DH just been diagnosed coeliac - looking for helpful suggestions

[MaryThorne]

DH has just today been diagnosed as having coeliac. I'm going through the cupboards looking for anything that has gluten in and plan to do some online research later.

Could you please share your experiences of how you went about adapting after the diagnosis of you or a family member? Any useful tips especially for eating out?
We're due to go to an outdoor event on Sunday and would have bought lunch from one of the food stalls there but that now feels a lot more complicated!

Hi, I am coeliac too and actually it's fine.

Firstly, be very wary of supermarket 'GF' ranges pulling a fast one - GF Mayo, GF tomato soup, GF pesto etc - they are 3 times the price and the regular versions don't even contain gluten!!

Schar products are very nice, and M&S and Waitrose have even started doing GF ready meals, pizzas, fish fingers etc

Personally I tend to do what a PP suggested and just stick to protein and veg on the whole. I feel a lot healthier and happier that way!

There are so many options available now that actually eating GF is a lot easier. I preferred it when I was first diagnosed and you couldn't get GF biscuits, cake etc - it was so much easier to avoid temptation!

We have a GF household now to make it easier. If DH wants toast or a sandwich he goes to a bakery or my dad's house!

Breakfast is usually porridge (I can have oats luckily) or cornflakes on weekdays and banana pancakes (basically mashed banana and egg) on weekends. Also eggs with spinach, ham or salmon.

Lunch is trickiest. Crudités and hummus, homemade soup, big salads made with quinoa or brown rice are the go-to options.

Dinner is basics - roast dinner (gravy made with GF granules), chilli, shepherds pie, stir fried with rice or rice noodles etc.

It's actually not such a big deal to not eat bread, pasta etc. It seems terrible at first and then it becomes routine. Where I find it hard is not to be able to just bung a jar of sauce with some meat for a quick curry dinner. I need to buy paste or make paste for example. But it's ok with some planning.

Tesco have a surprisingly good range of GF bread for when you do need it, and they also stock the Mrs Crimbles treats which are lovely. Kellogg's started adding barley to their cornflakes/rice crispies about 10 years ago (fuckers) so now I need to buy Mornflake or anther GF brand.

And yes what Fenella said about GF ranges pulling a fast one - Tesco regular own brand mayo is GF for example as they use Xanthan gum as a stabiliser.

Oh, regarding GF oats. There are some Coeliacs who react to them, even the certified ones. So that's something to be introduced slowly after DH has been GF for some time. I'd suggest waiting 6 months minimum after he's been GF AND any symptoms he's having have cleared up. Then introduce them slowly.

I went 'naturally' GF when I was first diagnosed (fresh meat, fruit, veg, rice). Then added in GF certified foods a few at a time (there weren't many when I was diagnosed!). I then started introducing more 'complicated' foods (ready-meals, crisps, soups, condiments etc that were 'no gluten ingredients' by label but not GF certified) very slowly and one at a time making sure I didn't have a reaction. That way if I did react, I knew what food was causing it.

There is such a range now of good safe GF foods, and here (US) any food labeled as GF must be certified by testing. When I was first diagnosed, testing wasn't required so there were many products that were 'no gluten ingredients' but were horribly cross-contaminated that were still allowed to be labeled as 'gluten free'.

Lots of sauce mixes are gf, don't discount the value range - we use value sweet and sour and curry - just add extra veg. The first few weeks shop took hours reading all the labels but you soon get in the swing of it. We have different brands of butter to make sure we don't cross contaminate, DS is the coeliac but all our evening meals are gf. DH still has bread for his breakfast and has his own "gluten" corner of the kitchen.

Brio Pataks curry sauces are all gluten free (as are their poppadoms yum) and lots of other brands are too now.

My husband is also coeliac since he was a teenager. I find it easier for us all to be gluten free to avoid cross contamination and lots of food is naturally GF, eg meat/ fish and vegetables and potatoes, you just have to watch out for predictable culprits like gravy when you eat out (although lots of places have GF gravy as standard). Lots of places are great for GF, especially in the lake district and some even do GF fish and chips (separate fryers) and GF roasts as standard. Legally all cafes and restaurants have a list of allergens in their food which makes life easier nowadays.

