Celiac Disease: Tips For High Fiber Gluten Free Foods

Think About Your Breakfast

Breakfast is important for everyone, not just those with celiac disease. In terms of fiber, breakfast presents you with an opportunity to boost your fiber intake for the day. The challenge of course, is to eat some high fiber gluten free foods which also have taste! Many breakfast cereals that are gluten free are a bit, well, cardboard-ish! It is important to shop around and find a cereal that has lots of fiber and which you are happy to eat most days of the week. Go for something that has more than 10 grams or so of fiber per 100 grams of product. A useful Australian example is Brookfarm’s Macadamia Muesli which comes in at 11.4 grams per 100 grams of cereal. It is quite a strong taste, so if it is a bit much early in the morning, try mixing it with some yoghurt and serving it on fruit, or having a small bowl of muesli and then some fruit or toast or an egg for a bit of variety. (Macadamia muesli is also handy to use as part of a topping on a dessert such as an apple crumble - mix it with some coconut and gluten free plain flour and butter and sugar, then sprinkle on top of cooked apple and bake for about 10 minutes. Other tips for a high fiber gluten free food list for breakfast include:

• linseeds sprinkled on cereal
• high fiber toast with sliced banana and honey
• breakfast muffin with linseeds, dates and coconut

Snacks are Important Too

Snacking during the day is where your fiber intake will either increase dramatically, or take a dive towards the floor. Here are some handy snack hints that will lift fiber intake:

• fruit sticks such as celery or carrot (perhaps dipped in a yoghurt dip)
• a piece of fruit (apple, pear, banana or anything that is in season)
• a small bowl of home made soup with vegetables and some lentils as part of the mix (try green or red split peas as another easy soup base)
• mix up a bowl of mixed nuts and sultanas that you can dip into when you are hungry

Switch, Add and Swap

There are a few handy switches and swaps you can do that will also make quite a difference to building a palatable high fiber gluten free food list:

• make baked beans a regular on the dinner time plate
• cook with a few lentils or beans in casseroles or soups
• add more vegetables to the plate (with skins on) and less meat
• swap white rice and instead use brown rice (great with meals like apricot chicken)
• make a bean salad to serve along with a green salad
• add a handful of nuts or seeds to a salad or risotto
• eat a piece of fruit rather than drinking fruit juice from the bottle
• add a sprinkling of psyllium husks to a baked item such as a cake, or onto a breakfast cereal such as rice porridge
• add linseeds or sultanas to a bread mix when you make gluten free bread, or buy multigrain bread mixes

Obviously not all the above tips will work for you, but if you experiment with a few that you like the sound of you can gradually increase your fiber to the recommended 30 grams per day, and ensure you have enough foods high in fiber gluten free to maintain ongoing health and well being. Just remember to read labels carefully and ensure you consider any other foods related problems (such as nut or other allergies or intolerances or a fructose malabsorption problem).

Learn more: Getting Enough Fiber on a Gluten Free Diet