Celiac disease

Hi @Loveduppenguin , look up the Coeliac Society of Ireland, www.coeliac.ie , for lots of advice, safe food lists and recipes.

She has been on This morning a lot recently, perhaps try ITV player and see if you can find it. As another op said she does have a website.
Second that for the new GF.range in Aldi, although mostly midlands & south, so I can't say what it's like as my parents haven't brought my stash north of the border yet!

One thing to watch for, depening on yiur age, is that Coeliacs don't absorb vitamins if they have been eating gluten. Especially Vit D and Calcium which will affect bone density. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis via a Dexa scan after diagnosis early 60's.

Foodwise I like Tesco cereal and choc biscuits. M&S bread, quiche, fish cakes, cheesebakes etc. It is mainly sauces ans coatings to watch out for. My DH and I have same meals, I just have GF version or no sauce but GF gravy, Tesco is nice.

Sharwood and Patak curry sauces mainly GF, lovely with rice, which is usually gf, prawns or chicken. Good luck.

A few subs that make a big difference:
Potato crust quiche
yogurt flatbreads with gf flour

a few things to be really careful of:
soy sauce has gluten in
gluten free doesn’t always mean safe for coeliac. Always say that you are coeliac rather than just asking for gf.

I'm anaphylactic/allergic to wheat and have been W/GF for 4 years now, and even in that time the quality of GF products has dramatically improved.

Some easy switches are stock cubes (many are GF), soy sauce (use Tamari instead) and Worcester sauce (use Hendo's instead).

There are perfectly acceptable breads, everyone has different preferences though so you'll need to test them for yourself. My 2 favourite bready things are Warburtons pittas and Schar's frozen rolls (which turn into delicious crusty rolls when baked). White Rabbit do excellent pizzas, and for pasta stick to Italian brands - the Italians are great for GF. M&S have some delights (iced buns, teacakes, samosas and spring rolls).

Becky Excell's Yorkshire pudding recipe is a must, and her website and books are a great intro to GF cooking and baking.

@Loveduppenguin you can buy a gluten free version , tastes the same

hi there
You are likely more at risk from low b12 and iron due to poor absorption, ideally you should have b12 jabs as you will be poorly absorbing from tablets. You are also more at risk from lactose intolerance.

It is an autoimmune disease so please feel free to correct people who say they also have an 'allergy or intolerance' to wheat. Totally different things!

I too have coeliac disease. it is hard at first, and it’s a lot to get your head round.
15 years later though, its second nature to me. I wear a naturally gluten free diet and don’t eat anything off the gluten free aisle at all (except for frozen pizza to cook in an emergency) I eat out regularly and travel/ go on holiday.

the people you live with need to understand too, so they don’t misunderstand or buy something assuming it is gluten free. And so you can avoid cross contamination. I don’t have a gluten free house but will not touch gluten in case I accidentally ingest any. My children have learned about this from being small.

M&S bread products are the best (but my god do they know how to charge!)
Asda flour is the best I find, and baking works fine, just substitute it for normal flour, add some xanthum gum powder and poss a bit extra liquid.
Asda gf pasta is fine and not madly expensive
Morrisons (at least our local one does) has a small chiller/freezer in the free from aisle and has some good stuff in it (my daughter loves the frozen Mac n cheese balls!)
Other supermarkets can make it harder to find frozen gf stuff but it’s generally there somewhere.

Good luck

Things like sausages, “breaded” chicken are easy in aldi. A lot of their sausages say GF on the front, and the tempura battered chicken says GF. As are their falafel, the bbq bits in the summer. Lidl is getting better too.

I did notice that Adli have started doing GF products over the last couple of weeks. The bread was half the price of other supermarkets when I looked.

She has a website.

There is a board on here for Celiacs, you’ll probably get a lot more traffic there.

And Worcester sauce!

Drinks too. I used to love Vimto, but it contains barley. That’s the one thing I miss.

Celiac for 17 years here. It might seem very daunting but it’s not as bad as it can seem at first. Most restaurants will have gluten free options but here are some tips that I can give.

1. takeaways are usually not advised unless they can guarantee a gluten free space.
2. any cuisine that uses soy sauce will usually 99% have gluten in unless is specifically states not.
3. if you go on holiday, message the accommodation (hotel) if you are on a board basis and let them know ahead of your stay. They will be able to offer you gluten free items.
4. Sainsbury’s in my opinion has the best gluten free brands.
5. old El Paso corn tortilla wraps are gluten free and state on the packaging.
6. Becky Excell and Megan McKenna cook books have been so helpful to me.

I’ve found eating out to be a pain in the arse. While many places have “non gluten containing” menus, they all have the disclaimer about cross contamination. I’ve been caught out a few times so I don’t bother anymore.

I tried that at first, but it depends who lives with you. It can get expensive and I wouldn’t inflict gluten free products on my worst enemy 🤣

It’s okay if you are careful. I make my children normal sandwiches next to my own food, it’s okay, you get used to being careful, having your own chopping board and knife etc. it becomes second nature.

Are you in the US? Just because you’re using the US spelling celiac rather than the UK coeliac…

as that will make quite a bit of difference in product and food availability.

we find the US is more gluten aware generally. It seems to be the norm for people to avoid gluten, so there are more products. They’d often arranged differently as well- in the UK supermarkets will have an (overpriced!) “free from” aisle where all their GF products are. US will have the GF cookies in the cookie (biscuit) aisle.

Just a little tip, as it came as a surprise to me, soy sauce usually contains wheat so you need special gluten free soy sauce or tamari sauce which is normally g/f.
It's hard to eat in Chinese restaurants, Thai is better.