says Bertiger. When patients ask if they can take a specific medication, “the truthful answer is ‘we’re not sure,’” he says.

If a medication is important for a patient’s health, Bertiger advises taking it; doctors can then retest for antibodies to see if the particular medication may be aggravating any symptoms.

How to Avoid Nutritional Deficiencies if You’re Managing Celiac Disease

One complication that often arises from celiac disease is nutrient deficiencies. “The severity of the inflammatory reaction in the intestine, and how much of the intestine is affected, influences how someone absorbs nutrients,” says Bertiger.

Bertiger points out that while people with celiac can be deficient in a range of vitamins, most commonly he sees B12, calcium, iron, and vitamin D. (Though so many people, especially in northern climates, are vitamin D deficient that this is often seen across the board in people with celiac and those who don’t have it.) Along with those, Mukherjee often sees deficiencies of zinc, folic acid, and carnitine, a nutrient that helps the body produce energy. (8)

Problems with macronutrients can pop up as well. “In worse cases of celiac disease, patients cannot absorb and digest fats very well, so they may have diarrhea filled with fat,” Bertiger says. In that case, someone won’t absorb calories very well, so weight loss and malnourishment become legitimate concerns.

Iron deficiency is especially telling. “Many people become iron deficient as the first sign of celiac disease,” says Bertiger. “When patients are mildly anemic, one of the first tests we give them is for celiac,” he adds.

The first course of action is to treat celiac with a gluten-free diet. It’s best to meet with a registered dietitian who specializes in celiac and who can assess your diet, provide guidance on what to eat, and help you meet your nutrient recommendations to correct deficiencies. “He or she can also identify all the nooks and crannies in the world that gluten hides,” says Bertiger.

To find a dietitian if you don’t already have one, check outEatRight.org.