Ta da!!!!

Easy to make your own gluten-free pizza bases, I'd have thought! I don't see why the NHS should be expected to provide non-essential food items for anyone with an intolerance.

To get the gluten foods on prescription you would have to have a diagnosis of celiac disease. That seems to entail a "gut biopsy" which involves an endoscopy. Not nice. I don't think you could get them if you just decided for yourself that you had an intolerance.

Pizza bases on the NHS?

Yes, I understand that. Just thought pizza bases were a bit OTT.

Real coeliac disease must be horrible. And is likely to lead to even worse things if not treated properly. No room for envy here.

GF bread tastes awful - no envy here!

Envy?
NHS funds should be spent wisely, that's all I'm saying. Some drugs aren't even available to people who would benefit from them!

I meant - can't envy them for having to get their food prescribed, and then pick it up from a chemist shop. Give me a nice trip round Waitrose any day.

My DD has Coeliac disease and has to use a separate toaster and prep area in her kitchen. She bakes all sorts of things and uses a combination of different flours for different cakes, scones etc. She uses chick pea flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, sesame flour to name a few. They are all quite expensive though. She is also lactose intolerant and has taken to a vegan style diet. She is finding it very difficult with four young children.

Oh yes Ana you think right! It is easy to make your own gluten free pizza bases. But you haven't taken into account that some people can be very ill before diagnosis and before they are established on the correct medical diet to suit their needs and trying to stand in a kitchen making gluten free pizza bases or gluten free bread is impossible as you don't have any energy, you have lost a lot of weight, I'm talking stones here not just a few pounds, you look like a skeleton and your muscle tone has gone too. You have no energy and no appetite. Just having to cope with the day is enough! You know in the back of your mind that it could be food that's making you ill or could it be something more sinister? The Dietician tells you to eat anything you fancy as she knows you are finding all this extremely hard to cope with. Your beloved family are witnessing you fading away before their eyes. Some patients can be diagnosed reasonably quickly and once established on the right diet they go from strength to strength but that wasn't me. It took years unfortunately and I still can have relapses on a regular bases but I'm trying my best.

It is not our fault what the NHS allows on Prescription and what they don't allow. I know from experience that gluten free food is more expensive than 'normal' food and that gluten free bread is much smaller than 'normal' bread. People who are diagnosed with this life long condition would die if they did not adhere to a gluten free diet.

Here is an example re NHS prescription; A good number of years ago I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and was prescribed Thyroxine. The Doctor at that time informed me that I would not need to pay for prescriptions any more as this is the NHS guidelines. I asked why, he said he didn't know. It wasn't just the Thyroxine I didn't pay for it was for everything on my prescription. Later when I needed the gluten free items I didn't pay for them either. So everyone who was prescribed Thyroxine didn't pay for prescriptions. Of course here in Scotland no one has to pay for prescriptions now at all.

We need to be grateful for what health we have as we all know that there are people worse off than ourselves.

Intolerance, which I have, is very different from the real allergy. That can kill you. People with an intolerance just learn to avoid it as much as possible, but it's really tough for those with the allergy because even if you go out for the day and are assured that your food is gluten free, it could have been cooked in a utensil that once contained gluten.

Personally I wouldn't dream of obtaining foods on prescription, but then I have learnt to cook around it and go without, but I do have the luxury of being able to eat things I shouldn't on rare occasions. My downfall lately has been an absolute craving for toasted teacakes. I told myself I was making them for DS. I ate one every other day - no other gluten at all - and in just over a week was glued to the loo, had awful headaches and the stomach pain kept me up all night. It also makes my joints ache so it's hard to know where tendonitis stops and intolerance starts. However my craving for normal food overcame my knowledge of the pain to come. But just imagine a life without bread, biscuits, cake and it is tough. Also - GF stuff in the supermarkets is INCREDIBLY expensive, so way beyond the means of many. It also doesn't taste as nice on the whole.

I'd rather adapt my diet, but I am so glad that it hasn't come at a time when I have a young family to feed. The thought of having to go without any meals such as baked beans, burgers, fish fingers, battered fish - nightmare. Every single meal would have been incredibly labour-intensive. I have found a recipe for pizza bases using ground cauliflower. Still trying to get up the courage to try it...

I hadn't noticed being gf keeping me slim . I mostly work round it but I do need sandwiches sometimes so use Genius bread. Janer, as well as the symptoms you mention, I itch!!

I'm glad I don't itch! At least - I do, but not that badly. I shall start worrying about how much I itch, now!

I only eat cake very rarely, that's what's slimming. I stay off gluten-free ready-made breads and cakes on purpose to keep my weight down. I love bread and cake. Even more than chocolate. The Dr said that was probably why I had such a craving for it, you often get a craving for what you shouldn't have. I make all our bread, it's quite tough to have to freeze a batch, see a perfect roll and not eat it. So lunch during the winter is usually soup - but I don't have any bread or a roll with mine. I would just have a little extra soup if I am still hungry, that's why it's slimming.

I mostly have baked potatoes for lunch with tuna, salmon or prawns - it's pretty boring really.

I only itch if I indulge. When I itch it is mostly on my shins and hips!

It is boring, isn't it. I have that in the evening if DBH won't be back for dinner, maybe ham and coleslaw, or grated cheese and pickle.

Now I know what you mean about the itching! I get itchy hips, I thought it was when they got cold. I have to rub them very hard. I'm also gradually realising that I don't get tendonitis flare-ups as often now that I am eating so little gluten.

I so miss poached egg on toast. I am going to make mashed potato and oat cakes instead, I think. I used to make them with flour, but I shall grind up some porridge oats and see how that comes out.

Point of interest JaneR ....how do you grind cauliflower?

I have no idea. Maybe it's an American recipe, like 'ground beef' is mince? I shall have to look at it properly.

Yes, it's blitzed in a blender. However, some people put it through a ricer, others grate it. I had no idea there were so many recipes for it. It seems to be a very common pizza base. This recipe seems nice and simple

www.jocooks.com/healthy-eating/cheesy-cauliflower-breadsticks/