#i'm well aware this is of interest to approx three followers

[vands38]

things i wish someone told me about coeliac disease (UK edition)

apparently some doctors are still not telling coeliacs what they actually need to know so here’s some fun facts --

*coeliac disease is likely to go undiagnosed if you don’t have digestive symptoms. for a lot of folks, their first symptoms are odd things like weight loss, bloating, mouth ulcers etc that take ages for doctors to correctly diagnose as coeliac disease. I know someone whose only sign was tingling in her fingers (nerve problems are a Thing sometimes). I don’t wanna freak folks out but check this list of symptoms and if you’re worried, ask your doc for a blood test to check for coeliac disease. I went in and out of my docs for years with various symptoms (mostly from the anaemia) and no one caught it until I was finally having noticeable digestive trouble.

* coeliac disease an autoimmune disease. not an allergy. not an intolerance. when you eat gluten, your gut just screams NOPE and throws everything out of there.

* this means if you keep eating gluten you will have serious long-term health problems because your gut can't absorb shit 

* as I mentioned, anaemia is one of these associated health problems. a lot of people have this at diagnosis b/c your gut hasn’t been absorbing the nutrients it needs. it leaves you very weak and tired, and the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. 

* long-term anaemia / malnutrition causes so many fucking health problems I can't list them all. basically, if your body sucks, there's a good chance it's a side-effect of your coeliac disease going undiagnosed. I got shitty joints and a shitty heart and shitty bones and godknowswhatelse and every time my doc is like "hey, guess what? it’s coeliac disease!"

* you know what a common side effect is? LACTOSE INTOLERANCE. this is because, once again, your gut hates you from all that gluten you've been killing it with, so it starts to muck around and kick out other things too. but good news! most of the time this is reversible!!! lay off any lactose for a couple of months, reintroduce it to your diet slowly, and you -- like me -- might be a-ok 

*some folks with coeliac disease can’t digest oats either as they contain a similar protein. I found that I was kinda squiffy with them at first but as soon as my gut had calmed down I was a-ok with GF oats (this is good b/c 99% of good GF biscuits are made with oat flour, RIP to everyone that can’t eat them)

* so... your bones are probably fucked. if you were diagnosed early and your doctors are on it, you might be okay but for a lot of people it means osteopenia, and further down the line, osteoporosis (meaning it's v easy to break bones). you need to be eating, like, double the regular amount of calcium every day. most people are put on calcium tablets with combined vitamin D (to help absorb the calcium) but even on top of that, you need to be getting a lot in your diet. If you're still lactose intolerant then switch to lacto-free versions of dairy products or eat tofu like there's no tomorrow. It's super important that you get enough.

* relatedly, bone health!!! You should be doing MODERATE impact exercises like jogging to strengthen the bones but nothing high-impact like tennis. load-bearing exercises are good too. here’s some examples (in detail) given to me by the rheumatology dept

* people have different sensitivity levels. in the UK, certified gluten-free products have to be 20 parts per million or less, but in the US this is 100! marmite lives somewhere between these two and can cause some coeliacs to have a reaction. please be aware when you eat international gluten-free foods that they might have more parts per million than your body is used to

* because you're super sensitive to gluten, not only do you need to check the bold allergens on the ingredients, but the small print too. it might say "made in a factory that handles gluten" or "may contain traces of gluten" and that’s a no-go

* similarly, be careful in restaurants. Apparently it's still perfectly legal for restaurants to say a dish is "gluten free" and then put your nice GF bread in the same fucking toaster as regular bread and have you shitting your pants for days. Just because the ingredients are GF doesn't mean they're cooking it in an allergen-conscious manner. If its not a Coeliac UK certified restaurant, always ask about their methods. Is that milkshake made in a GF blender? Is your fry-up cooked in a separate pan? The first time I got glutened after my diagnosis it was because my GF naan bread shared a tray with a regular one. A lot of places won't even fucking think about this stuff.

* if you're in a gluten-eating household, you've got a big expense coming up. you need to buy a GF toaster at the very least and I would recommend also a separate baking tray (because pizzas, garlic breads etc stick to that shit like no tomorrow) and a saucepan (or anything else that regularly contains pasta/noodles/etc). You'll also need a separate bread knife and board. Separate butter. Separate strainer if you're the type to drain your pasta. Line anything suspicious (e.g.your sandwich toaster, a communal baking tray) with baking parchment. Don’t use bare rungs in your oven or hob. And buy separate spreads and condiments, unless your household is very well trained in not dipping their crumb-covered knives into those things. I've even got separate plates, kitchen utensils, and cutlery. It seems extreme but I haven't had a cross-contamination incident since. Just think: has gluten touched this? And if so, do your best to minimise the risk.

* living GF is expensive long-term too. GF bread costs twice as much as regular bread. Restaurants often charge extra for GF alternatives. I had to switch from having toast in the morning to cereal because it's much more reasonably priced. I eat more fruit than I ever have before just because GF snacks cost so much. I used to have breakfast bars lol say goodbye to that shit unless you wanna be broke

* things I didn't realise I couldn't eat: crisps (a lot of your standard crisps are made with ??? production methods), candied nuts (most of these are made in factories that handle gluten), soy sauce, strawberry laces and a whole bunch of fave sweets (contain wheat starch to bind them - check this list for safe sweets), marmite (you can buy a GF yeast extract that is only 50% worse than the original)

*good food you actually can eat: most cadburys but not most nestle, GF beer which tastes exactly the same, schar pretzels are actually the shit, so are their BBQ pringles and those little chocolate bars with hazelnuts, Morrisons free from frozen mini hash browns will cure your depression, M&S do these bacon tortilla rolls which... OH BOY. Quiche alternatives are pretty damn good but I've yet to find a pizza that doesn't make me want to cry.

