Gluten sensitivity affects more than 1% of the UK population. Find out if you could be suffering from gluten intolerance and how to cope with it if you are.
By Ronita Dutta
What is gluten intolerance?
Gluten intolerance is an inflammatory condition of the digestive tract, caused by gluten - a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats.
How to get tested
You’re unlikely to be tested for gluten intolerance on the NHS unless your symptoms are severe.
What to do next
If you discover you are gluten intolerant, don’t go straight to your kitchen cupboards and discard all the offending foods.
Start reading the labels
Unfortunately there are many food stuffs out there which you may not think contain gluten, but look little bit closer and you’ll discover the
What can you eat?
Going gluten free will probably involve quite a few changes to your diet, but don’t be disheartened or think that you now have to live without toast
Learn to cook
It’s time to ditch the ready meals and heavily processed foods and start using your kitchen for cooking not just re-heating.
Restock your larder
If you’re going ot start cooking it’s important to make sure you’ve got a
Gluten free treats and snacks
As well as shop-bought gluten free fare, make sure you have a few snacky things to keep you going such as nuts, dried fruit, rice cakes, corn
Eating out
Going gluten-free doesn’t mean you have to give up on dining out.