Gluten-Free Emergency Food Supply Kits

Perhaps you've been putting off getting your emergency food supply because you are on a gluten-free diet. You might think that you can’t find gluten-free foods readily available for emergency storage. The good news is that you can! Hikingware.com offers a complete line of gluten-free emergency food storage items.

Here is the reason most people are on a gluten-free diet:

A gluten-free diet is critical for people with celiac disease, in whom the ingestion of gluten triggers an autoimmune attack of the intestinal lining, causing gastrointestinal distress and the potential malabsorption of important nutrients. Additionally, countless others have gluten sensitivity, which can cause many of the same symptoms, without the intestinal damage. Advocates claim that a gluten-free diet can ease a number of ailments, including digestive problems, eczema, chronic fatigue, headaches, infertility, ADHD, autism, depression, chronic inflammation, thyroid disease, weight gain and diabetes.

Given the broad range of gluten-induced woes, believers say you might not know how good you can feel – or how bad you once felt – until you go gluten-free.

What is gluten?

Gluten, a protein found in wheat, grain, barley and their derivatives, is a relative newcomer to the human diet. As a result, some humans have not yet adapted to digesting the substance, which can cause substantial physical and emotional distress. And yet, most people are unaware of gluten’s effect on them.

According to Alessio Fasano, a pediatric gastroenterologist and founder and director of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, about 1 percent of the U.S. population has celiac disease. An even smaller group – between .01 and .03 percent of the population – has a wheat allergy. But an estimated 6 percent of the country, or 16 to 18 million people, are considered “gluten sensitive,” a new category defined by Fasano and others in a 2012 paper published in the journal, BMC Medicine.

Should you consider a gluten-free diet?

First, find out whether you have celiac disease, which can be determined by a blood test, although a biopsy of the small intestine is considered the most conclusive measure. People diagnosed with celiac disease are advised to rid their diets of gluten as its presence triggers an autoimmune response in the body that damages the lining of the small intestine and blocks the absorption of nutrients. Blood tests and a stool sample can also help determine gluten sensitivities. However, these can be tricky because detection hinges on having consumed gluten in the weeks prior to the test.

Meanwhile, given the wide range of symptoms associated with gluten sensitivities, misdiagnoses and under diagnoses abound, a simpler test is to avoid gluten and see if you feel better. People with gluten sensitivity may not need to avoid it entirely, but should feel better by reducing their overall daily intake.

The following are considered to be high-gluten foods:

• wheat starch
• wheat bran
• wheat germ
• couscous
• cracked wheat
• durum
• einkorn
• emmer
• farina
• faro
• fu (common in Asian foods)
• gliadin
• graham flour
• kamut
• matzo
• semolina
• spelt

Gluten-free foods include the following:

• fruits and vegetables
• beans
• seeds
• legumes
• nuts
• potatoes
• eggs
• dairy products
• corn
• rice
• fish
• lean beef
• chicken