Free From (Gluten) Blog

Dietary Specials, Tesco and Good News

February 8, 2010 – 12:46 pm

If you're new here, and like what you read, please subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

An update on the launch of some frozen Dietary Specials products into Tesco stores…

Adam Protheroe, Frozen Foods Buyer for Tesco, has sent the following email:

As recently communicated, I have launched a selected range of Frozen Dietary Specials products into a number of Tesco stores.

In an attempt to save you having to trawl the country looking for these lines, I thought I would publish the list of stores that are stocking the range.

The following lines are now available in the 411 stores shown on the attached list :

Dietary Specials 2 Steak Pies

Dietary Specials Beef Lasagne

Dietary Specials Yorkshire Puddings

Dietary Specials Sausage Rolls

Dietary Specials Shortcrust Pastry Block

Dietary Specials Margherita Pizza

These products can be found in the Frozen aisle within/next to the Vegetarian range.

I hope that by stocking these lines, I have helped to make your shopping experience easier….and ultimately more enjoyable!

And here’s the list of Tesco stores where you can find these products: Excel spreadsheet with list of stores for download

Sadly, the two Tesco stores I visit aren’t included on the list (and the Pepperoni pizza isn’t included on the list either). But I’m sure this will be helpful to many of you. Thanks Adam!

By Lucy | Posted in Living Gluten Free | Comments (0)

Diagnosed Doctor Supports Coeliac Petition

February 2, 2010 – 5:18 pm

Dr Chris Steele at 10 Downing St Dr Chris Steele handed in a petition to 10 Downing Street today, calling on the UK Government to help improve the diagnosis of coeliac disease – a condition with which he has just been diagnosed.

8,783 people (yes, including me – did you sign?) are asking the Government to find the half-million people in the UK at risk from undiagnosed coeliac disease by introducing a target for diagnosis to the GP contract. The idea is that setting targets changes behaviour (just as in any management situation) so if GPs have to list how many people they’ve diagnosed this year, they will actively be looking for the disease.

I’m not sure whether the idea is that they get paid on results, as they used to in some cases for vaccinations (and may still, for all I know), but that really doesn’t matter for the individual who is diagnosed…

It is estimated that 1 in 100 people in the UK have coeliac disease, but that only 1 in 8 have been diagnosed. As you probably know, untreated coeliac disease can lead to infertility, multiple miscarriages, osteoporosis and bowel cancer – and the treatment is a gluten free diet.

Dr Chris Steele MBE is one of our television doctors (on This Morning, which I catch at my hairdressers every six weeks or so – I do remember that he was ill at some point before Christmas), and has been Ambassador of the charity for the last three years. He says:

“I have supported the need to raise awareness of diagnosing coeliac disease for many years but never thought that I would be diagnosed myself! It is a condition often over looked and misdiagnosed by GPs, which has resulted in half a million people in the UK currently undiagnosed. Consequently, people are suffering unnecessarily for many years which can also lead to an increase risk of osteoporosis and bowel cancer. There is also the possible increase cost to NHS caused through undiagnosis, by ongoing repeat visits by patients to their GP, and we also know of people having unnecessary operations such as gall bladder removal when a simple blood test could start the road to diagnosis; so I urge the Government to include a target for coeliac disease into the Quality and Outcomes Framework”

I think that finding those people who are as yet unaware that they have coeliac disease has got to be a good thing – as has speeding up the time to diagnosis. Targets are always difficult things to set, as people tend to act to fulfil the targets, so you have to be sure you have the right ones. However, this one seems straightforward enough, assuming that the funds will be there to cover an additional 500,000 biopsies and blood tests.

What do you think?

Image Credit: Chantal Richards

By Lucy | Posted in Campaigns, Diagnosis, Living Gluten Free | Comments (0)

Gluten Free Cake Decorations

January 28, 2010 – 10:18 am

If you’re lucky enough to live in the States, you might be interested in these… Ticings.

Gluten free cake decorations, ideal for those of us who aren’t expert cake decorators. They’re offering a range of different decorations, such as sprinkle mixes and circus party images for children, Twilight decorations for teenage girls (both Team Jacob and Team Edward), and for celebrations such as Valentine’s Day or baby showers – even some gorgeous and very modern abstracts and flowers.

It looks as though they’re available in three different sizes: two cup cake sizes and a full-size cake. They’re made from corn starch and food colouring, so are both gluten free and kosher. All you need to do is to bake the cake, ice it with butter cream, cream cheese or royal icing (though it is also possible to stick them to ready-made iced cakes) – and then peel and stick.

