Celiac disease

[Loveduppenguin]

Asking here because i don’t where else to post, and traffic should be good here. I’ve been diagnosed as celiac this morning. I’m still waiting on my dietitian and gastroenterologist appointments to discuss things further. But just asking on here for any information on foods, tips etc etc ANYTHING at all to help me out on this transition. It would be so much appreciated ☺️ thank you

The eating at home I can manage I reckon, it’s eating out is going to be tough. I love trying new restaurants and new foods…like if I go to Italy again, it’s going to be so hard. And the trusting people in restaurants when I ask for GF.

No, Italy is amazing for GF! They test for coeliac far more than any other country, so far more people there are diagnosed!

My husbands family are Italian, it’s much easier to eat gf safely there!

I don’t eat out much. I have found Wagamama to be one of the best, they make a manager take your order, they have shown me the separate areas.

the only time I have ever had a reaction is eating out, so I don’t bother much. I mean, my own kitchen looks like it would be a cross contamination nightmare (I don’t make my family eat gf, and I give no shits about making my kids a sandwich while I am preparing my own, food, I’m just very careful about utensils/chopping boards/butter), it’s the fryers in restaurants that seem to be the main hazzard.

What I don’t do is eat at other peoples houses, and friends and family are fine with that.

Ive had instances where someone has gone to the trouble of getting me a gluten free pizza - and then, when I’ve asked, it turns out they have cooked it on the same tray a normal pizza has been on, and they have used the same pizza cutter, so obviously, I’ve had to tell them I can’t eat it.

Or they have bought gluten free bread, made me a sandwich but used the same butter and knife for everyone else’s normal bread, used the same knife to cut it, same chopping board and again, I have had to say, I’m so sorry, that will make me so sick, I can’t eat it.

Or they will bring out a plate of biscuits and say “the ones in the middle are gf!” so, you know, I can’t eat those as they are touching the normal ones!

Or they think they have made something meat based and safe, but the stock cubes have barely in and they didn’t realise that was an issue.

I’ve had people get quite offended at first, so now I just explain that it’s hard to get your head around, and I can’t take the risk. I still go out for dinner with people - I just have drinks and don’t eat. It’s okay, everyone gets used to it, and if they don’t, they don’t, I can’t help that.

Italy is great for GF!

I know it’s daunting OP, but you will adjust. Agree with PP who said just buy Doves Farm GF flour and use your normal baking recipes. You might need to add a splash of milk as GF flour absorbs more liquid.

And absolutely get the Becky Excel cook books. Her recipes never fail.

It’s a bit irritating at first to have two different pans of pasta boiling on the stove but you will get into the swing of things.

Eating out: some tips here (not sure if all these chains exist in Ireland):

Zizzi - their gluten free pizza base is hands down the WORST I have ever eaten. Or tried to eat; I sent it back.

Pizza Express - acceptable GF pizza.

The Lounges chain have GF options eg GF bun for their burgers.

Most high street Italian style restaurant will have GF pasta to swap in.

Pizza Hut poisoned me with their allegedly GF base like I have never been poisoned before. When I complained the manager told me to send a stool sample to the GP to test it for gluten, which shows they know sod all about what gluten is.

Dolmios haven’t poisoned me. Always a risk of cross contamination but I’ve got lucky so far.

Lots of places are Coeliac UK accredited; look on their website.

Where is the gluten free food in Aldi? I try to avoid GF bread as it’s packed with ingredients and could probably survive a nuclear holocaust, but sometime I just fancy some toast. I usually have to go to another supermarket to stock up on things like breaded chicken/fish/scampi (really good for a quick mid-week taco night) from another supermarket. Would be great if I could get it from Aldi.

Pho is a great chain for GF. A lot of Mexican food is good too as they use corn tortillas and are often knowledgeable on GF food (don’t share fryers etc).

My Aldi have only stared stocking GF in the last week or so.

I’m the same, I so t eat any gf foods usually as the ingredients put me off. But once in a while, some toast is a treat. I mean, I always regret it as gf bread is just horrible 🤣

Aldi do great tempura chicken nuggets and strips! Says gf in the label, my children have had them for years and thier chilled fish fingers (the bigger ones) are mostly labelled gf too.

We live in UK but my DH is Irish so we travel over a couple times a year, and unfortunately find it much harder to find gf stuff - DH and DD2 both coeliac. The same item which is gf in Tesco here, in exact same packaging, is not gf there. But we found independent shops were happy to adapt - such as we ask a local butcher to DH's family to make him gf sausages etc.

Eating gf at home is fine. DD1 and I don't eat completely gf - we have our own bread, biscuits cakes pizza etc, and have seperate toaster, trays,chopping board etc. DD1 and i cant stand gf bread but DH and DD2 prefer it, i think it's something about your body knowing whats good for it. But all meals we make gf.

Eating out is the biggest challenge, especially birthday parties for DD2's friends. Luckily, she adapted to it well (diagnosed at 5) and doesn't seem bothered that she can't have certain things

Gluten free soy sauce is easy to find.
Another one to watch out for is malt vinegar and some brands of mayonnaise.

