Do you have Coeliacs disease?

Mojisola

Go paleo - http://css.robbwolf.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/thePaleoSolution_QuickStart.pdf - and you won't need to buy bread again.

purple.sarah

Mojisola wrote: »

Go paleo - http://css.robbwolf.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/thePaleoSolution_QuickStart.pdf - and you won't need to buy bread again.

You're missing the point. It's your choice to go on that diet, it shouldn't be forced on someone because they can't afford gluten free food. The Paleo diet is much more restrictive than the gluten free diet and people with Coeliac disease or other health problems are advised to check with their health care provider before following it.

Soapn

wiccanlou wrote: »

I have just found out they are proposing to stop prescribing the foods for those with this Auto Immune disease. If they do this it will more than likely have a ripple effect and the rest of the country will follow.

My partner is just starting the tests and then the diet to see if he has Coeliacs and if it is proven that he does have it we will literally not be able to afford to buy gluten free foods for him. For example a 400g loaf of gluten free bread can cost as much as £2.45 six times more than its 800g normal loaf which makes him very ill.

There is a petition. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/27968

normal bread costs around £1.25........ what about something like corn bread?

soolin

Bigmoney2 wrote: »

A prescription is currently 7.40, surely its cheaper to buy the bread?
Also most bread is over a pound these days so not really 6x the cost more like 2 times.

I occasionally get Genius bread on prescription and for each scrip I get 6 loaves.

I have been diagnosed with coeliac disease for around 18 years now and it is only recently I have started eating GF bread at all. Until a very few years ago the stuff was inedible, so I just tried to plan meals that didn't involve bread. Not too easy, but it is possible.

We can get pasta on prescription, but only 2 packs per scrip so it is cheaper to buy that from a supermarket. The only other thing is flour, but again Doves farm in a supermarket is only a little dearer than normal flour. We can get some plain biscuits on scrip as well, which I have always found odd as that is hardly a vital part of any diet.

Being gluten free is expensive, but not for staple goods really, more for the fact we can't eat cheap processed food like ready made pies or fish fingers. If I do want a pie and can't be bothered to make my own I buy Genius ones but they are well over £3 for 2, and fishfingers are usually about £2 for 10- so much dearer than own brands. The changes to the prescriptions won't make any difference to that though.

Mojisola

purple.sarah wrote: »

You're missing the point. It's your choice to go on that diet, it shouldn't be forced on someone because they can't afford gluten free food. The Paleo diet is much more restrictive than the gluten free diet and people with Coeliac disease or other health problems are advised to check with their health care provider before following it.

Absolutely agree with this.

If the campaign is successful and coeliacs want to continue getting the special foods - fine.

If it's not and they can't afford to buy the gluten free foods and there is another way of eating, isn't it worth looking at it to see if it would suit?

soolin

Mojisola wrote: »

Absolutely agree with this.

If the campaign is successful and coeliacs want to continue getting the special foods - fine.

If it's not and they can't afford to buy the gluten free foods and there is another way of eating, isn't it worth looking at it to see if it would suit?

No, the last thing someone who has coeliac disease needs is a restrictve diet. Yes we are perfectly well if we stay gluten free, but we also have a lot of digestion and difficulties with absorbing certain vitamins and minerals (some but not all coeliacs) . I already have to have regular Vitamin B12 injections due to severe anemia and I am considered a very unsymptomatic coeliac. If i don't eat, or I miss out on carbs or protein I pass out or am very sick or at the least get a migraine as we are prone to a lot of blood sugar issues as well.

As I said I am considered to be a 'well' coeliac, I am even disliked on some informal CD groups as I do not conform to th enormal 'sick' coeliac ideal, I do not fall ill if I use a bread knife that has been used to cut real bread, nor do I suffer any reaction if I accidentally eat small quantities of gluten- although of course it affects me long term.

As long as I eat a varied diet, and don't cut out any food group I am very very well. Before good GF bread I used to eat a lot of kedgeree, pre cooked in the morning or night before work and then decanted into tupperware to be eaten cold at work.

rogerblack

wiccanlou wrote: »

Its all well and good the supermarkets stocking these items but are you aware that a lot of them are stupid enough to stock gluten free bread with normal bread risking cross contamination.

While people with coeliacs disease are perhaps sensitive to gluten - it's not an actual poison.

Avoiding unwrapped loaves is clearly wise, but sealed packets are essentially risk free.

To be labeled as gluten-free - some regulators specify 20ppm as permissable gluten.
For a 1kg box of cereal,or bread this is about .4 grams of contamination.

This is a lot.
Half a gram is about as much flour as you can hold in a pinch.
I don't think I've ever seen packed bread with anywhere close to this on the outside of the packaging.
And then it's got to get off the packet, and into the other packet.

Don't pick bags with massive holes in, or that have lots of flour on the outside.

soolin

Even gluten free bread sold in the UK has permitted levels of gluten in it- although I think Genius is totally gluten free.

Some of the support groups I have joined in the past would be cheering over the decision to ban these scrips as most items on prescription have permitted gluten in them and they want them banned. It seems to be a very political illness with those eating gf alternatives, like me and those who consider it all poison.

LittleMissAspie

You don't HAVE to eat bread or pasta or any products made with flour. You can get more than enough nutrients without a single grain of flour in your diet. You're not being forced into eating gluten-free because of the price of fake bread, you're being forced into it because your body says so. Just like diabetes or peanut allergy. If a food doesn't agree with you, don't eat it.

soolin

Some more info here:

http://www.coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-diet-lifestyle/choosing-safe-foods/is-there-a-safe-level-of-gluten

There is a level of gluten which is known to be safe for people with coeliac disease to eat. This level is the amount of gluten allowed in gluten-free products and is known as the Codex standard.

gluten free products can be labelled gluten free but actually contain gluten- so as that is 'allowed' I don't worry too much about cross contamination between sealed products.