Staying healthy on a gluten free diet
When diagnosed with coeliac disease, it’s important to ensure you’re getting enough fibre, calcium, iron and other nutrients.
You can still enjoy delicious and delectable food every meal time
Being diagnosed as coeliac means you must follow a gluten free diet for the rest of your life, however it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy delicious and delectable food every meal time.
Initially, you might feel overwhelmed trying to understand which foods you can and cannot eat, but it’s important to remember that there are plenty of naturally gluten free foods you can still eat – including lean meat, fish, poultry, beans, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds – that are nutritious and healthy.
From main meals such as spiced quinoa and chickpea wraps, to breakfasts like crumpets with chocolate spread, it’s possible to keep a healthy and balanced diet which includes all the nutrients your body requires in the long-term.
Keeping up your fibre intake with coeliac disease
Fibre is essential for maintaining a healthy weight, improving bowel movement and balancing blood sugar. However, a gluten free diet means you can miss out on the right amount – the recommended intake is 30g of fibre a day, but most people (including non-coeliacs) only eat around 14g.
Here’s how you can increase your fibre intake:
- Filling your plate with a variety of vegetables such as broccoli, kale and cabbage
- Eating the skin on potatoes, including sweet potato and baked potato
- Switching to gluten free wholegrains
- Selecting fibre rich gluten free products – our seeded bread and rolls are both high in fibre
- Adding beans and pulses to meals
- Snacking on nuts and seeds, including almonds, walnuts and flaxseed
Important nutritional information
Because the lining of your gut is damaged from eating gluten, your body can’t absorb nutrients as easily.
This results in a number of nutritional deficiencies. Commonly, coeliacs don’t get enough vitamins and minerals such as folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin E, selenium, iron, calcium and vitamin D – this is why it’s important to include foods that contain these lost nutrients.
Our Warburtons Gluten Free pharmacy range has been developed to provide essential nutrients, as well as calcium and iron.
Other vitamins the body needs include vitamin D, magnesium, vitamin K, boron, silicon, vitamin C, zinc and protein. Many of these nutrients are abundant in gluten free grains like wholegrain rice, buckwheat and quinoa, as well as nuts, seeds and leafy green vegetables.
Increasing your iron intake
Iron deficiency is common following diagnosis, which is why it’s important to eat iron rich foods such as:
- Chickpeas
- Lentils
- Sesame seeds
- Spinach
- Swiss chard
- Kale
- Broccoli
- Asparagus
- Beef
- Lamb
- Liver
- Tofu
- Olives
- Mussels and oysters
- Blackstrap molasses
- Quinoa
- Dried figs and apricots
Boosting your calcium count
Damage to the small intestines leads to malabsorbtion (failure to fully absorb nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract) of important bone-building nutrients. Even if you avoid dairy, there are some very good calcium rich alternatives:
Fortified milk alternatives
- Canned sardines
- Mackeral or salmon with bones
- Tahini (sesame seed paste)
- Plain tofu
- Dried figs
- Broccoli
- Spinnach
- Kale
- Baked beans
- Oranges
All of our gluten free bread and rolls are fortified with calcium and are dairy free.
Our Gluten Free Pharmacy Range
At Warburtons, we believe that everyone should be able to enjoy beautifully baked bread. That’s why we’ve built a dedicated gluten, wheat and dairy free bakery in Newburn, Newcastle to produce our free from range. All our products go through gluten, wheat and dairy free testing and have Coeliac UK’s seal of approval to put the Cross Grain symbol on each of our packs. This is internationally recognised as being safe for coeliacs.
Our Warburtons Gluten Free range is available to order from your local pharmacy. This range includes fresh white and brown loaves, and our white and brown rolls (all of which are fortified to be high in calcium and provide a source of iron).
The breads are baked to order to ensure maximum taste and freshness.
Staying healthy on a gluten free diet
A gluten free lifestyle can take some getting used to a first, but as this page shows it is still possible to enjoy a healthy and tasty diet. Take a look at our dedicated meal plan for more ideas.
For more information you can sign up to our mailing list where you’ll be kept up to date with our latest products, news and more. If you have any questions you can email us or phone our team on 0800 243 684 and we’ll be more than happy to help.
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