*speaking of supermarkets... Morrisons stock a good range of stuff and tend to have everything in one aisle, M&S have many yummy (and expensive) treats, Sainsbury's has good own brand things including bread, Tesco's are fairly decent and stock a lot of baking things, ASDA are the king of GF cake, if you're still lacto-free then Waitrose sell LF cheese including halloumi, and check your your local hippy food store because I found the best goddamn bread in mine (Incredible Bakery Company - you are £4.50 a loaf but I have no regrets)

*party risks: if there's a BBQ, insist that your things go first or have a separate BBQ, or, if worse comes to worse, just eat cold snacks. (Beware of sausages! Many aren't GF!) If its a chip and dip situation, either everything has to be GF (easily done) or have your own dip. BUFFETS ARE LITERALLY OUR WORST NIGHTMARE. the amount of coeliacs I know that have been glutened at one are INSANE. even if those tasty treats are labelled 'gluten free' they've probably be contaminated. everything at a goddamn buffet is contaminated. Dinner party? Well meaning friends will want to cook for you but unless their kitchen is set up as above, it's safer to bring your own food -- if you're very lucky, you will have friends who take the time to learn about allergens and will clean every item in their kitchen before cooking and serving an entire GF meal. these friends are to be treasured -- nay, worshipped.

*fast food. there’s no good way to put this but you’re never having that guilty pleasure 2am burger again. mcdonalds fries are miraculously GF though. (a lot of takeaways recycle oil so even if the ingredients are GF it’s often not safe but mcdonalds always use a separate fryer for chips). indian takeaway is great as most dishes don’t contain gluten. on the flip side, you’ll only be able to have about 5 items on the chinese menu (soy sauce is in everything, yo) so be prepared to learn those 5 items by heart. dominoes do Coeliac UK certified GF pizza!!! (buuuuut not during covid). chains like pizza express have got our back and will even serve you GF doughballs

*coeliac UK are your best friend! most of the things I’ve mentioned are described in detail on their website. they also have a barcode scanner app that will tell you if foods are safe, and they have a restaurant guide, and useful things like translation guides for when you go abroad. 

That's all I've got right now but hmu with any questions or corrections. Take care of yourself, folks. <3

[merrrrrrrrry]

It's amazing how different our enviorments are but we still have struggles. My parents were always on the strict side as well. Up to this day I have to tell them exactly where I'm going and what I'm doing. Even when I was living in a completely different city, every party I went to I had to tell her beforehand. This one time I got blackout drunk and i had to lie to her in the morning that I was in class and that's why I didnt answer her when she called to ask me in the morning if I got home okay after the party. When in fact I was asleep until noon 😂😂

That cake looks amazing!!! Dont undermine yourself. Hope you and your family had a great time tonight/ yesterday. I dont even know the time difference but considering the time between answers I'd say we both answer while the other is asleep.

Nope, we dont follow the Gregorian calendar here but the Ortodox. That's so rare nowadays. Some countries already switched to Gregorian actually but we still havent for some reason. So on Jan 6th its christmas eve and we have dinner with family. It's the only night of the year where everyone is home and with their families. And it's not even like american christmas where maybe 2 families will get together and celebrate together. No, everyone stays in their home that night and has dinner (the dinner is supposed to be the same everywhere but in reality it varies by region). Now what we do is put a penny (or like a small coin with no value) and put it in some home made bread. Then at night before we start dinner every member of the family (and pets if you have them) get a piece of the bread and everyone searches their bread looking for the penny. Whoever finds the penny is given money or gifts by everyone else and the year is considered to be their lucky year. Kids LOVE THIS. The joy of finding the coin in your bread is incomparable. Siblings fight all day before it saying "I'll find the penny" "no I'll find the penny". Which often results in the adults finding the coin and putting it in the kids bread on purpose bc kids cry if they dont get it😂😂. Lately it's been popular that whoever finds the coin post it on facebook or Instagram so for that night YOUR ENTIRE DASH is just coin after coin after coin. And for 2 weeks after that the first thing you ask when you meet someone on the street is "so who got the coin in your house?". The most interesting answer to that question is "the chicken" or "the cow" and you're like mhm right congratulations to your chicken I guess??? 😂😂😂

I cant think of any kitchen stories for now but if I do I'll share them with you.. besides I think that's enough stories from me for one ask. I've already mentioned lucky chickens AND getting drunk in the same ask.

Love, 💫💫💫

I don't know what it is about Tumblr not giving me notifications for your asks😭

My parents are not that strict. I think they strike a pretty good balance. I'm only 18 but with my older brother it's like - let us know where you are so if there's an emergency we're not left floundering and let us know approx time you'll be back but not more than that. My brother went on a trip with his friends to a neighbouring village in Jan (seems like a lifetime ago) and my mother was very frank with him- if you drink don't get too drunk that you can't control yourself, there's no one there to loo out for you. Be aware of boundaries, don't get randomly physically intimate with people. There were three girls as well so she told him to be careful about their safety- not to do stupid things that might endanger them etc. But still have fun

We'd never get drunk, none of us drink but that sounds both worrisome and hilarious

I do think that's what's probably happening but also tumblr's not giving me notifications so

That is the sweetest tradition, oh my god. That is so so cute! So did only the person who got the penny get gifts that year or is it that everyone does get one or two gifts but the one who got the coin gets one from every person and so has the most presents?

Do you buy gifts for that from before - like a gift that would work for anyone because the person who got the penny could be old or young and the gift would have to be such that either can enjoy?

Lucky chickens! They get extra feed for a year akdbsks

Have a wonderful day 💕💕💕

An owl sat on the window ledge outside my parents' bedroom. There are a few owls who live here but mostly they stay away from us but this one calmly sat there for like 20mins 😍