Hi all,
After speaking to Lis on MSN yesterday she suggested I ask you guys for advice on this as others have it. During this admission it was discovered that I have a wheat allergy. I had really come to love bread recently and so finding the wheat free diet quite a challenge. I found some wheat free bread but it tastes a bit like cake and is the smallest bread I've ever seen lol!
Any advice for a wheat free dieter!?!
Thanks in advance,
Em x
Hi emily,
i have a wheat intolerance which was diagnosed about a year and a half ago. i found it really difficult at first to cut out wheat but now i dont find it that big a problem. the main problem i hvae is when i am on a high dose of steriods i feel like i crave bread. although it is slightly more expensive for treats i do go to sainsburys and buy their free from food for a treat. they do really nice choc and orange gluten free and wheat free cake bars- which my bro says dont taste much different to normal ones which he eats.
also i eat a lot of salad and fruit now. in the monring i often make a fruit smootie instead of having ceral coz i used to love raisen wheats.
it gets easier once you know what you can and cannot eat.
i also saw a dietian to help me sort out a diet. my cons at the hospital suggested this and i saw one at the local hossie through the nhs. it took about a month to come through but it might be worth asking your con about it.
i hope this helps. if you ahve any questions you can pm me if you want.
hope it goes well.
take care
olive
hey emily. michael is allergic to wheat and it was a huge overhaul for me (not for him cos he was only 2 at the time!!) he has other allergies too but the wheat is quite a simple one from a variety point of view - most supermarkets stock a good range of biccies, cakes pizza bases, pasta etc. the other things to look out for are sausages and processed meats - most f them have rusk as a filler so they are a nono. the bread does take some getting used to, it is very dry and doesnt toast very well but its not too bad and you will quickly adapt.
one thing to look for with wheat allergies is that you can also be intolerant to other foods eg seeded fruits (strawberries, raspberries etc) this isnt a given though so dont avoid them automatically.
michael uses barkat bread but there are other brands around (this is the only one i have found which doesnt have his other allergens in it!!)
speak to your gp and see if you can get some bread on prescription - this is only worth it if you dont pay for prescriptions or you have a prepayment certificate. the doc isnt obliged to give you the prescription though, cos wheat allergies arent actually covered, its coeliacs but if you have an understanding gp, they may be able to help. michael gets 6 loaves a month and 2 packs of pasta which is extremely generous, its worth a try though cos the bread itself is quite expensive. let me know how you are getting on with the transition!!!!
kirsten
xx
Thanks so much for your replies Olive and Kirsten. Saw my old asthma nurse 2day (at home not at uni in leeds at the mo) and she's referred me 2 the dietician at our local costa. Will get to see them next month.
Olive - have really got into fruit smoothies recently. Find lunch the hardest thing to cater for. Have taken to jacket potatoes or salads at the mo.
Kirsten - my nurse mentioned that i can get some stuff on prescription. She said best to wait for the dietician's appt then get some....watch this space. Have found some wheat free bread but as u say its so expensive and you don't get much!
The hardest thing is that I keep trying to find alternatives for wheat products but it has been suggested I should just eat other things. Hard tho when all i want is a nice thick sliced sandwich!!! Lol.
Thanks again
Em x
I am having a blood test for wheat intolerance on tuesday.
Emily,
I would suggest that you visit mertonbooks.co.uk as they appear to have an excellent range of publications/booklets and cook books on all types of food allergies and food intolerance. This company is recommended by Action Against Allergy - a well respected UK allergy charity.
Take care,
Derek
Wheat Allergy/Intolerance
I am confirmed Wheat Intolerant, but not Coeliac. Actual Wheat Allergy is quite rare, so I have been told my Dieticians who have done a lot of research into this.
Many people think they have a wheat intolerance because they feel bloated after eating bread or cereal for instance. This is quite usual, as in order to digest wheat you need to retain water, hence the bloated feeling.
I was 'told' to give up wheat aged 16, again by a hospital allergy clinic, because I was a particularly atopic allergic child, very athmatic and covered head to foot in eczema, so that's over 20 years ago now! I have struggled most of my adult life to avoid wheat in the form of bread and cereals, eating rice cakes for carbs, and only being able to have porridge for breakfast. I can get away with the occasional pizza, but suffer the consequences in more ways than one!
I have always had a very dodgy tummy, but have never tested positive for coeliac disease or any other wheat induced digestive disorder.
I didn't really know that there are now these incredible ranges of Free From wheat/gluten items in all supermarkets nowadays, and my recent lengthy spell in hospital certainly put me in touch with being able to eat bread and cake items again after so very long. I also found out gravy is a no no if you have a wheat intolerance, also, salt and vinegar Pringles, and some brands of paracetamol.
So, I don't know what will show up in a blood test although I recently reacted very badly to the skin prick test for wheat, so am now seriously following wheat free. My stomach/digestion is marginally better now I am eating more bread type carbs again. Hopefully these will also help me gain some weight back as my dieticians said I clearly needed more carbs. These products have been such a Godsend.
Of all the supermarkets, Tesco's Free From has the best range and is the cheapest. They are expensive, 99p for a packet of custard creams that I could scoff in a sitting is terrible.
Unfortunately, although I need and have been medically proven so to be wheat free, you can only get supplies of gluten/wheat free items on prescription if you are a confirmed Coeliac.
Ho hum!
Sus,
Thanks very much for that info...ure always a wealth of knowledge. I have found from internet research that the correct term should be wheat intolerance, allergy was just the term my consult used. Mine was found by blood allergy testing (RAST). I am not coeliac as do not have the gastro symptoms just the asthma ones.
