The Gluten–Free Diet Guide for Parents:

Foods Your Teen Should Avoid

Intro	Gluten-Free Shopping List
Gluten, Celiac Disease, and Teens	Preparing Gluten-Free Food At Home
Foods Your Teen Should Avoid	Eating Gluten-Free Away From Home
Safe Foods for Your Teen	Sample Gluten-Free Menu for Your Teen
Gluten-Free Product Labeling	Gluten-Free Recipes for Teens
Gluten-Free Food Shopping

What foods should my teen avoid on the gluten-free diet?

Following a gluten–free diet means your teen should remove all foods that have gluten from her diet. Foods that contain gluten are “red–light foods” for anyone with celiac disease. To eliminate “red–light foods”, your teen should:

• Remove grains that contain gluten from her diet. She should not eat any food that contains wheat, barley, rye, or triticale. Keep in mind that wheat has many forms. She should avoid products that include bulgur, durum, graham, kumut, spelt, and semolina. These are all wheat!
• Your teen should not eat any obvious gluten containing foods such as: bagels, breads, beer, cakes, candy, cereals, crackers, cookies, dressing, flour tortillas, gravy, ice cream cones, licorice, malts, rolls, pretzels, waffles, pasta, pizza, pancakes, sauces, stuffing, soy sauce, veggie burgers, vegetarian bacon/vegetarian chicken patties (many vegetarian meat substitute products contain gluten), and waffles. Please note this is NOT a complete list.
• Look for "hidden" sources of gluten. Your teen should NOT eat foods that have gluten–containing ingredients listed in certain products such as ale, barley, beer, bleached flour, bran, bread flour, brewer's yeast, brown flour, brown rice syrup, bulgur, couscous, dextrin (unless source gluten–free), durum, farina, farro, hydrolyzed vegetable (wheat) protein, gluten flour, graham flour, granary flour, groats, harina, kumut, malt, malt extract, malt syrup, malt vinegar, matzo, modified starch (unless the source is gluten–free), rye, orzo, semolina, self–rising flour, spelt, smoke flavoring, soy sauce, wheat germ, wheat and white flour, whole meal flour, and vegetable gum.

What’s important to know about barley?

Barley contains gluten and frequently is used to make malt. This is often used as a sweetener flavoring. As a general rule you should avoid natural or malt flavorings. If there are foods your teen likes to eat that contain “natural” or “malt” flavorings on the ingredient list, contact the company. It’s possible these flavorings came from a non–gluten source.

Does my teen need to avoid oats?

Oats may contain gluten because they are often processed in the same factories as wheat. It's best to check with your teen's health care provider to see if she can eat oats. While she's new to the gluten–free diet and still healing, it's best to avoid oats. To find out if your teen's favorite brand of oatmeal is gluten–free, call the company or check their website. When eating out or when in doubt, avoid oats.

Previous

Next: Safe Foods for Your Teen

Written and reviewed by the CYWH Staff at Children's Hospital Boston

Updated: 8/2/2011

Related Guides:

Nutrition Facts Label

The amount of each nutrient on the label is what is found in one serving of that food, not in the whole container. If you don't know what one serving size is, you won’t know the amount of each nutrient you are actually eating...