I know you shouldn’t be happy when mates tell you they are sick. But the other day, a friend messaged to say he’d been diagnosed with coeliac disease. And I was (secretly) ecstatic.
This wasn’t just any friend. This was a top scientist friend – the type who is actually looking to cure diseases.
It was the equivalent of Mick Jagger joining your U3A choir. Mark Carney announced as new treasurer of your PTA.
This guy has three kids and is in his early 40s and was picking my coeliac brains for how I managed general gluten-free life stuff.
‘Well I know a lot of the science behind it, but just wondered how careful you are at home,’ he asked me.
Thing is, despite being diagnosed a decade ago, I still don’t really understand the science of how I suddenly ‘got it’ in my mid 20s. So I grabbed the chance to swap the science for advice on toast crumbs.
He told me the reason coeliacs flare at different ages is still not fully understood. So we have the genes since birth and in theory could have reacted at any age but, weirdly, 40 is a common age to start these days.
The thinking is there is some sort of ‘activation event’, like a virus or stress, and then it all kicks off.
That would certainly be the case for me – my job at the time was a daily stress, with colleagues weeping at their desk if they couldn’t make it to sob in the loo in time.
I’m hoping that clever science mate will look into studying coeliac disease. But unlike cancer etc, the funding isn’t really there. I’d put my hand up to be a free, willing guinea pig, though, if it meant I’d be a step closer to decent cheese and onion pasties again.
Oh and if you’re interested, these are the tips I gave him…
– Use toaster bags so you don’t contaminate your gf bread in the toaster
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– Some coeliacs still react to GF oats – Karen (Safer Eating founder) is also coeliac and she (and her two coeliac daughters!) can’t handle it
– There is GF beer – there is hope. Food is A LOT better than it used to be
– Pizza Express and Las Iguanas are good family-friendly chains for GF
– Loads of restaurants are still clueless. They will say chips are gluten free but they are still frying them in the same place they fry battered fish etc. They then feed you bullshit like ‘the heat kills the gluten’
– Leon – around London – is THE BEST
– After I’ve been glutened I find I can’t tolerate milk – this is quite common apparently. I am mostly drinking coconut milk on my cereal these days too. My poor hammered guts!
– I find Tesco has the best range of free-from stuff. It’s where I shop
– Get your own butter/marg so it doesn’t get contaminated with gluten crumbs. And it’s ALL about the squeezy jam and mayo to avoid contamination
– Check out the Safer Eating website. Lots of useful info on that
– Seabrooks are your go-to crisp
– You will now binge eat all new GF food you get your hands on
– Don’t risk ‘may contain wheat’ stuff. I did for a while and got crazy neurological stuff – my face went numb like I’d had a stroke. I had to go for MRI scans because they thought I had MS. It was bloody gluten
– I use the same cutlery and I find with having kids it’s impossible to keep stuff like baking trays separate… just make sure it’s clean