diagnosed with wheat allergy almost a year ago and I seem to be eating total CRAP!

[twinkerbell]

can anyone out there help?
I can have the occasional slice of bread but pasta, most cereals, shorcrust pstry etc is a NO NO
But I am finding myself easting such rubbish, where as before if I was peckish I'd grab a simple sandwich or a bowl of cereal, now I am eating a chocolate bar or a handful of biscuits. When I go out for a meal SO much uses wheat and I always seem to end up wating chips or salad. I initially lost quite a lot fo weigh when I stopped eating wheat and very quicky started to feel a lot better in general.But I am worried about puting on the pounds now because its difficult to find stuff to eat

Try and make sure you eat plenty of protein to stop hunger pangs. Nuts, fresh fruit, dried fruit, rice cakes are all good.

Also why are you eating biscuits if you have a wheat allergy?

Have you thought about baking your on bread, biscuits, cakes with gluten free flour which has no wheat in at all. I do not have a wheat alergy but am coeliac (gluten/lactose intolerant) so I cannot eat wheat (or barley) and have a very similar problem to you findng enough things to eat when I am in need of snack or eating out.

I too lost 2 stone when I stopped eating wheat and it stayed off.

what about grabbing a piece of fruit?

i have a friend who is wheat and dairy (but can have goats products) free

she makes some yummy muffins, and her own bread etc...

you can get gluten free porridge and tesco own brand rice krispies do NOT mention gluten on the label in their allergy section so i assume they are gluten free! (all other brand of rice krispies i have checked contain gluten!)

when out and about she either has salad or jacket potatoe or soup or something served with rice (ie chilli and rice)... many places have gluten free options now

I have biscuits from morrisons which are wheat free, I have tried making my own bread from what free flour but it only lasted a day and went horrible and its so expensive to buy, I dont actually MISS bread I just find it hard to find stuff to eat. I have been eating more fruit but its when I am out and at work everywhere sells baguettes, bagals, sandwiches, toasties its a nightmare. I went mad on jacket spuds for ages at fist and I am sick of them AND soup lol
I just finding it very hard at the moment, I love the fact that I have lost a good bt of weight but need to tone now as flabby but dropped 2 dress sizes, its great.

sorry about my awful typing I am distracted by my cats wrecking the place and have cold hands lol

the key is not to just use gluten free flour (as sold)

there are all sorts of gluten free flours, ground from different grains and to get decent flour to make edible bread (and cakes etc) you need to get all sorts and mix them together in certain quantities

(ie from a healthfood shop)

my friend had a great book about this (and explaining the science of the flours) and now she has her "bread mix flour" and her cake mix flour she makes some yummy and EDIBLE GF bread... that keeps fine for 2 days and can be frozen to make nice toast for other days!

Doves farm do blended gluten free flour with a mix of rice, potato, and other GF grain flours in it. They do plain as well as self raising.

I used to blend my own GF flour but dont bother now. I just use Doves farm. Remember you need to mix Xanthan Gum in to make it bind.

I have a wheat free diet and find it quite easy.

I snack on fruit and nuts, oat cakes, rice cakes and use gluten free bread.

Eating out I tend to go for plain foods and avoid sandwiches- have a salad instead, etc.
You can even get salads at Pizza places.

I tend to have a bolied egg for breakfast with gluten free bread, lunch is homemade soup, or a sald with tuna, cold meat, or huumous. Evening meal is normal expet nopies or pastry and I use gluten free pasta for me if the rest of the family have pasta. I eat lots of fish, chicken and vegs. I don't eat dairy eitehr sothat is even more limiting.

Do you manage rye bread at all? I used to have it with scrambled egg or with peanut butter and grew to love it. Potatoes a staple, too, as is rice. I make a LOT of curries and stirfries!

It's hard. I don't have a full wheat allergy but it does make a substantial difference to my asthma and I keep it to a minimum. I did find it hard to cut it out completely sometimes.. cake..

Also was obsessed with Trufree custard creams which were so much nicer in a cup of tea than the regular kind

Rye contains gluten just like wheat. Oats contain a small amount of gluten but not much.

twinkerbell, I don't actually have much to add that's helpful but just wanted to say that I completely understand what you're saying. I have a wheat intolerance, rather than full on allergy, and should avoid it but I don't. I make myself ill because I find it so hard to find something that I want to eat that doesn't contain wheat (I also have a theory that our bodies crave what's bad for us - like an addiction).

I wonder if it's possible to make gluten free wraps? Then, if you have time, you could put just about anything in them? My problem, though, like yours seems to be that when I'm out I can't find anything filling other than potato that doesn't have wheat in it.

[compassionate emoticon]

Purplepeony she said wheat vs gluten, didn't she?

Mrsbean- not sure what you mean? if people are allergic to wheat is it usually the gluten- though not always- so I suppose we need to know if she means just wheat, or if she means gluten.
If it's just wheat then it's easier as there are other breads and cereals.

I have the same trouble!

Sainsbury has recently updated it's free from, but snacking is tricky.

Top tips if you can eat rye - ryvita are wheat free. not that nice, but with hummus or something they are passable.

If you have a Waitrose nearby, then buy their German Style Rye Bread' ignore the other ones as they all have wheat. That one is good with lashings of peanut butter or jam and good as toast. It is a heavy loaf and a pain to cut sometimes so you're unlikely to get through it in a few days. So, buy one, cut up at least half and freeze - then you always have toast on hand when you need a snack. Too much can give you windypops though so avoid too much in a few consecutive days!

I make sure I get some potato salad in the fridge most weeks as otherwise I end up eating biccies for lunch!

