Help! I Have Been Diagnosed as Gluten Intolerant

After months of not knowing why you have suffered from a range of symptoms it is always a relief to put a name to the problem. Fortunately suffering from this Celiac Disease is not life threatening when treated correctly and can have a positive effect on your health if you take seriously the lifestyle changes that will be needed to control the problem. Here we describe a number of ways to keep your diet fun and interesting whilst avoiding that troublesome gluten.

Celiac Information

This disease is far more prevalent then thought as many people have a mild form and continue ignorant that there is a reason behind their symptoms. It stems from intolerance to gluten which is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Take a stroll through the supermarket studying ingredients on many day to day products and you will be amazed at how many of them contain wheat, barley or rye. Fortunately there are now a number of products available aimed at the gluten free consumer and they are becoming more widespread every day.

Food Tastes Better With Wheat

This is often the complaint you will hear from recent converts to a wheat free diet. Wheat as an ingredient adds the soft springy elastic element in many foods. However there are ways to recreate this without being over-reliant on wheat.

Bread, Cakes and Biscuits

We recommend experimenting with a variety of flours including:

• Rice Flour
• Potato Starch Flour
• Corn Flour
• Cornmeal
• Soy Flour
• Buckwheat Flour

Add a small amount of Xantham gum to the ingredients (you can pick this up at all good health food stores). This will help to replace the gluten and your bread will become less crumbly and more palatable.

For cakes and biscuits we recommend ground cornmeal or a mixture of ground almonds and rice four. The ground almonds help keep the cakes moist after baking.

General Diet and Advice

A simple formulae to follow is to keep you diet simple and produced from fresh ingredients. Avoid processed foods and sauces and stick to raw ingredients; plain meat, fish, vegetables and fruit.

Eating out can often be a challenge but we are seeing more and more restaurants who are providing gluten free meals. Do you research before you head out for a meal, either hop online for celiac friendly restaurants of phone ahead to see if the menu will cater for your needs.

Beware of unlikely places you will find this protein. It is also widely used in medications as well as products such as lip balms, lip sticks and vitamins.

If this all seems an insurmountable change remember there are many resources available for you. Talk to you Doctor who will be able to recommend and refer you to a dietician who will work with you to find a wide range of tasty and gluten free foods for you to enjoy.