Coeliac help

[purplemachine]

Hi

I'm newly diagnosed Coeliac and although it is a massive lifelong change I feel pretty ok and optimistic about it. However the whole cross contamination thing is overwhelming me. Obviously there are many foods that are naturally gluten free but I have been going through my cupboards and so many foods say may contain wheat. For example bags of dried lentils and nuts. Do I have to throw all these out. Was going to make peanut cookies but my peanuts may contain traces of gluten and looking online I can't find any that don't. Does everyone get symptoms if they have a tiny bit of gluten? (although I want to avoid this as much as possible as it could be causing damage even if I don't have symptoms).

Also, do most people end up having a completely gluten free house even if just one member of the family is Coeliac?

Any advice for a newly gluten free person welcome!!

Thanks

I know adults who aren’t that careful because they don’t get symptoms. The problem is companies put the statement on to protect themselves.

DD is coeliac. She was very young when she was diagnosed, she does get symptoms from small amounts, you may become more sensitive over time as your bowel heals. We aren’t all GF though. However I do buy as many products as I can find GF, stock cubes, gravy, etc. I don’t have normal flour in the house as I think the risk of contamination with it is too high.
It does get easier. You’ll find products that suit over time.
We have a particular area in the kitchen I make DDs sandwiches and she has a separate toaster. I clean the surfaces a lot too. It will become second nature after a while.
With the dried things, I might be tempted to give them a really good wash before use. Gluten has probably been used to stop them sticking together.

My daughter was diagnosed aged 11 so has been gf for 10 yrs now , she does feel ill at anymore than minimal cross contamination and we’ve recently cut out anything with strawberries in as she has started reacting to them , apparently due to some of them being grown on wheat straw . That said pre lockdown we ate out very regularly with minimal issues and she does have stuff that is made in a factory where non gf products are made like crisps and that doesn’t seem to cause any issues .

I'm coeliac, and we don't have a gluten free house. I'm not forcing gf bread and pasta on the rest of the house, but all the stock, soy sauce etc etc is GF.
Things like loose lentils, they just can't guarantee it doesn't have some wheat contamination along the line. Personally, I'm happy to take that sort of risk.
Over the 20 years I've been diagnosed I have come to an attitude where I will take small risks where it makes my life better/easier, and try and space them well out. So I might eat chips cooked in a shared fryer occasionally when there isn't other options, or have a pot of not certified GF porridge when on the road. But I've never knowingly cheated, and always try to make the safest choice eating out

Different people experience different symptoms. My DH is asymptomatic, he could eat an entire loaf of wheat bread and feel fine, obviously it would still damage his intestines so he doesn’t. Others get sick with even a tiny amount of cross contamination.

We tend to cook gf family meals simply because it’s a huge faff to prep two meals and wash two sets of pans etc. It’s as simple as checking the ingredients and choosing one brand instead of another. Gf bread goes in a toaster bag in the normal toaster. We use spoons to take spoonfuls of jam, butter, etc in order to avoid cross contamination by dipping a knife and touching wheat bread then transferring crumbs into the tub. Individually wrapped items such as biscuits obviously aren’t an issue.

Thanks, that's all really helpful. I've been reading so much the last few weeks and it's a bit of an information overload. Really nice to hear how other people manage in their daily lives.

I did think maybe just washing things like lentils thoroughly was a good idea.