Coeliac disease and eating healthy gluten free food

Options
sleepy_mum
sleepy_mum Posts: 40 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all.

I've recently been diagnosed with coeliac disease by bloods and am having a biopsy in 2 weeks time. I'm not gluten free yet (because of the biopsy) but am counting the days til I can ditch gluten and start feeling better. I wondered what kind of foods and store cupboard staples anyone else gluten free uses that taste nice so I can start planning. I'm doing my best to identify what its in, like oxo cubes and soy sauce, that I'll have to swap out but not sure what brands to look for on those here in the UK?

Any advice would be appreciated, as would any new friends who are in the same boat!

Sarah
X

Replies

  • funkygas
    funkygas Posts: 191 Member
    Options
    Peanut butter ... can be used in so many different ways!

    Check out your stock cubes and powders, gravy mixes, packet or jar mixes. We've had to make do with making our own most of the time, except when I travel to a country where they have more options in the supermarkets. Most of the time the home-brand condiments contain gluten, but some of the more expensive varieties can be safe.

    My standard grocery list always contains rice or corn cakes/thins, butter/sugar/eggs because I bake a lot, and all the typical fruit, veggies, meats, etc. Mixed dried fruit and nuts are also useful in making granola or healthy bars for snacks (and cheaper than the store-bought ones too).

    I would recommend that you go for naturally gluten-free foods wherever possible, rather than specialist gluten-free ones. They can be way more expensive and way less nutritional than the natural foods ... like rice, corn, etc.

    Hope that helps!
  • maracuya23
    maracuya23 Posts: 122
    Options
    Feel free to add me- I've been gluten free a little over a year now, and I love to cook.

    My two best pieces of advice:
    1. Start from scratch- primarily make things using one ingredient foods (eg: milk, eggs, carrots, potatoes, onions, fruits, etc). They're safer when you're starting out because gluten is in all kinds of things you'd never expect.

    2. Focus on making foods that are naturally gluten free instead of trying to make really complicated gluten free versions of things like bread. Yes, there are awesome versions of brownies and cookies and cupcakes, but they're generally a bit more complicated to make, and the store bought ones are frequently not awesome.

    Lots of great dishes are naturally gluten free: omelettes, risottos, roasted chicken, salads, fruits, anything based on a corn tortilla (tacos, migas), empanadas, lots of asian foods built around rice or rice noodles, buckwheat based dishes, potato based dishes. There is so much awesome food out there you can make that it really gets much easier as you go, at least if you cook for yourself.
  • funkygas
    funkygas Posts: 191 Member
    Options
    <deleted>
  • sleepy_mum
    sleepy_mum Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    Thank you. We cook most things from scratch for health and cost reasons - we're a family of 6 so it just works out better. I'm surprised how gluten gets into so much but hopefully will be able to avoid it easily enough once I find a pasta and some noodles I like in place of the usual ones. I'm allergic to nuts which means a lot of the gluten free cereals and biscuits etc are off limits for me anyway as they use them for flavour but I'm sure I'll find my way. X

Categories