A bread maker will also be your friend, as much shop gf bread is hard and brittle, I think m they add lots of stiff to make it last longer as so expensive, so we make our own now. Only lasts a day or 2 but with 2 people eating in our house it goes quick anyway

When I was first diagnosed, one of my family died and to do something nice for me, dh found a chip shop that did everything gluten free on a Tuesday. He went and got me some as a suprise but then put normal vinegar all over them when he got home. I heard him swearing in the kitchen when he realised what he was doing! He drove half an hour back and got me more, bless him, along with lots of bottles of gluten free vinegar that the chip shop sold!

The white rabbit gluten free pizza are delicious x

The other thing that pisses me off with GF food is that everything is so tiny. Small pieces of bread, half the size of a normal loaf. A packet of biscuits with only 8 in it. Why can’t we have normal sized food and a whole packet of biscuits? Especially when we pay so much more for it.

And so much is milk free or vegan too. I know it makes sense for manufacturers to cover it all, but it’s annoying.

My dh was diagnosed mid 40s as silent coeliac
Avoid BROW - barley rye oats (unless gf) wheat
The aldi gf products are a trial we don't have it anywhere in our area. There's plenty options in both lidl (saw some gf pasta recently) and aldi though if you look then bigger supermarkets for gf bread.

There's some great gf cook books out there amazon have Becky excell and meghan mckenna ones.

Eating out needs some planning we tend to stick with places we know but even that has got easier in the last few years. Nandos is pretty safe.

Really important to stick with it as not doing so can cause significant health issues including cancer.

Good luck

Ha ha!

I did too - until a Saudi colleague told me to double check as her little brother still had it despite having Coeliac. Obviously your decision, I suppose the key is whether somebody reacts to 20 ppm and/or if there's actually an allergy rather than Coeliac.

It's a lot cheaper (and longer lasting) to get the cordial and then add fizzy water - there are Vimto recipes on the .sa website, too; the Muhalabiya is inherently GF, as is the rice pudding and marshmallows.

You can borrow Becky Excell books from your local library - if not in branch they can usually order them in for you.

@MrsCravensworth that's really rubbish. I have several family members who have Coeliac's disease in my extended family and so I have a gluten cupboard in my kitchen to reduce the chance of cross-contamination and when we host for them everything I cook is gluten free. People don't think and e.g. use the same knife to cut something containing gluten then something gluten free. Much easier to make it all gluten free.

@Loveduppenguin your biggest issues will be processed food and eating out, home cooking it is easy to avoid. Get a gluten free cookbook so you can find some good recipes for cakes and biscuits that are gluten free, eat lots of potatoes, rice, beans and chickpeas/gram flour and you'll be fine.

My favourite naturally gluten free puddings:
Pavlova / Eton mess
Torta caprese (there's a very similar French recipe called Reine de Saba but I prefer the Italian version)
Tarta de Santiago
My nephew loves the HFW chocolate & bean cake

My DH is coeliac and dairy free, and we are thankful that some items are both gf and df. So often we find a gf item which looks lovely only to find has dairy in it, or vice versa. Once someone has one intolerance or auto immune condition, they are much more likely to have others, so it makes sense for things to be multi free from. Also, if diagnosed later in life,damage done to a person's gut may mean they struggle to tolerate dairy.

Although our DD2 can have some dairy, she prefers coconut milk, soya yogurt, doesn't like cheese except the dairy free one, I think he also inherently knows that dairy is not great for her.

But many things are just gf, or just vegan/dairy free.

Thank you! I will keep a look out. My family can’t tell the difference between the fish fingers/GF breaded chicken (M&S is good and you get loads in a pack), so I tend to just buy that now. I’m not so keen on tempura, but I will give it a go.

I think it's been 20 years since I was first diagnosed and it's still shit to be honest. Cooking at home isn't a problem but there's no spontaneity in just going out to eat, I can't just go grab a coffee and a pastry, holidays always require a tonne of research, products get discontinued on a whim when the latest food fad comes along.

I love malt vinegar too 😭😭🤣🤣

Becky Excell cook books available on Amazon have helpful bits to guide you
Also feel free to DM
My recommendations are the Schar rolls you bake , frozen white Schar rolls (very close to regular fresh crusty rolls ) and lots of non "free from " food which are now available
If you cook, you'll be fine. Honestly.

Sarsons malt vinegar was certified GF very recently, as was Branston pickle.

So staples are

Rice
meat
fish
seafood
Tamari (taste just the same as Soy)
Bisto Best for stock cubes and gravy

Marks and Spencer do GF Chips and fish cakes and more
Sainsbury’s very good for GF processed crap like cakes and biscuits

Restaurants I’d recommend
Giggling Squid
Honest Burger
Pizza Express
Leon
Cote
Sushi restaurants generally. (Ask for tamari or take your own)

Ready food
Poke bowls are great too just read the ingredients

Puddings
Ice cream
Jelly
Creme Brulee
Many brownies are GF
Cheese (Nairns GF oat crackers)

Bisto Best is a "may contain".