To say eating gluten free food sucks

[Stickseas0n]

It's been a month since I was diagnosed and I'm so miserable as I'm so hungry.
Not to mention how expensive it is for much smaller portions.
I've gained so much weight in the month, my iron is low as shit, I'm struggling at work because as soon as I eat any foods I'm on the toilet.
I'm just so fed up

Maltesers contain barley malt extract, and barley is out if you're GF. Malted rice extract now being used in some products, but read the labels.

Pasta made with rice flour or a blend makes very nice macaroni cheese. The pasta doesn't expand as much as other types, but it tastes good. Schar and Nairn GF products are usually quite nice.

Brazilian cheese bread is GF (tapicoa flour) and makes a great snack. Use a strongly flavoured cheese and make it in mini muffin tins, it's got the texture of choux buns.

If you can lay your hands on either book 1 or 2 of America's Test Kitchen's "How Can It Be Gluten Free" you'll find some cracking recipes and ideas. Some recipes are better than others, but there are savoury and sweet goods that you'd be hard pressed to tell are GF.

If you bake, GF flours don't behave like wheat flour. You'll find substitutes like soured cream or Philadelphia cheese for part of the butter in some bakes, and if the recipe says to chill the dough or batter before baking then do so as it gives the flour a chance to hydrate.

I’ve been diagnosed coeliac over 6 years now. It takes a lot of getting used to, but now I eat a ‘normal’ diet, snacks and all. ASDA pasta, own brand chocolate digestives, cheese (of course it’s naturally gf), meat, veg, whatever. Please do message if I can help. I absolutely promise it goes get better, and there’s even bread out there which tastes normal!

You honestly get used to it from seeing Dd having to navigate it. She was diagnosing at 16yo. Shes fine at home, pack ups and when we’re out for the day are harder.

She makes her own pizzas now using caputo gf pizza flour from amazon. It took some tweaking but she’s a pro at it now and you can make the mix in 5 mins, leave it to prove for a bit then roll it out and add toppings. Id honestly be happy eating them and I can eat gluten.

she likes the Promise bread loaves, says the chia seed one is the best. But yeah expensive. The gf hobnobs and twix cookies also nice but again pricey.

accidentally gf food is cheaper. Dd is vegetarian but in the past I’ve found sausages with no gluten in them as a tesco own brand. Getting something like an Emily excel cookbook could be good. Get baking, I don’t bother with special gf recipes anymore. I just swap gf doves flour for the normal flour and it seems to work ok. Lemon drizzle cake, cookies, brownies, etc.

There's a Facebook Group called Gluten Free Dupes that you might find useful OP. Lots of people posting things they've found in different supermarkets.

The main problem is bread and flour substitutes. After that it's a lot easier than it was eg there are gf stock cubes and gravies. Zenb do good pasta but there are other brands

If you're putting on weight you need to rejig your diet to something healthier.

PS even M&S do gf as standard in a lot of things like sausages.

Get yourself Becky Excell's Make Anything Gluten Free. It lives up.to it's name.
Honestly, as a coeliac of 40years, this is the easiest I've had it. Yes it can be still a pita but now there's allergy warnings on foods and in restaurants life is so much easier.

Oh and a little warning. Make sure your contraception is bang on. After a few years of thinking I might have fertility problems and being a bit cavalier with contraception, within a few months of being gf I got pregnant. Dr said it was common.

All asda sausages are gluten free and nice.
Juvela bread is the least bad. They have it in Morrisons or it's online order.

Meat, Fish, Potatoes, Vegetables, Rice, Cheese, Dairy, Chocolate ...so many choices!

If you eat a lot of packaged foods/snacks then it gets really expensive (and they don't taste nice). Chocolate digestives being a prime example.

Most non-UPF is naturally GF. All the sausages we get from Tesco/morrisons/ocado/sainsburys/aldi are GF because we get the higher meat content ones. Cheaper sausages are more likely to not be GF.

If you base your dinners around meat+veg+carb then you shouldn't need to buy "special" GF food. Just read the labels for ingredients and may contains.

Snacks like biscuits and cakes I found it's best to make your own. Becky Excel recipes are all fabulous; I've never had one fail.

There are some staples in my cupboard that I have to watch. Stock cubes and gravy granules are a bugger for gluten, and they keep changing the ingredients. Normal stock cubes and gravy rather than free from is so much nicer (because free from exclude so many ingredients), but you have to read the ingredients every single time you buy them.

Beans/ketchup etc are difficult because of malt vinegar. Again it's a label checking exercise.

I hope you'll find it easier as time goes on and you use up or give away all the "wrong" beans etc from your cupboards.

Yup, my mum was finally diagnosed with coeliac disease due to investigations for infertility.

The Jolly Hog sausages are gluten-free; Tesco and others do gluten-free biscuits and mixes where you can make GF brownies, which are surprisingly nice (I make a batch and freeze them for snacks); Mrs Crimbles GF Madeleines are really nice, as are their coconut macaroon things; lots of the low carb stuff is GF too, eg I make a Blueberry Loaf with almond and coconut flour; re bread, I’ve found the Co-op GF seeded one nice (I can actually eat it in a sandwich, not just toasted!)