You can even have your company logo printed onto the Ticings, though it isn’t cheap. How fab is that?

What a brilliant idea. If only they shipped to the UK!

By Lucy | Posted in Gluten free finds, Living Gluten Free | Comments (0)

Glad to be coeliac: osteoporosis, the hidden threat

January 27, 2010 – 8:57 pm

dairy-products We caught the end of a programme on Radio 4 this afternoon, while driving, which caught my daughter’s attention. “Like me!” she said, when the speaker revealed that she’d been diagnosed with coeliac disease.

The programme was actually about new treatments for ostoporosis, but – helpfully – the risks of developing osteoporosis as a result of undiagnosed coeliac disease were clearly stated.

Luckily, the woman speaking on the radio had been diagnosed with coeliac disease, and as a result, was automatically sent for a bone scan, which caught the osteoporosis. She’d never broken a bone and had no idea she had osteoporosis. As a result, she was delighted to have been diagnosed as coeliac!

The problem with undiagnosed coeliac disease is that valuable nutrients are not being absorbed, with the resulting damage to bone. Coeliacs who’ve been gluten free for long enough will in most cases be absorbing these nutrients again, because the lining of their small intestine will have healed. My daughter’s risk of bone damage is minimal – she’s had years to rebuild her bone strength. But there it is: one very good reason not to cheat. As if you needed any more reasons…

If you’ve recently been diagnosed as coeliac, and you’ve not had a bone scan to check for osteoporosis, then perhaps you should ask for one. As well as remembering to eat calcium and do some exercise!

If you’re interested in the osteoporosis programme, you can find it on the BBC website at the moment, and it will probably be there for a while longer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00q3gjn.

Also available via the BBC site is the FRAX risk assessment tool to assess the probability that you’ll suffer a broken bone in the next decade, based on gender, BMI and medical history. Definitely worth a look.

By Lucy | Posted in Diagnosis, Living Gluten Free | Comments (1)

Black Tie, Masks and a Smallholding

January 21, 2010 – 12:11 am

mask A couple of weeks ago we travelled down to Bath, for a family party. The party was great, but I wanted to give credit to a couple of establishments who did a great job for us.

1. Cumberwell Park Golf Club

This is where the party was held: about 100 people for a black tie & mask dinner. The children were invited, and found the whole formal dressing and mask thing very exciting. We’d told the club in advance that there would be a coeliac in our group, and introduced ourselves to the manager on arrival, so that the team knew who we were – and they did a great job of ensuring that our daughter’s meal was virtually indistinguishable from everyone else’s.

We started with some tasty nibbles: hummous on tiny toasts, olives and breadsticks. She was provided with her own plate of hummous on gluten free toast (no breadsticks, but that was fine), and her own dish of olives (exactly the same, just in a dedicated dish), to avoid crumb transfer. Later, the manager discreetly came over and told us that both main course choices on the menu that evening were gluten free – so she chose a Thai curry. And then – still very discreetly – we were told that although the chocolate brownie was not OK, the lemon meringue roulade was fine, because they’d used cornflour.

Praise is due to the Cumberwell Park Golf Club, because not only did they cater well for her, they did it discreetly and without fuss, so that there was no embarrassment involved. Hurrah!

2. The Garden Room Bed & Breakfast

bandb And this is where we stayed: delightful self-contained en-suite studio accommodation in a small village outside Bath. If I said it was in a garden – or even a smallholding – that wouldn’t be too far wrong. It was lovely: friendly, welcoming, clean, and comfortable, and plenty big enough for the five of us. It was even stocked with some films for us to watch. We were completely self-contained, as there was a small kitchen area so we could prepare breakfast for ourselves. And this is, of course, the benefit for people who need to be gluten free: we could manage the diet without embarrassment or difficulty.

What a breakfast they’d provided: a range of cereals, fruit, croissants, toast, butter and preserves, eggs, bacon and sausages, fruit juices and milk. We don’t all eat meat, but those that do had a wonderful breakfast – and the meat was from their own pigs. Usually the eggs are from their chickens, but the chickens aren’t laying at the moment.

Our hosts didn’t know we had a coeliac in the family, but because they provided a small cooker, we could cook her gluten free pain au chocolat and bread at will – and she enjoyed the rest of the breakfast. (Not the meat – and I didn’t ask whether the sausages were gluten free).

It was fab. If you’re planning on visiting the Bath area, I can recommend this as a place to stay.