Living with Gluten Intolerance

To keep your digestive system working properly and avoid constipation, it's important to include fiber in your diet. There are also studies that show increasing fiber intake reduces the risk of various types of cancer and other serious health problems such as ischemic heart disease.

When people talk about including fiber (or "roughage" as my granddad used to call it) in their diet, they are mostly thinking of wheat bran - proprietary products such as All Bran, Sultana Bran and Weetabix are often recommended by MDs, along with wholegrain bread. But what if you're trying to exclude gluten from your diet? Are there any other sources of fiber available?

In fact, despite the overwhelming attention paid to wheat bran as a source of fiber, there are many other sources available. Fiber is found in plant stems, roots, leaves, pods and seeds. Rice bran or soy bran is probably the easiest like-for-like substitute for wheat bran, but you can get your fiber from peas and beans, nuts or dried fruit, and many fruits and vegetables.

Some sources are fairly obvious. For example, celery is obviously fibrous, particularly the older outer stems.

Sources of fiber suitable for the gluten intolerant include:
* rice (brown or white, though the brown has a greater fiber content) and rice products, rice bran
* amaranth, corn, millet, quinoa, tapioca
* possibly oats (although these may also cause symptoms in some people) - buy ones labeled "gluten free", as although oats don't contain gluten, if they are processed in a facility with other grains that do, they get contaminated
* pulses/legumes: baked beans, borlotti beans, broad beans, butter beans, chick peas, French beans, garbanzo beans, haricot beans, lentils, peas, runner beans, soya beans, soya bran
* salad and stir fry vegetables: baby sweetcorn, bamboo shoots, beansprouts, beetroot, celery, cucumber (unpeeled), jicama, lettuce, mange tout peas, peppers, radishes, spring onions, tomatoes, water chestnuts, watercress
* vegetables: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, mushrooms, onions, parsley, sprout tops, spring greens, spinach, sweetcorn
* root vegetables: carrots, parsnips, potatoes (with their skins), swede, turnips - all best left unpeeled (except swede)
* potato chips - or crisps in the UK (especially with the skin left on)
* fruit: apples, apricots (fresh or dried), avocado pears, bananas, blackberries, blackcurrants, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, currants, damsons, dates, figs, gooseberries, goji berries, grapes, grapefruit, guava, huckleberries, kiwi fruit, lemons, limes, mango, melon, nectarines, oranges, passion fruit, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, prunes, raisins, raspberries, redcurrants, star fruit, strawberries, sultanas, watermelon and whitecurrants
* nuts: almonds, betel nuts, brazil nuts, cashews, filberts, hazel nuts, peanuts, pistachios, walnuts

So, can you include fiber in a gluten free diet? Yes, yes, and yes again.

Are you Gluten Intolerant? Take my fun quiz (just 5 multiple choice questions) to see if gluten is affecting your life.