Gluten free

Legacy_user

This is all new to us so im looking for tips or ideas for a gluten free lifestyle .

apple_muncher

I'd suggest you go for foods that are naturally gluten-free, and that you explore the paleo/primal lifestyle.


If you are going gf due to coeliac disease, then you need to buy new breadboards and a new toaster as the cross-contamination is a serious issuue.


If the household is all going gf, that's fineand dandy. If only part of the household is going gf, then you must keep things very separate. All spreads musr be separate,to avoid breadcrumbs and the aforementioned cross-contamination.


To be honest, gluten-free isn't hard. Especially if accidentally ingesting it gives you food-poisoning-style reactions !


But you start by reading every single label for not only wheat, but also barley, rye and oats.


Like any lifestyle, it takes work until you get into the righthabits.


Good luck!

theoretica

Buckwheat is gluten free despite the name and available if you have an Eastern European store convenient. I like cooking toasted buckwheat as an alternative to rice or a mixture with rice.


Gluten free bread is not at all the same as the stuff with gluten -I find I prefer wraps with pure corn tortillas (look out, many have wheat in this country).


A surprising number of people think couscous is gluten free - it isn't! Spelt is another one to look out for, it is lower gluten than modern wheat but not gluten free.

System

Thanks it’s my daughter that needs to go GF but we are all going to do it just because it will be easier generally.

I have downloaded a really helpful app for when I’m shopping , my initial reaction was panic mode and spent a small fortune on products marketed as Gf. Now I’ve had time to research a little I can see some of what she eats is gf anyway .

soolin

I've been GF for 25 years now my main tip is to get into the habit of reading Ingredient lists on packaging. Things change all the time so what was GF last week might not be this week as a recipe has been 'tweaked'.

As above though loads of food we eat is naturally GF , eggs for breakfast , omelettes etc or egg bacon mushroom tomato for instance. Dinner of meat, mash and veg , fish with hand cut chips, beans on GF bread.

M and S sausages are virtually all GF as are their burgers, so no need to buy special ones at all.

bertiewhite

My wife's been GF for a few years now (coeliac) and I generally eat the same as her, except for the bread - yeuch.

We've found there's absolutely no need for separate breadboards as I simply prepare her stuff first and then mine.

She started looking in the "Free from" sections of supermarkets but quickly learnt to look on the labels instead as some foods in the same sections can be with/without gluten.

Examples - Cheap baked beans with sausages have wheat in them but Heinz don't. Most gravies have gluten but Bisto "Best" don't. Most Aldi sausages are GF and in fact you're getting a better sausage as there's more meat/less cereal. Co-op do some great sausages for only £1.69 for 8.

We use cornflour for a lot of things like yorkshire puddings & batter.

Use Xanthem Gum to give your GF flour some chance of holding together.

I think everyone's different when it comes to tolerance though - my wife started by excluding everything but gradually, she's found that not everything affects her eg. she accidentally drank a bottle of lager without feeling the effects. A coeliac colleague of mine regularly eats normal liquorice and that's supposed to contain gluten.

It's part of our normal household life now and you'll get used to it as well - the only problem we've had is eating out but again, we soon got used to where the best places to eat are. If we mention GF and get a blank stare from the staff, we just walk away!!!

System

Thanks for all the information, an additional issue is she is autistic so change isn’t always easy but so far she’s been willing to try everything. She’s not celiac but gluten sensitive so if I make a mistake it’s not as serious she has no pain/ effects when she does eat gluten the blood test was because her seizures had gone haywire and apparently gluten can effect neurological function.
I guess time will tell although she does say she feels different.

Am I right in thinking if wheat is in bold then that indicates gluten ? That’s my working theory when my app doesn’t recognise a product .

gdrforest

You could join the Coeliac society. Coeliac.co.uk and you will get a food handbook and access to the website and an app that have gluten-free directories as well as local group meetings where you can meet people in the same position.

theoretica

Many manufacturers use a convention that puts all potential allergens in bold to draw your eye. Everything* with wheat in will contain gluten. You don't say how old she is - beer is another gluten containing substance that catches some people out. Also breakfast cereal like cornflakes and rice crispies often has gluten in the barley malt.



*Or very nearly everything, I once found some dried fruit with wheat starch that said it was pure starch with no gluten.

sammyjammy

bertiewhite wrote: »

My wife's been GF for a few years now (coeliac) and I generally eat the same as her, except for the bread - yeuch.

We've found there's absolutely no need for separate breadboards as I simply prepare her stuff first and then mine.

She started looking in the "Free from" sections of supermarkets but quickly learnt to look on the labels instead as some foods in the same sections can be with/without gluten.

Examples - Cheap baked beans with sausages have wheat in them but Heinz don't. Most gravies have gluten but Bisto "Best" don't. Most Aldi sausages are GF and in fact you're getting a better sausage as there's more meat/less cereal. Co-op do some great sausages for only £1.69 for 8.

We use cornflour for a lot of things like yorkshire puddings & batter.

Use Xanthem Gum to give your GF flour some chance of holding together.

I think everyone's different when it comes to tolerance though - my wife started by excluding everything but gradually, she's found that not everything affects her eg. she accidentally drank a bottle of lager without feeling the effects. A coeliac colleague of mine regularly eats normal liquorice and that's supposed to contain gluten.

It's part of our normal household life now and you'll get used to it as well - the only problem we've had is eating out but again, we soon got used to where the best places to eat are. If we mention GF and get a blank stare from the staff, we just walk away!!!

Its not clear from your post that you know with coeliac desease that whether there is a physical symptom or not your wife should eat no gluten whatsoever.

Red-Squirrel_2

Hi, if its just your daughter who has coeliac disease, I would reconsider changing the rest of the family's diet unnecessarily.

Have a read of this before you go ahead:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/going-gluten-free-just-because-heres-what-you-need-to-know-201302205916