Apart from puff pastry, there isnt anything I haven't been able to make GF, even profiteroles. I follow non GF recipes and use Doves farm SR flour that has xantham gum in and ensure that there enough eggs in the recipe (i usually use 3 for a cake for example) as they really help with binding and raising. I found that Gf recipes didnt work that well for me but that's a personal preference.

GF pasta- we prefer the ones made with rice flour rather than corn (Doves farm again- i dont work for them, honest!) and you have to cook on a rolling boil and stir every now and then to stop it sticking
Noodles- rice noodles (flat white or vermicelli) are naturally GF and essily available in supermarkets
Soy sauce- can get GF Tamari which is a Japanese soy in all supermarkets
Bread- Newburn bakehouse (Warburtons) new artisan loaves are amazing and just like non GF bread or wheatfree bakery (link in earlier post) or Schar (esp ciabatta rolls)
Pastry- i make with doves farm sr flour and use 1 egg to bind instead of water and roll between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper or press into a tin or Schar do a good frozen version
Sausages: sainsburys (3 of their taste the difference range are GF) or M&S do lots of GF sausages and apparently do some GF ready meals now.

If your husband is anything like mine, he will like beer. The good news is that there are quite a few around and some pubs sell them too. Sainsburys sell Greens golden ale and Greens lager and Estrella Daura lager and other supermarkets i think also sell some and there are several other brands as well online.

When we go on holiday we usually take some Schar ciabatta rolls and toaster bags then he can have those with eggs etc. Watch out for cereals, even some cornflakes have gluten in. Schar is a continental brand so we can always manage to find it when we are abroad and their range is pretty extensive. Italy has the highest rate of coeliac disease and we were surprised that lots of restaurants there have GF menus. Otherwise you can take little cards (or get them on your phone) that has a translation to say that you need GF diet.

Once you get used to it, it is pretty easy to follow a normal lifestyle GF and not feel like your husband will be missing out. Patisseries in France are the only place that induces a degree of envy and longing for my husband hence I've worked on my baking skills to try and fill that void.

Someone said you can share a toaster- you absolutely can't.
I think all the rest of the advice is great.
I have coeliac and wheni found out I found the coeliac for dummies book great.
I too tend to stick to naturally gd foods.
Watch out for hidden barley malt in chocolate and cereal.
I like the gf pasta but have given up on bread (unless toasted).
It will feel like a steep learning curve at first but becomes second nature.
Also eating out is so much easier now. Lots of places have specific gf menus.

Good idea to get your 2yo tested, but be aware that until children are 7plus their immune system is not fully developed so you can get a false negative because they're not producing the antibodies in high enough amounts to show up on the test.

IMO (coeliac DC) it's much better to be diagnosed in toddlerdom/early childhood (DC were 4 and 3 respectively) because you grow up understanding it and dealing with it as part of life rather than having a big shock and lifestyle change later on.

Personally I think it's easier to have the whole house gf and just cook one meal rather than faffing about with avoiding cross-contamination and multiple dishes. I tried that for 4 months and it nearly killed me! Gf food is healthy, particularly if you approach it in a paleo 'natural foods' sort of way.

Oats are not gf (they are usually grown in fields using a rotation system so some wheat plants from previous years will come through in the oat crop). Gf oats are grown in completely separate fields. But some coeliacs react to the avenin protein in oats (which is v. similar to the gluten proteins), so best to avoid until your gut has completely healed (no symptoms and a clear blood test) and then reintroduce carefully.

none of us are coeliac but we have been enjoying some GF ready meals recently by Amy's Kitchen - they are available in Asda, and ocado online and I suspect in waitrose too. From what I have seen their whole range is suitable for vegetarians and some things are also suitable for vegans and/or are GF.

Also, I may be wrong but is chickpea flour GF? If so, your DH may be able to eat a lot of Indian savoury snacks as these are usually made with chickpea flour (aka gram flour and besan flour) - possibly worth looking into.