I did not realise gravy...oops had some a couple of hrs ago in costa lol!!! I am seeing the dietician next month and will have plenty of questions for them! I am so suprised by how many foods have wheat flour etc in them. I too saw that on the salt and vinegar pringles packet....gutted!!!
Thanks again every1. Deek...will check that site out. Ordered myself a wheat free cook book online the other day...excitement!
Em x
Hi Emily,
There is a company that supplies all sorts of foods including sausage rolls, pancakes, scones etc fresh the day after baking to your door and they can be frozen etc. I came across them in my search for wheat free foods. Watch out for tinned soups too as many of them contain wheatflour too!
The company are called gfdiet.com and cater for coeliac diets but include other needs also. See what you think.
Jan xx
Hi Emily i have a wheat allergy too - come back positive on RAST and skin prick tests years ago. Apparently following investigation i'm more allergic to the husk part which according to cons explains my asthma and exzema being worse when i eat wholewheat foods and brown bread.
I've tested negative for coeliac disease fortunately but still get bloating and pain if eat wheat (or mabe that's just me having too much food due to pred munchies!)
I only stopped eating wheat a few years ago (after ignoring dr's advice for years) but actually although it's been an adjustment and i really miss toast and do cave in on occasions and bake cakes and things it's not been as horrendous as i thought it would be although some of the rice bread makes are disgusting, trial and error to find one you like. The only problem i have is that i have anaphylaxis to nuts and eggs and loads of the wheat free products are not suitable for nut allergy sufferers! The good news is loads of the other salt and vinegar crisp makes are wheat free couldn't survive without them!
Jannymo-your weblink is excellent, thanks for that xx
Marmite, sorry about your other anaphylaxis probs too. Must be very difficult.
You sound like me in the not being coeliac bit, but I def have worse asthma/eczema if I try and eat regular bread, plus the worst need for the loo very very rapidly! And we are talking, need loo, NOW.
Are you under a hospital dietician rather than just GP?
The team I have at RBH are respiratory dieticians so are dealing with my weight (low end of scale!) problem and how best to get it up so lung function improves. They worked out I desp need more carbs and as soon as I said I couldn't eat bread, hey presto, they have actioned all this non gluten and wheat free stuff for me.
But it is double cream, butter, eggs all the way. How do you cope without those in you day to day eating as well as no wheat?
It is complicated, but I am really lucky, in that I don't have egg, nut (anymore) or dairy intolerances or allergies.
I've seen various hospital dieticians over the years and apart from not having enough calcium which has been sorted by adding adcal and now i'm on risedronate thing anyway my diet is not too bad.
I can't buy any convenience food so cook everything from scratch and we eat loads of roasts, chilli, basic meat veg type meals from the anabel Karmel food for kids cookbooks i'm not a great cook! I bulk cook and freeze for when i'm having a rough day.
I use cornflour to make sauces but have to check it really hasn't got wheat in it and make my own granola type cereals with honey and maple syrup to satisfy dh's alpen craving and make burgers with grated apple to stick them together and flapjacks type cakey things for sweet tooth moments!
The whole family eats the same so i don't have eggs or nuts in the house but do have bready things and bicsuits for kids that i have to be good around!
It's been trial and error what i can eat in combination as my skin prick and RAST allergy tests over the years have come back positive to milk, kiwi, all nuts except peanuts but i avoid them, eggs, wheat, barley, mould so that doubly rules out blue cheese! oranges, some lentils/pulses and dates as well as the sunshine yellowy food colouring things but i'm sure some of those are false positives. I only have anaphylaxis to egg and nuts the rest although i watch what i eat i don't really worry about as to me it's not as serious.I still eat oranges occasionally but if i ate them with kiwi in a fruit salad i'd be wheezy and i still drink a small amount of milk in coffee but if i had pizza i'd get stomach pain wheezy and be covered in eczema the next day - does that makes sense?
The twins are on soya milk due to being covered in a rash when given cows milk at 5 months and i find that harder to deal with mainly because i find soya milk disgusting!
Just think how our grannies used to cook and eat before instant stuff at tesco which is the food we live on and actually it's not that hard (just burnt mainly!)
sorry that was a bit long!!
Sorry Marmite, I just re-found this thread and so only saw your excellent post.
Everything you have said is so true and it is sadly just a case of trying to find the time to adapt most recipes and get used to knowing (by copious label reading), which foods and products you can safely munch on or get away with.
Sadly I find that supermarkets do change their ingredients in things without saying so on the packaging, and foods that I used to get away with occasionally catch me out, hence the cherry bakewell tarts on Friday night, which everybody found funny, but caused a dire emergency for me at the time!
However, I have also found that each time my RAST tests have been redone, say, every year, I have found some old allergy items are no longer an issue and have been able to try to eat a few things again. 10 years ago I was anaphylactic to peanuts, having grown up on peanut butter. Weird! A recent repeat of all nut RASTS showed I can now eat peanuts again. Weirder! Couldn't believe it, although I am still steering clear of them just in case!
I have recently though developed a mild apple allergy. Never had that before.
RBH also told me to ignore the dairy ban with my asthma (mucous production), as I just needed the calories for the time being, so I've ditched the soya milk and gone back to double cream and jersey milk etc.
It's so strange how our bodies react differently at different stages in our lives. Particularly for women, hormones and/or childbirth seem to play a large part.
Thanks for sharing your info. Can you in fact eat Marmite? I used to love it, but my palate has changed and it makes my mouth quite sore these days.
Sus xx
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