Can anyone give advice on a gf and fat free diet please?

[Jill121]

Not only do I have to try to do the gluten diet, but having spent new years eve in A & e with gallstones I now have to eat fat free as well, have tried to look on the web but having trouble finding a gluten free fat free page to help me, any help would be great

Happy New Year Jill

[FionaGFG Administrator]

Have you been diagnosed as Coeliac already Gill? In which case I'd recommend you simply try a mix of BBC's recipes for GF & low Fat i.e.

bbc.co.uk/food/diets/gluten...

and

bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sear...

Between the two they should see you right. After all cutting bad fats out is relatively simple and you can ask to see a dietitian if you need a steer.

Happy New Year!

[Jill121 in reply to FionaGFG]

Hi Fiona, yes had it since march but was not told till october, and the gallstones are booked to be taken out on 6th feb so just needed to keep fat free till then

[Lynxcat]

Hi Jill, So sorry that you have had to spend time at A&E and had the added worry as well.

Now I'm not sure how much I can help but I will put the little I know here in the hope that it may assist you.

Firstly, gallstones are caused through a shortage of magnesium in the diet. Most medical practitioners will advise that although magnesium will prevent gallstones they will not dissolve them. However, there are some who believe by increasing magnesium consumption the gallstones do begin to soften and break down. There are many foods that contain magnesium but one of the latest medical themes is that none of us are currently getting enough and if we have autoimmune disease then we most probably have been starved of quite a portion of it for several years. Here are a list of foods that are high in magnesium but safe for us to eat:

Pumpkin Seeds

Spinach and Greens

Swiss Chard

Sesame Seeds

Sunflower Seeds

Flax Seeds

Halibut White Fish

Black Beans

Cashew Nuts

Almond Nuts

Brazil Nuts

Molasses

Black Chocolate 70 - 100% cocoa solids

Cooked/baked Soya beans

Dried herbs

Avoid fats in pastries, cakes, tarts, etc and also avoid vegetable oil (with the exception of olive oil for cooking and flax seed oil for salads) - nut oils are generally best eaten cold but are useful as they have high amounts of Omega 3 oils.

There are a lovely long list of foods that are rich in magnesium and most are suitable for a coeliac diet at the bottom of the following page link with useful additional information about this particular mineral:

healthaliciousness.com/arti...

The following may also be of interest to you:

thepaleomom.com/tag/celiac

In general follow a simple Paleo Coeliac diet - not too much rice, plenty of vegetables, lean meats, fish, a handful of nuts each day, a little fruit such as bananas, apples, etc and if possible avoid sugars.

Hope that you soon feel better - best wishes for 2013 to you. x

[Jill121 in reply to Lynxcat]

Thank you for this advice

[Hidden]

Completely fat free would be difficult, do you mean very low fat?

My Dad had this, as well as diabetes and coeliac disease. He ignored the diabetes as it's controlled by drugs, stuck rigidly to the gluten free part, as that does have to be totally gluten free, and followed very low fat diet. It was resolved in a few weeks by operation to remove gall bladder, which was relatively minor.

Some fish may not suit as it's high in oil, eg salmon.

Have a look through the millions of low-fat diet books and recipes available, but avoid low-fat "products" on the supermarket shelves as they normally make up for it with too much sugar, and sometimes gluten!

low fat proteins: chicken, cottage cheese, turkey, beans and lentils, white fish, egg?

low fat carbs: (not fried obviously!) potatoes, rice, gluten free pasta

low fat fruit and veg: nearly all of them

low fat cakes: meringues - but only for a treat if sugar is problem - and not cream!

low fat dairy: skimmed milk, you could go onto black coffee and tea (try fruit tea?)

Make sure to avoid: - all fried foods - fatty sauces (eg korma) - pastry - most cheese

If you eat chocolate to get magnesium make sure it's not high fat or is eaten in low quantities, also not sure about the fat content of some nuts, it may be high??!

I hope you get sorted soon - and happy 2013!

[Jill121 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your reply