Is there anybody else on here willing to share a few recipies? I’d be really grateful. I’ve just had yet another fruit lunch and it’s starting to get really quite tedious. Fruit, veg, more fruit, more veg, a bit of rice…veg, fruit. Chicken for tea though :-). How gopping is gluten free bread? Euuugh.

Proper medical reason or fad?

Proper medical reason sadly. The veggie vegan hippie tree hugger protester about everything in the room next door does this by choice! I’d ask her but it’d set her off on one and the rest of the office would point and laugh at me as I’m pinned to the wall under a tirade of ranting 🙂

barca – good answer.
Oatcakes? Nice with a few olives and a bit of cheese.

Oatcakes are not GF.
Check out the Coeliac Society website for tasty treats recipe of the month.
Juvela white rolls are OK, Glutafin White Bread is OK toasted.
Green’s GF beer is surprisingly good and will cheer you up. BEER!
How long have you been on the diet? I’m 10+ years and have got used to it…

I’ve just been Googling oatcakes. There seems to be some conflicting opinions about oats geoffj. Thanks for the tip.
Thanks for the Coeliac Society link and the bread options i_did. My locum GP just kind of dished out the news and sent me on my way so I’m finding my way through it.
I’ve only been eating this way for just over a week. No loss of symptoms as yet though.

Polenta(cornmeal) is gluten free, and can be used for a good variety of things, even cakes and breads.

Rice noodles/vermicelli are pretty good for oriental cooking, and as a pasta replacement.

Have made some pretty good bread and naan with the Dove Farms gluten free flour too.

Also, I’ve heard about some research that suggests it might be possible for some Coeliacs to eat sour-dough breads…

Are you a recent Coeliac or life time ? If recent diagnosed then see if you have amalgam fillings. Had a few tests years ago when suffering and told by dietician at hospital I was a coeliac, Mrs C was dental nursing then and spoke to an alternative medicine dentist, she tested my fillings and found they were giving a negative charge(poisoning me through mercury) after spending copious amounts of money all were changed to white fillings and coeliac symptoms gone. This is no bullsh*t, 100% truth

Cool, thanks so far everybody. I can feel the depression evaporating already.
Bloody hell Candodavid, that sound scary.

Now for the good news…
It takes about 2 weeks for the gut to get back to normal on a fully GF diet. (That’s why there’s no point in cheating occasionally) After that you’ll start to absorb iron, other minerals and folic acid properly. After about a month or so your blood count should be back to normal and as you’ve been used to feeling miserable for so long you should feel like you can fly (almost). I imagine it is like a serious dose of altitude training.
Once you feel better, you’ll get used to keeping to the diet and you’ll stay well.

@Candodavid – coeliac is diagnosed by a blood test and biopsy of the small intestine and is not done by a dietician. I’m happy to hear that you’re better – but it has nothing to do with coeliac disease.

@funkynick – I doubt it! Why would sourdough not have gluten in it?

had an endoscopy and blood test also, dietician was advising on nutrition

Lunch can be a difficult time – try soup, yoghurts and rice cakes to make it a bit more interesting

Candodavid – were your tests positive? And are you on a GF diet? Did you have a hair/nail test for mercury absorption (as it’s a more than a bit serious)? Not hassling – it’s just the first time I have ever heard this one and I want to ask my GP at my next check-up…

I_did_dab… apparently it’s to do with the way that the yeasts in sourdough breads work, and with all these things they were talking about good and bad gluten, with the bad stuff being used by the yeast, and that some coeliacs are only effected by the bad gluten.

How much of this is current thinking though I don’t know, but the thought behind it seems to be to do with the way modern breads are made, with loads of yeast and fast rising times, and that the increase in people with gluten intolerance seems to have gone along with the uses of these modern processes.

If I remember correctly the research was being done in Germany…

I’ve got lots and lots of ideas (parent of coeliac child) – will have to post them later though as I’ve got to go and pick up the gf perscription. Miss T has cooking at school tomorrow (biscuits) and I’ve run out of gf fibre mix.

MrsT

A quick google leads to this… http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17008163

Our whole family has been gf since daughter’s diagnosis 7 years ago, so I’m pretty well used to it now.

Have you got your gf prescription sorted? – some of the tastiest food is only available on prescription – we get flour, pasta, plain biscuits and pizza bases.

gf bread is really really easy to make, much easier and quicker than “normal” bread, and much tastier than the ready-made gf loaves – I tend to make baps, slice them then put in the freezer till needed (it doesn’t keep). I’ve found that the type of flour you use makes a huge difference – MissT’s prescription includes Juvela (normal and fibre mix). You can also add various fruit/nut/cheese combinations to the mixture to live up the taste. I’ve had zero success with the Doves farm bread flour, but my in-laws have a breadmaker and it seems to be ok in that.

Have you tried quinoa? I was really surprised how tasty it is (very similar in texture to cous cous), and it only takes 10 mins to cook.

I’ve got hundreds of cake recipes if you’re interested- date & banana, apricot, lemon drizzle etc

gf pasta cooking takes a little getting used to – we had a few stodgy messes initially, but once you get the hang of it, it’s tastes just the same as the wheaty stuff

If you have a microwave at work, how about heating up leftovers from the night before?

