Hi, Just a quick hello

[Mrs_Somerset]

- I a new to this group, have been on HU for nearly a year now ( with Thyroid UK, Pernicious Anemia Society, Fibro Action, and recently added the womens health group)

I have been trying to remove gluten from my diet for about 9 years and have failed.

My stumbling blocks (things I need help with please) are:

1. Bread

2. biscuits (cookies to our American Friends)

3. cooking for a gluten loving family who have no intention of giving up ( so need to be sneaky)

Things I have mastered are:

1. Gluten free spag bol ( or any other pasta dish)

2. Gluten free cakes

3. Gluten free snack bars

4. Gluten free stuffing - really really nice - better than regular stuffing IMHO

I am constantly finding gluten in foods my family love (crisps, snacks), but I can live without them, it is the bread that gets me every time - I crave it, I cannot describe the depths of my hunger for bread - just typing about it makes me crave it

I am hoping to get ideas, and willing to share any I have found

The reason I wish to give up gluten has changed and grown over the years;

Firstly I am sensitive to it, or so it appears. I get stomach cramps, bloating, and it also makes me crave sugar, which is strange but if I succomb to a shop bought sandwich, I find within the hour I am then craving something really sweet, which I normally don't do.

Now, I have been advised by many here on HU, that my intolerance to gluten could be affecting me in other ways - my Hashimotos or my pernicious anemia or my vitamin D deficiency could all be linked to the way gluten acts on the gut.

So I am keen, but do not want to spend silly amounts of money on gluten free products ( although Genius bread is the most bread like substitute I have found in years - it is rather expensive) and I do not want anything with Xantham gum in it.

Not asking much I know

Big Hugs,

M

[fullstop]

Aww i totally feel for you, i am in the same situation as you, i miss the regular bread, i used to have Warburtons toastie. ;-(. Their gf kind iv used in making a sandwich for lunch , it just crumbles when u take a bite, even genius bread is the same. All the biscuits from free from aisle taste yuck, I struggle alot for breakfast and tea etc I end up just sipping down my mug of tea on its own

[Mrs_Somerset in reply to fullstop]

Hi,

I can highly reccomend tesco free from ginger cookies - I cannot reccomend the whle tesco free from range as a number of items sucked big style, but those are my staple, and quite nice.

sainsburys are the only place I have found true free from rice crispies, and I use those to make rice crispie treats - just be careful that the choclocate or is making white rice crispie treats - the toffee do not have any sneaky gluten fillers (malt, barley,etc)

Big Hugs,

M

[SilverDreamMachine]

Hi Mrs S,

Let's talk bread as it seems to be e key?

I suggest you bake your own.

There are lots of posts on this site that give you tips on how to make it VERY palatable and similar, if not better, than 'normal bread'.

Just to wet your appetite the GF bread is obviously made with yeast, Gf flour (of which there are lots out there to choose from, both prescription and free from) water and salt then you can add what I think of as enhancers. An egg, 3 tsps of milk powder, two tbsp of Virgin olive oil, a tsp of xanthan gum and if you like variety add a combination of nuts and seeds and/or semi dried fruit.

The end result should be good enough to offer guests at a normal dinner party. not sure about your family, but you never know!

Hope this helps motivate you.

[Hidden]

Have you spoken to your GP about this? You shouldn't really be omitting large food groups without the input of a dietician, especially if you think you're intolerant to gluten. And if you're not intolerant to it, then there will be little benefit (people think that going gluten free is healthier, but it's only really healthier for Coeliacs and people who actually are gluten intolerant as the flours and other foods we replace things with are no healthier than normal).

I think the craving sugar part is probably more likely to be the type of food you're eating with gluten in it, rather than the gluten itself. E.g, eating white bread significantly affects your blood sugar, which will make you crave more sugar when your blood sugar levels begin to stabilise after insulin production (so it's much healthier to eat brown bread same with rice, cakes etc).

[Hidden]

Hi Mrs S, firstly eating a gluten free diet can be a healthy alternative based on naturally unprocessed fresh foods and I agree with the comment by Ames about white bread, I was at a nature reserve and there was a large sign saying please do not feed the swans white bread as it is not nutritious enough!

The comments of yours that I am curious about is you say you want recipes without xanthan gum and you say how you really like Tesco's ginger biscuits. The reason I say this is most of Tesco's biscuits are made with oats (gf oats) but coeliac are advised not to eat oats for the first year and then to introduce them slowly with medical supervision and not to eat more than 50g per day. And many coeliac cannot tolerate oats.

Genius use xanthan gum in their gf bread, xanthan gum is very hydroscopic so it absorbs a lot of moisture so it is roughage and can act like a laxative. You can make gluten free bread and use guar gum or psyllium husk instead.

I find that health food shops can be a lot better than supermarkets and Eskal make amazing biscuits and these are my favourites:

eskalfoods.com/eskal-gluten...

Lastly I make all my own bread and I make cakes and biscuits and the advantage of home made is you can use unrefined sugar and no E no's so here's some of my recipes: withoutgluten.co.uk

And good luck with going gluten free.

[Thurgolady]

Hello M

Some thoughts: Craving gluten is very much a symptom of a gluten sensitivity! Once you have eliminated it you will find the craving goes amazingly! Part of the craving is because the gluten acts like an opiate in the brain which is addictive! This is well evidenced if you want to look into it. You will have to go cold turkey and resist the cravings to get through this stage I think - I didn't get this when I went GF so I can't help.

To go gluten free in a gluten home isn't impossible - you change things to gluten free that don't make a difference - so things like sauces and gravy mixes. You get a separate butter dish for yourself so you don't get gluten crumbs and similarly a toaster or use toaster bags. You don't cook your gf foods with 'their' foods.

Of course many vegetarians tell their family to eat what they wish but don't cook meat for them!

Maybe that could work - as in cook you own if you want it with gluten!

It is highly likely that you will feel better when properly gluten free as there is a strong link between thyroid illness and gluten - check out dr Datis Kharazian's (? Spelling) books about this.

- there's a good thyroid group called TPA which will help with thyroid (better than others!!). Rufus Greenbaum has a brilliant site about vitamin D.

I often hear that gluten grains are good for you - but don't see much evidence of this and I think much of the obesity around these days is around grain products! Other countries such as Japan and china who historically eat rice not wheat don't seem to miss out on any of this so called grain goodness!!

Get rid of the gluten and I'm sure you will feel better - if gluten is causing the thyroid antibodies to be active then you will likely feel much healthier if you stop it. Gill

[RoseRed]

I like m&s glutenfree brown bread, moist, tasty and with seeds in. Can't recommend the white ciabatta, was dry and fell apart.

[freelancer]

I can't really help about bread since in the end I pretty much went cold turkey on it (and like you I loved it!) but I just wanted to add that I get that sugar craving thing with gluten too.

A few years back when I was still eating gluten, I started having massive carbohydrate cravings, developed a very sweet tooth and put on three stone or so in weight in a few months. These days I'm totally gluten free, and don't eat all that much sugar any more, but find that if I have the slightest bit of gluten by accident I become a complete sugar fiend for the next couple of days, then I go back to not caring about it – it's quite bizarre and is really clear now it only happens occasionally. (And most of the weight came off again when I went gluten free, though not all...)