Grocery shopping, finding safe restaurants, and understanding ingredient labels are among some of the toughest things for me that came with switching to a gluten-free lifestyle. Lucky for us, it doesn’t have to be tough at all with the help of our phones and the apps they have available! Here are my top 4 apps that I have found to be extremely helpful for maintaining a gluten-free diet.
1. Find Me Gluten Free
If I had to pick a favorite app, it would be Find Me Gluten Free and with 4.9 stars on the app store, it seems that many people agree. The best way to describe it is like Yelp, but specifically for being gluten-free. There is a free version, which is great and offers the ability to find restaurants in your area, can tell you whether they have a gluten-free menu or not, and see reviews. The paid version, however, is well worth the $19.99/year in my opinion as you can filter the restaurants to “Most Celiac Friendly” or “Dedicated GF” in order to make the search even easier for you. What I love most about this app is that there are restaurants on there that I never knew had gluten-free menus or were safe to eat at, and Find Me Gluten Free shows me their menus along with reviews from other members of the community, most are labeled “Celiac” or “Non-Celiac,” which lets me know how safe the restaurant may be for me to eat at. This has become a necessity in going out to eat with friends and family, and could even be a great app for them to have as well. (Check out this blog for more ways they can help support you!) The app also has a food scanner for various products, as well as a community page where people host giveaways, ask questions, and provide helpful insights. Overall, this app seems to have it all and is a clear 10/10 for me!
2. The Gluten Free Scanner
This was the first app I downloaded after going gluten-free. It is most helpful for grocery shopping, I always have it up on my phone as I gather my items. All you have to do is scan the barcode on the item and it pulls it up, letting you know if it is gluten-free and/or safe to eat. This is something that really helps me keep gluten fully out of my diet since I can be sure that the foods I am purchasing are safe for me. You can also use the search tool in the app to look up different items or ingredients. I love this feature because there are many ingredients in food that I am unfamiliar with. It is a pretty simple app, yet extremely helpful!
3. Stuff That Works
Stuff That Works is like a warm welcome into your diagnosis or new lifestyle. They have a multitude of communities in the app for many different conditions, all of which are full of people who are going through the same thing you are. When you sign up, you enter your diagnosis, symptoms, treatments that work well for you, how long you have had your condition, and more, so that Stuff That Works can properly place you in the right community for you. They have communities for both Celiac Disease and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, which is great in helping you relate with others in similar situations. Members of the app can post questions, which other members can respond to and provide their personal experience or other helpful insights to help others gather more information. After downloading this app, it felt so good to know that I was not alone in my symptoms or the questions that I had. I have learned so much and would recommend this app to anyone with a diagnosis of any kind!
4. Fig
This is another app that is great for anyone, even those outside of the gluten-free community. When you download the app, you can enter your allergies/intolerances and the ingredients you need to avoid (for gluten intolerance and celiac disease, these would be anything with wheat, barley, or rye). Then, you can use the scanner or search tool in the app to find different items and Fig will tell you if “you can eat” it (green), “you may be able to eat” it (yellow), or “you cannot eat” it (red). Since I have Celiac Disease, I tend to steer clear of both yellow and red, just to ensure I am not taking any risks of consuming gluten. This is another great app for grocery store visits, you should give it a try!
Of course, there are many more apps out there that can be of great use to your gluten-free lifestyle, and you should try those too, these are just the 4 that have gotten me through the first year of my diagnosis. Give them a try and see just how well they can support you in your life without gluten!
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