Food ideas for people with Celiac's disease?

Question

A friend has been diagnosed with wheat/gluten allergy. Can anyone suggest any good meal tips?

Answer 1

Your friend can' t eat wheat, bran, barley or rye. Most large grocery stores have a selection of gluten free products, so you can get rice flour based products.

You can serve lots of fruits and veggies as well as meats with out sauces made with flour.  Look for "Gluten Free" on labels. A meal could be broiled chicken, baked potatoes, green beans and sherbet

Answer 2

There is such a wide range of gluten free foods commercially available now that celiacs really are not limited in what they eat. You only have to wander into your nearest supermarket and take a really good look at what is available. I can even buy premade pies, sausage rolls, hamburger buns, cake mixes, pasta - anything really.

Answer 3

I am Coeliac too - diagnosed about 25 years ago, so I've got the hang of it now!

The advice to avoid dairy may not be necessary. *Some* Coeliacs are lactose intolerant for a while as their villi heal, others don't have the problem. There is no need to go lactose free unless your friend has further problems, but this can be tested by the doctor.

A gluten-free diet is perfectly manageable, but it's a bit of a shock to get used to it, so restricting the diet further when it's unnecessary is not a good idea.

OK - meal tips: The best place to start is to think what your friend likes to eat normally, and find ways to adjust meals to accommodate being gluten-free.  For example there are plenty of decent gluten-free pastas (the rice-based ones are generally nicer than the corn-based ones). Rice is fine, as are potatoes, quinoa, millet, corn (and polenta)... and lots of other things (tapioca, buckwheat, teff...).

It may mean more cooking from scratch than your friend is used to, but fresh fruit and veg and plain meat, fish and eggs are all gf. Most cheese is OK, although you need to be careful of blue cheese and cheese spreads.

In some ways the huge range of foods available make it a difficult question to answer, but for starters here's what we are having this week:

Monday: Polenta 'pizza' - cook polenta as described on the packet (I used about 150-200g). Spread into a thin layer, top with spinach (cooked), spring onions and ricotta cheese - last 3 ingredients blended together, then dot with gf peperoni, tomatoes and mozzerella cheese. Cook in hot oven (400F) for about 20 min. Serve with green salad (careful with the dressing - balsamic vinegar and olive oil is fine).

Tuesday: Pasta with tuna sauce - gf pasta served with sauce made by frying an onion, adding a tin of tomatoes, tin of tuna, squirt of garlic puree (check this is gf, or use fresh garlic), 1/2 teasp dried oregano.

Wednesday: Quinoa bake - aka "What's in the fridge" - cook 1 1/2 cups of quinoa in 3 cups of water for about 10 min, then leave covered with a teatowel to absorb the last of the liquid. Chop an onion, then ransack the fridge - celery, mushrooms, peppers, bacon... anything really - fry them all up together then add the quinoa - mix in some grated cheese and maybe an egg, then put in a casserole dish, top with more grated cheese and cook for about 30 min at 350F

Thursday: Sausages (be careful that these are gf, most aren't, but certainly in the UK it's getting easier and easier to find ones that are) and mashed potato.

Friday: Homemade fish and chips: - the fish can be anything - I don't usually bother making batter - often I just griddle a piece of tuna. As for the chips - cut potatoes into pieces the length of the potato and about 1cm square in cross-section. Boil for about 5 min, then drain. Put them in a food bag with a good splodge (say 30 ml) of oil, maybe some paprika and/or garlic granules (check these are gf)  and shake well to coat all the chips. Place on a baking sheet and put in a hot oven (400F+) for about 30 min. They are done when they are starting to brown. Serve with ketchup  (check this is gf - in the UK Heinz is fine).

There is plenty of processed food that is absolutely fine (from a gluten/wheat-free point of view at least), it's just a matter of getting used to reading labels very carefully and rejecting anything questionable.

Good luck to your friend - it really does get easier in time.

Answer 4

Sure. First you need the unsafe list:

http://www.celiac.com/articles/182/1/Uns...

Is it allergies (histamine) or Celiac (autoimmune response)? or both?

Allergies you have to act differently around (possibly nothing even airborne) because it could result in breathing issues, celiac is just no cross contam or ingestion of gluten (which is in wheat,barley,rye, spelt, triticale, kamut, etc, etc.) . Thought I would ask, there is a biiiig difference. Also wheat free does not mean gluten free many times, so you need to be very careful about that when buying products . Also gluten free doesn't necessarily mean wheat free (ex: in the UK wheat sugar is considered gf. If someone with wheat allergy ate it, they would be sick!). You just need to ask your friend to clarify for you so you won't get them sick.

Anyway, here are my fav Celiac recipie sites, you can assume that they are wheat free :

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

and here:

http://gluten-freerecipes.blogspot.com/

Otherwise, just plenty of whole fresh foods (especially in the beginning). There are plenty of gf products now, just look for hidden wheat/gluten products that could be present (barley grass, wheat grass, wheat sugar are considered gf in the UK and can be present in products made there).

Oh, and if celiac and newly diagnosed, NO DAIRY for several months while her villi heal, ok? (no villi tips, no lactase being produced)

Good luck! Hope this helps. Add details if you need more info., I'll keep checking back.

Edit: Wow! who is the silly person that thumbs downed me? lol! Asker, you can assume this answer is 100% correct and can use the advice with confidence. Sometimes people just don't know any better and do stuff like that! And sherbet is usually NOT safe, please do NOT give your friend sherbet unless you specifically check the label. Perry's is gf, by the way.

p.p.s.. if you are thinking about cooking for him/her please be careful about cross contamination if you are a wheat/gluten eater. The most common areas? Cutting boards,toasters, wooden spoons, breadmakers,pizzabricks.

Please get the allergy/intolerance or both question answered as well.