gluten free

Why not try it and see what it is like for yourself? For some it is a necessity, for others a lifestyle choice, for others just a balance, for others they might just prefer it.

As you say, it is a variety of different products, not just bread. I love a bit of gluten free rice :p
 
Delvis said:
It's for people with gluten intolerances , or believe to have gluten intolerances...as one could argue it's not actually a thing
Click to expand...

If they eat something with gluten in and react to it, it's probably gluten intolerance. I'm lactose intolerant, I don't need a doctor to tell me that. If I don't eat lactose, my stomach is (generally) fine, and if I eat anything with milk in my stomach reacts to it. The "test" from the doctor is for you to drink a glass of milk and see what happens, so I believe. I would not subject myself to that.

I have Crohn's disease, so that's probably a factor. The number of milk-free products goes up monthly now. Muller, for example, have recently brought out lactose free fruit corners, which were my favourite yoghurt before this happened.

Trust me, it's ****. I wouldn't wish a food intolerance on anyone, and therefore can't believe that anyone would make it up.
 
There's a much bigger margin on gluten free and other 'free-from' foods, so retailers have been happy to jump in with both feet and feed the fashion. When the next recession bites (it's already long overdue) sales will tumble. Organic was becoming a big (margin) deal until 2008/9 and I don't think it ever really recovered because 'free-from' became the buzz phrase instead.

I suspect this suited a lot of retailers and their industrial suppliers, because organic was putting a bit more power in the hands of smaller farmers, whereas free-from puts more power in the hands of food processors and marketing teams who can monitor sales in real time and tailor product range changes quite quickly.

Obviously a small minority of folk do need to be very careful with gluten, and it's great that they have more choice now. But for most folk it's more of a lifestyle choice; chosen for them by quacks and marketeers. But then what isn't in an era where social media and the internet is stuffed full of gurus whose expertise is based on opinion.

Maybe I just have my cynical head on today, but it's hard to take it off these days.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Trust me, it's ****. I wouldn't wish a food intolerance on anyone, and therefore can't believe that anyone would make it up.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my wife struggles with both gluten and dairy and i see the effect it has on her for the times she decides she wants something containing it and thinks it's worth the consequences.

I'm not sure why gluten free stuff is so grim, although some things are getting better.
 
Delvis said:
It's for people with gluten intolerances , or believe to have gluten intolerances...as one could argue it's not actually a thing
Click to expand...

Well it is a thing for some people, for example people with celiac disease - this can be objectively tested for via a blood test.

For other people though it is a bit of a fad, people will self diagnose themselves as gluten intolerant, just as self diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome was fad a few years ago.
 
My stepfather is a coeliac (intolerant to gluten) so this whole fad of hipsters going gluten free has been a really bonus for him.

When you're actually a coeliac it causes bleeding in your stomach and intestine and has very serious long term consequences so you need to stay away from it all of the time, even a small bit 10p size peice of bread is enough to cause serious stomach ache for a real sufferer. It's a proper medical problem and you can get gluten free bread, pasta, flour etc on a prescription.

Unless you've got a medical need which has been diagnosed there's no benefit to you avoiding it as like you say it's the bit that holds bread together.
 
I've stayed away from wheat for the past month, not sure if placebo or not but I feel better and my stomach/hernia issues have subsided a fair amount.

I don't buy gluten free stuff I just avoided things with wheat. I'm going to slowly reintroduce it to see if it's a placebo or not, secondhand "it's a fad" prognosis from internet Sheldon Coopers don't hold much weight to me.

If it works, it works.
 
For various reasons my GF suggested I try it, I was dubious to say the least.

I still eat gluten free, it's done wonders for my gut and I have the best dumps ever. :D

The bread is awful though but I'm not intolerant so I don't deny myself a footy match hotdog or at other random times.

Pasta is good nowadays though.
 
adidan said:
For various reasons my GF suggested I try it, I was dubious to say the least.

I still eat gluten free, it's done wonders for my gut and I have the best dumps ever. :D

The bread is awful though but I'm not intolerant so I don't deny myself a footy match hotdog or at other random times.

Pasta is good nowadays though.
Click to expand...

Try Genius bread (although they seem to have changed the recipe in the last year or two, for the worse) and some Tesco Rolls - again changed for the worse for some reason.

Pretty much all other bread is awful, although can be solved by toasting it. The "fad" side of it has definitely helped availability, quality and price of products (in the early 2000's you used to have to order it at a pharmacy...), but it's still too expensive for what it is and there's way too much GF stuff seemingly designed for the free from anything tasty brigade (gluten free, vegan, sugar and lactose free all in one go...)

Most stuff with GF on the packaging never contained gluten in the first place, but a simple sticker probably helps them sell more products, especially as so many seem to think a GF diet is healthier. Sometimes GF labels are useful, especially if it's a product that usually has gluten in.

People that follow a GF diet because they want to are a bit weird IMO, but it helps those of us that have to.
 
Amp34 said:
Try Genius bread (although they seem to have changed the recipe in the last year or two, for the worse) and some Tesco Rolls - again changed for the worse for some reason.

Pretty much all other bread is awful, although can be solved by toasting it. The "fad" side of it has definitely helped availability, quality and price of products (in the early 2000's you used to have to order it at a pharmacy...), but it's still too expensive for what it is and there's way too much GF stuff seemingly designed for the free from anything tasty brigade (gluten free, vegan, sugar and lactose free all in one go...)

Most stuff with GF on the packaging never contained gluten in the first place, but a simple sticker probably helps them sell more products, especially as so many seem to think a GF diet is healthier. Sometimes GF labels are useful, especially if it's a product that usually has gluten in.

People that follow a GF diet because they want to are a bit weird IMO, but it helps those of us that have to.
Click to expand...
Yeah the Genus stuff isn't too bad to be fair. For some reason I find most tastes best if you freeze it, blast defrost and then toast.

TBH the best stuff has been the packet mixes and oven baking. In a way it's been good, I used to eat too much bread.

But yeah, a lot of stuff is over priced advertised as GF when it never had gluten anyway.

Yeah I wouldn't choose to but it's helped with bloat, fatigue and my gut so i'll keep it going. Like you say the fad aspect has at least helped with more better tasting things being available.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom