As someone who has to avoid gluten, I'm very grateful for allergen labelling. But the widespread controversy about the Pret A Manger sandwich where a girl died from a reaction to unlisted sesame has prompted widespread opinion, some based on supposition rather than fact. Let me tell you what it's like to live with a medical food restriction. Firstly, I have absolutely no choice in the matter. It is not the same as going on a Keto diet or deciding to avoid meat. This is not a

The other day I was really impressed to see how much gluten-free food was on offer in the frozen section. In fact, I was so pleased I took a photo of it. I'm not sure which would have been more surprising at the turn of the century - the food or the photo. The reason I mention time is because it's nearly twenty years since I got my coeliac diagnosis and first had to look for gluten-free food. For those of you who were in the same boat back then, you'll remember how dismal it

I don't often like seeing red on things. It reminds me of getting my work marked at school and having to re-do it. But last week it was different. Far from red being the warning sign I'm used to, it indicated a price reduction in all the best ways - on gluten-free food. I don't think it was a coincidence this was coeliac awareness week. Supermarkets plan things a long time in advance. Those little red stickers were there to encourage coeliacs to try new food, buy more gluten-

I've just had the most fabulous Easter (in spite of the weather) and the entire thing was gluten-free. You may wonder why I'm boasting. The thing is, I see lots of posts about how coeliacs (or anyone who has to avoid a food group) feel miserable at special events (my posts included). So I thought it was about time I shared a happy moment. Let me whisk you back to last week... I decided to watch Julie & Julia. If you've not seen it, it's a wonderful film starring Meryl Streep

Most of the time I love seeing a GF symbol. It saves me reading through a ton of ingredients and makes my supermarket run just that little bit shorter. But I've never come across this before: the GF symbol followed by a 'may contain gluten' disclaimer. WHAT THE?!!! Seriously? And it turns out it's not (yet) illegal. According to the Food Standards Agency, it's simply 'best practice' not to use a 'may contain' statement. Click here to read more (but be warned: you may find you

Ever wondered what you're going to eat? You know, at practically every meal. Sometimes as a coeliac it's really annoying being hungry, especially if you're in your own home and fancy a quick snack. So what can you do? It's not like you can have a 'normal' lifestyle back. You know, one where you eat whatever you fancy and don't have to double-check all the ingredients first. My advice? Get a set of staples for a naturally gluten-free coeliac cupboard, that's what. I've put one

Ignore the photo on the right for a moment. I'd like to take you back in time. Back to the dark ages when mobile phones could only make phone calls and cameras required purchasing a film. It's the 1990s. Are you with me? Then I'll begin... As a newly diagnosed coeliac, I was keen to see what was out there in the way of gluten-free substitutes. Apart from an extortionate price, the most glaringly obvious difference was that biscuits and cakes contained a shedload more fat and

If you've been coeliac for a while you'll know some of the top tips on how to avoid spending half your salary on gluten-free food. One of them includes avoiding the freefrom aisle for naturally gluten-free products (like pesto and mayonnaise). And today's Bristol Metro seems to agree (the following is a tweet thanks to a coeliac chap called David). It's quite shocking to see how much the price difference is. (That pesto I just mentioned was a whole pound cheaper in the normal

I'm not quite sure where all the fuss started. Was it The Daily Mail's huge blunder? They later apologised but if you've forgotten, in August 2015 they stated £116million was being spent on the NHS giving donuts and biscuits to people on prescription. Coeliac UK hastily corrected them to £26million (and pointed out that doctors can only prescribe staple foods like bread). But clearly the misinformed are still out there. Only yesterday I got this response from a tweet I put ou

Last time I blogged I went to a café with no gluten-free options. Three days later, I got an apologetic e-mail and reassurance that gluten-free food was usually available. In fact, the reason they'd run out was, they told me, because it sells so quickly. Hurrah! I thought, and quickly headed off to the same café in Kingswood (Boswell's) to see what yummy treats I could devour. I wasn't disappointed. No fewer than four different snacks were available and all in sealed wrappers

Today I felt like I'd been in a time machine. I went into Boswells, a café with lots of cakes on display, and there were no gluten-free options. There were fresh cakes, wrapped biscuits, toasted teacakes and so on, but nothing I could enjoy. The staff were apologetic but completely baffled about the gluten-free request. Surely I couldn't be the only person needing gluten-free food, I thought. And then I remembered the nineties. When I got coeliac disease, there was very littl

I must be one of the only Coeliacs who loves jacket potatoes. Seriously. I love them. I love the taste and I love their versatility (tuna & mayo/cheese & beans/chilli con carne...the list goes on). But most of all, I love that in their nakedness they are absolutely, definitely, one hundred per cent gluten-free. The symptoms I get if I eat gluten are so awful I'd never risk eating something that might pose a problem for me. And of that gluten I only need the tiniest amount for

After peering into my pram, occasionally people ask, "Will she have coeliac disease?" (This is sometimes accompanied by a slightly pitying look, as though it's the worst thing in the world. More on this later.) According to the stats, if a parent has coeliac disease there's a ten per cent chance their child will too. But I've got two children so that's two chances in ten. If I went on to have ten children then one of them would be Coeliac (statistically). Of course, if I did