Nairns do an oat biscuit that's nice. Only the ones in a box are wheat free it seems. I like the mixed berries ones as they are not too sweet. Also, they come in packs of 5 inside the box, so you can limit yourself! They are not too sweet, so good for a snack.

Cereal bars are hard to find without wheat, but there are some around. There's one in a green box that i've forgotten the name of.

Corn crackers are ok, but quite frankly I give in and eat normal bread sometimes cos I find it hard to feel full sometimes. I do end up eating cereal for snacks too as it helps a bit. I usually eat Jordans crunchy cereal as they don't have wheat in.

Other things are rice noodles. King Soba is a good brand - usually in tesco.

Tesco and Sainsburys definitely have the best ranges - I often shop at different supermarkets just to get different stuff.

Many 'free from' cakes and things are full of enormous amounts of fat in the shops. Have tried baking GF but not too successful. A basic fruit cake worked the best, although I've not tried bread.

Genius is a brand that some supermarkets sell of bread and that is ok, but I usually stick to the German Rye as it is filling at least.

Buckwheat is also good so you can make tasty pancakes - but i've not tried baking with it properly.

For those avoiding dairy that have posted here, don't forget that buffalo mozzarella is not made by cow's so is great to use for summer salads. Does annoy me that avoiding wheat and dairy costs so much though!

Hope that helps

there are a lot of salads with tuna and salmon or egg along side the sandwiches in supermarkets, my work mate (who is also allergic to nuts) goes and gets a variety of salads for lunch.

Porridge for breakfast, poached eggs and bake beans.

Steak and chips with salad - a lot of places serve a steak.

Rissotto

Am confused - is there gluten in the German Rye? This is the one I mean? It says wheat free on it? I thought you could be allergic to wheat but not gluten?

Rye does contain gluten while things like buckwheat and maize do not. See here for discussion of gluten in wikipedia.

There is a lot of disagreement on whether oats have gluten in. I can tolerate oats if pushed.

You should watch film "Food.Ink"

Some companies prey on people's ignorance by advertising "wheat free" which is fine if that's what you can't have; but most for many people "wheat free" is synonomous for "gluten free."
Foods wthout gluten include rice, maize ( corn) buckwheat and tapioca.

Wheat is also found in baking powder and a lot of sauces, and ready-made products as a thickener.

It depends how intolerant/allergic you are. I am intolerant rather than allergic. I can get by with oats but keep them down to porridge maybe 3 x a week and the occasional oat cake.

I find rice or corn pasta very useful and you can make it into cold pasta salads if travelling. I also try to take my own food to places if i think they might only have sandwiches, but most places these days do salads or things like fish and chips- I just don't eat the batter.

You are right. I got misled quite a few times when I first went GF. I ate something last week that knocked me for six for 3 days. It might well have bene in a soya sauce which was billed as wheat free but was obvioulsy not GF.

U really need to think away from carb grains as much as you can, b/c there is not much nutrition in them. Furthermore, the sweet variety is made with corn-glucose syrup and that's just awful for digestive system. I don't know why they just can't use small amounts of sugar if they really have to.
Don't try to replace wheat with other carbs like for like b/c you won't see as much benefit. Think protein & veg with carbs as a small side dish rather than a main base. Protein is more filling and it doesn't spike up cravings the way carbs/grains do so you don't graze.
Here I bake occasional cake, but mainly don't have bread, rice cakes or genius bread only if absoltely stuck or travelling. It does work out more expensive and time consuming, but the effort of better health is worth it for me.

the Free From range at sainsbrys is quite extensive but really........ £2.65 for a small loaf of bread!!!
This is my problem, I can't afford to buy this stuff, I love fish and salads and IM hapy to eat jacket spuds but not every other day lol. I dont seem to get ant trouble after eating ryvita I usually cover them with cheese and they have brought out a sweet onion one which is really nice
I get the worst reaction from pasta and stuff like samosas/spring rolls, short crust pastry, within half an hour my stomach is like i am 5 months pregnant, at its worse I can't sit down because its too painful to bend.Headache and sweat. HORRID
My skin is suffering though since I gave it all up and Im not sure if thats a detos of wheat from my system but its been quite a while now so i think its all the rubbish I am eating instead

Skin reaction could be detox still, it's not true that you get better in 3 months, even a couple of years on my ds was still vitamin deficient and had various nagging symptoms, like nose bleeds and stretch marks. Also, you detox in stages, it's like peeling the onion.
The sweating is body's way of getting rid of toxins too. Moreover, it could also be a flare up of gut bacteria that live on fermenting carbs - hence probiotics are helpful.
Although gf breads can be edible, I don't even like them anymore. At a push I would have a rice cake, but generally prefer to go w/o.
You can get sweet potatoes, or squashes for variety. I often add buckwheat grains to rice (not wheat), and I use millet in soups, which is very delicate, bit like quinoa but milder in taste.
I think health is worth the effort, at work I go for meat/fish + veg but no carbs or a salad. The best bit is that I don't crave bread anymore.

thankyou for all the advice, I am trying my best, I was in a rush today to get the school run done before work and forgot my lunch, I went to the cafe at work and ended up with a kitkat and a pear! lol this is what I mean, they had sandwiches, bacon or sausage rolls, pasties, lasagne and various cakes! its rubbish and I get home absolutely starving.

I am going to see a dietician tomorrow for some advice because I am worried I end up sneaking a sandwich out of pure hunger! and then feeling awful later that day and my skin is definately bad- spots are appearing and I did think maybe it was detox.
Really useful thread thankyou very much x