Evening meals are fine. Get some GF pasta in; some rice noodles; nice potatoes; sweet potatoes; other grains like quinoa and buckwheat, etc. You can also buy GF Yorkshire Puddings.

I try to base my meals on foods that are naturally GF but in the first few weeks, I found having some GF foods in really helpful, especially GF snacks.

For baking try The Loopy Whisk. She’s fabulous and also has a couple of great books out:

https://theloopywhisk.com

Asda have a good range of snacks bits and their prices for own brand aren't too atrocious either

Gluten free flour is your friend you'll suddenly be able to make sauces again AND pancakes and plenty of other bits if you like baking

M and S gluten free products are good but expensive

Flapjack is usually GF and popcorn

Ds is gluten free. Last night he had pasta in cheese sauce with bacon and brocoli.. all gluten free as I made sauce with GF flour and used GF pasta.

If you're looking for somewhere to eat out Pho is good as most of their menu is GF

@breatheandfocus please will you give is the recipe for the blueberry loaf?

Also if you are on the toilet after eating anything something isn’t right. Either you’re getting contaminated food somehow or possibly consider is dairy triggering you? It’s not uncommon to develop a temporary dairy intolerance when going gf. Dd had to avoid it for six months as she was still being sick. I was convinced for weeks she was accidentally getting gluten somehow. Then realised it was after cheese.

Eating out is slightly fraught, though a lot more people do g-f sauces, and wait staff understand the question. Though I've started meeting a group for friends for tea and scones once a week, and take a scone from the g-f bakery in town and get it heated as the least faff way to be able to join in (the meringue roulade with berry coulis was a kind gesture, but really not what I want mid-morning)..

Certainly 😊 I got it from the low carb site below. She cuts it into 12 but I find that impossible so cut it into 10 slices. If you’re not worried about carb content, you can cut as you see fit. Because it’s low carb, it’s a little more fragile than some loaves and cakes, so cut carefully. It’s a simple recipe but I really like it. I’ve also made it with dairy-free coconut yoghurt and that worked well too:

https://thelowcarbkitchen.co.uk/blueberry-yoghurt-cake/

If you’re after something more traditionally cakey then I recommend The Loopy Whisk (link above in my first post).

This is a similar recipe from The Loopy Whisk but I haven’t made this one:

https://theloopywhisk.com/2024/08/02/gluten-free-blueberry-loaf-cake/

Hope those help.

Hi
I was diagnosed 6 months ago.
The website that saved me is Becky Excel and the Jane Devenonshire cookbook ( she won masterchef with GF food) she does loads of Gluten free recipies, so you can have Yorkshire puddings, dumplings etc.
I bought gluten free flour, GF baking powder amd xantham gum and can make most stuff I like even cakes! Think of it as a new food adventure!
Sourdough is not GF!
Only thing to note is GF food in restaurants in England is hit and miss.
Pm me of you need a chat, advice or recipies, always happy to help

If you want an easy way to make a pizza, you can buy either gf pizza base or gf pita breads. If its the pita breads, toast them first. Then spread on some tomato sauce (you can buy wee jars of pizza tomato sauce), add some mozzarella and whatever toppings you want and pop them in the oven until they're ready. I often use the pita breads now. It's a really easy and quick tea.

Have you tried Tesco own brand marmite? It’s gluten free by coincidence!! Tastes soo close to the real thing

100% absolutely LOVE going to Pho

If you’re wanting to try some of the bread products glutafin and Juvela both do welcome starter free boxes for newly diagnosed, it’s what helped me decided I hated juvela without having to spend money on it 😂

M&S free from food is incredible- the bread is unbeatable. Yes it’s not cheap, but no GF bread is, but anything they do is delicious.

tesco GF range won prizes, Sainsbury’s GF range and Morrisons GF range are fantastic

you’re in shock, but you will find your way through, it will get better.

remember too that the biggest proportion of people with gluten intolerance is in italy, so the range of GF pasta is amazing. Rice, potentially wholemeal rice is a good filler, quinoa is a great food for a couscous replacement for example and with some experimenting on dressings you can have wonderful results.

We have an amazing company near us ABasing Bakes, their pies are all GF and oh my god they are amazing, they sell them at a number of markets and are wonderful

my oh eats rye bread daily and that I think has no wheat gluten, so maybe that’s an idea for you too.

chin up, it’ll get easier as you explore options

That's part of the problem.

Most foods eaten in their natural state are gluten free.

Do you like greek yoghurt? Greek yoghurt is filling and I have some of this with berries, nuts and seeds for breakfast most days. The berries are frozen, I put some in the fridge overnight and they are ready for breakfast. I buy the nuts from Lidl at the moment as they are very reasonably priced. (Greek not Greek Style - it's additives that make Greek Style thick)

It's hard to change your diet overnight, but if you can move away from processed foods and processed white flour, and start to include more natural food (i.e. fresh chicken rather than breaded) then you might find that the transition is a bit easier than you have found.

Not in my experience 😂 being able to properly digest food means putting on weight for me. No more daily diarrhoea.

@Stickseas0n it gets easier once you realise that all of the free from stuff is awful and stop trying to find replacements!