Anyway, here’s my banana & date cake, with my baps on the side …

MrsT

Can I come round and help demolish the baps and cake? They look realy nice 😀

Thanks for the pointers as well. Anything that isn’t veg and fruit or fruit and veg (repeat to fade) is a massive help. I really do appreciate the tips and pointers. All recipies very gratefully received at steve.monks@gmail.com if you can be bothered?

Only just getting going on this. I still have tummy ache (but that could be hunger).

Thanks funkynick – it looks like they are talking about using bacteria to de-gluten the flour but it only works for trace contamination at the moment.

Mrs Tricky – you really have got the GF baking worked out! It all looks very yummy…*drool*

Anyway, here’s my banana & date cake, with my baps on the side …

😯

Hey there

If you are proper Coeliac ignore me but I was just wondering whether you know if it is all gluten or just wheat you have a problem with.

I only ask because my gf gets proper rough when she eats wheat. She goes a bit of a funny colour rolls around on the floor a lot moaning and is not right for weeks afterwards.

But she can tolerate sourdough (rye) and oats which boh have gluten in them. This is a god send because sourdough is lush and gluten free bread is disgusting!

Nice to hear that there are other coeliacs on here, i was diagnosed 4 years ago when i was living in OZ. found it really hard to go into pubs when we moved back to Blighty as i love real beer. Greens Gf ale is very nice just need to find a pub that does it in draught 🙂 Baca you will be amazed how much better you will feel in a month or 2 but be warned once you are well you will be tempted to cheat and its not worth it and you will be obsessed with your diet and what else might be effecting you. you need to see a dietican as they will sort out stuff on prescription.
Oh and i had my filling changed and it made no difference!!

Hi barca

Have just emailed you some recipes

MrsT

Have you tried the BBC Good Food website? You can filter by special diets, including gluten free. Iona uses it a lot when looking for gluten-free recipes for the chalet.

She’s managed pretty decent cakes using ground almonds and even mashed-potato instead of flour!

Mrs T, could I put in a cheeky request for your recipes please? I occasionally have to cook for someone who is on a gf diet.

ianwarnes at gmail dot com

BB

Have emailed you BB

MrsT

Gluten is a specific protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Oats contain a very similar protein that some coeliacs are able to tolerate. There’s certainly no such thing as good and bad gluten.

Diagnosis should be made with blood test to indicate inflammatory markers. This should then be repeated after a sustained period of gluten-free dietary intake. If there are none of the specific markers, job done! Gold standard testing is done by a biopsy of bowel tissue.

Barca, have you had a firm diagnosis of Coeliac Disease yet? If so, you should have been refered to a dietitian. They’ll be able to advise you on how to manage your disease and offer good tips on sources of recipes, foodstuffs, etc. A number of my patients used to mix different types of GF flour to bake their own bread – loads nicer than purchased loaves.

The dietitian should also discuss the danger of contamination from other foods. This is a really difficult problem for coeliacs. Common examples of contamination include putting your gluten-free bread in a toaster that’s used for toasting regular bread and crumbs ending up in the butter/marmite jar. Wooden spoons can also cause contamination.

my gf is a coeliac and we eat much better than I did as a single (ie home cooked by her as opposed to me buying takeways and micromeals)

try the supermarket free from sections – she thinks Asda bread best, Sainsbury fruit cake (delic) and enerrgy bars ( and dried fruit)
– rice, brown rice, spuds and couscous are bases. Check Sharwoods I think it is as she can use their various sauces.
Under my influence she now does eat in curries (ask chef) chicken kebabs(minus pitta) and chicken and chips.
We have what I consider home cooking – chilli, lamb various, chicken various pork – various, slow roaste etc etc all in sauce – bloody marvellous deal, she cooks I wash.

StuE (Mr Cooroo) is avoiding wheat because of feeling knackered all the time, sneezing, sniffles and general unwellness. We’re not given to food fads, but this does seem to be helping. I still eat bread – is that sadism? Sainsbury’s GF bread was not good. I think rye bread is wheat free.

Luckily it’s more cutting down than avoiding at all costs, but it certainly gets you thinking. Mrs T, I’d love your recipes too!

StuE needs to see his GP and get himself tested for coeliac – time to start some wifely nagging…

Seriously? What are symptoms?

Gusamc – cous cous is made from wheat flour – definately NOT gluten-free

MrsT

cooroo – send me your email and I’ll send my recipes! If anyone else wants a copy too, send me an email to MrsTricky at fsmail dot net

MrsT

Cooroo – symptoms are as you described, (especially the feeling better off wheat). StuE needs to eat gluten for at least a couple of weeks (slice of bread a day) then ask for an anti-gluten antibody blood test, plus the usual blood count at his GP.
It could be something different, but feeling crappy all the time should be followed up.

Mrs Tricky’s recipes are outstanding (thanks very much again).
I got the test results by telephone from my GP’s stunt double (practice locum). No referall to a dietician though. My wife is having a chat with the dietician at her work for me. meanwhile I’m baking bananna cake courtesy of Mrs Tricky. Hmmmmm, my life is not yet over 🙂