[Health] No, You Won’t Starve On a Gluten-Free Vegan Diet

What is a gluten-free vegan diet, what are the health benefits, and what do gluten-free vegans eat? Don't worry, you can still have pizza!

If you’re eating a gluten-free diet, you may have noticed that many of the foods are already plant-based: fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and legumes. So if you are looking to adopt a gluten-free vegan diet, there are many foods to choose from.

Let’s start with the basics. Gluten is the name of the proteins that are found in several grains: wheat, rye, barley, and a rye/barley hybrid called triticale. Grains that contain wheat include whole wheat, bulgar, farro, farina, spelt, graham, durum, bromated flour (flour treated with potassium bromate), kamut (Khorasan wheat), and wheat berries. Wheat, rye, and barley are found in pastas, breads, and cereals, while barley is found in malt, food coloring, and brewer’s yeast. On a gluten-free diet, you also cannot eat couscous, which is made from semolina (durum wheat).

Most of the population can consume gluten without any issues. However, 1 in 100 people in the world become ill from eating foods containing gluten. This autoimmune disease is called celiac disease, sometimes also referred to as being “gluten intolerant.”

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