gluten free familyA mum's blog about gluten-free living in Australia

Gluten free pizza - one of the major food groups for the gluten intolerant.

I know it’s controversial, but we’ve never been tested for coeliac disease. We gave up gluten following an elimination diet that involved removing lots of different things from our diet and then introducing them back in.

Guess what was causing the most trouble? When we quit the gluten, my son’s behavior improved and my eczema completely disappeared. Read the rest of this entry »

It dawned on me recently that the typical Gluten Free Family reader is female — yet coeliac disease is not a gender-specific condition.

I decided it was time to try and figure out what was going on and it turns out that it’s no coincidence. Men are slipping through the cracks when it comes to getting their gluten problems diagnosed, according to an Australian gastroenterologist, Dr Bob Anderson. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s often said that you shouldn’t remove gluten from your diet unless you really have to. But where does that leave you in a household where half of you react to gluten and half of you don’t?

On one hand, you don’t want to deprive everyone of the flavour, texture, nutrition and fibre content of gluteny grains, (the latter’s a risk if you stick to unadventurous alternatives like rice and spuds—and I’ll own up to this).

On the other hand, if you’re not into a la carte-style meal prep, and want to avoid gluten envy, you’ll need to find some common ground at the dining table. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people don’t need to know their glucose syrup from their yeast extract—but we gluten avoiders tend to be a fairly fluent bunch when it comes to deciphering food labels.

Now a new iPhone app that can scan food labels could make gluten free grocery shopping expeditions easier. Read the rest of this entry »

Gluten is making waves on the international tennis circuit.  First the world number two, Novak Djokovic declared he was intolerant to the stuff and now German player, Sabine Lisicki says her gluten-eating days are over.

We are not told if it was tummy trouble or itchy rashes that spurred the move—but Djokovic has attributed a gluten free diet to his improved form on the court. Lisicki, on the other hand, blamed glitches in her new gluten free regime to a recent on-court collapse.

She wouldn’t be the first gluten avoider to run into energy problems. But hope could soon be at hand. It looks like the world’s researchers are finally starting to make some headway! Here’s a quick update on the latest trials: Read the rest of this entry »

Gluten test

My curiosity got the better of me over Easter and I forked out $30 or so for a BioRevive off the shelf test for “gluten intolerance (Coeliac Disease)”. Read the rest of this entry »

Not sure if that tuna mornay really is gluten free?  Swinburne University student, Alexandra Gray, has developed an electronic touchscreen device that could let you know. Read the rest of this entry »

Want to know the best way to sniff out the gluten content in food? Check out the label. If no gluten is listed, “no news is good news” says dietician Kim Menzies who presented her tips and tricks for reading gluten free packaging labels at the recent Gluten Free Show.

All potential allergens must be listed on the food label, so if gluten or a gluten containing product like wheat, barley or malt is not listed on the label, it is gluten free, she says.

That includes products that use compound ingredients like mayonaise. If one of these makes up less than 5 per cent of a product, the ingredients that went into it need not be disclosed – but the allergens must. Read the rest of this entry »

... or would bread be better?

I’m glad to see those brainy folk at the CSIRO have got their priorities right. They are developing a gluten free barley strain with one particular end product in mind….beer!

In case you were wondering, yes it is a gluten free bloke at the head of this project.

Now it’s not that I am averse to a tipple. No indeed. But it does make me wonder if perhaps he doesn’t have gluten free kids like we do here at GFF.

If he did I reckon we might soon be looking forward to munching into a lovely gluten free barley loaf instead. Read the rest of this entry »

Worldwide studies are showing Coeliac disease is four times as prevalent than just 30 years ago – and it’s not just down to better diagnosis.

The numbers themselves don’t surprise me. What did surprise me was that researchers found the rise isn’t down to awareness and better diagnostic tools according to Medscape Today.

Many of the researchers are analysing samples taken from people many years ago using modern techniques and are finding a true underlying increase.

A study by Mayo Clinic researchers, for instance, found that the prevalence of coeliac – now at 1 in 100 – was not mirrored in a test of blood samples from the 1950s. Read the rest of this entry »