Monday, July 15, 2013

Small Changes, Big Rewards: Ingredients & Labels


Happy Monday!  Today is the start to my series of blog posts about making small changes in your life, which will help produce big rewards.  Today's topic: ingredients and labels. :)
When I first became gluten-free I read everything, every ingredient... and scoured every label for 2 amazing words: gluten free.  After months of being GF I realized not every label says gluten free, even when I thought it could be!  In fact, many items I thought COULD be gluten free in fact weren't - I was left feeling sick and terrible.  
Prime example?  The jars above.  The first was a bulls eye - Gluten Free.  Awesome!  The one on the right is organic.  Just because it's organic, doesn't mean it's gluten free.  I picked up the jar, read through the ingredients... no wheat... nothing that I know to stay away from...  Is it safe?  Possibly, but when you have the option always always always choose the one that says gluten free.  

When products don't list that they are gluten-free it is for a reason.  The company may decide not to put gluten free on the label, cross-contamination may have occurred during processing, it may have been processed in a factory containing wheat, the product may be  processed on shared equipment with gluten... the list can go on and on.  In fact, in order for the company to be able to have gluten free written on the label, the product must have equal to or less than 20 ppm (parts per million) of gluten.

So, when you have the choice between eating something that you know is gluten free vs. a similar product that does not specify, go with the smarter choice, your insides will thank you :)

with love, mel






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