Making Sense of Sensitivity Campaign: I Go Gluten Free for 5 Days

Just to let you know, this post was written before I started the paleo diet to help ease my psoriasis. Nowadays I eat a more allergy-friendly diet, but leave these older, non-paleo posts up in case they are useful to readers, as I know not everyone eats the same as I do. Thanks for your understanding. 

I was contacted recently by the people at Dr Schär to see if I would like to take part in a campaign to raise awareness of gluten sensitivity. It's thought to affect around 6% of the population and many might not realise their headaches, bloating and topsy-turvy digestion are as a result of sensitivity to gluten. And those that know they have a sensitivity might not bother to change their diet because eating a gluten-free diet might be perceived as complicated.  

For the campaign, I need to go gluten-free for five days, in an effort to show you that it can be done. This excited me for one main reason. I was at a barbecue a couple of years ago, when one of the host's friends turned up and casually mentioned that she couldn't eat any bread rolls because she was sensitive to wheat. This sent everyone into a panic, checking the labels of burgers, sausages and coleslaw tubs to see if they were gluten-free. Having researched into the condition a little bit more, I realise they really didn't need to panic. There are loads of foods you can eat while on a gluten-free diet.

Over the weekend, I made a start and Sunday was my first day eating completely gluten-free.
Here's a video of me talking more about the campaign and how I got on for my first day. (I say 'um' a lot when I witter on to a camera because it feels weird but I'll get used to it!)...

So, my meals for day one were as follows:

Breakfast:
gluten-free cornflakes (Dr Schär) with semi-skimmed milk

Lunch:
Goat's cheese and chive 3-egg omelette (very filling, so didn't need to fill up on breads, etc) and it also kept me going until dinner time in the evening.

Dinner:
Gluten-free spaghetti with tomato, basil and mozzarella sauce.

Snacks:
Fruit (banana, apple - whatever I had handy) and some natural yoghurt with honey swirled in.

I'll be posting my daily diary on here (most likely in video form) so do check back to see what I've been eating each day. And if you are sensitive to gluten in your diet, I hope that it will show you that you can still enjoy a wide range of foods and maybe inspire you to try some different dishes. All the recipes I use during the challenge will be posted up onto the blog soon.

Thanks for reading and watching, and wish me luck for the rest of the challenge!

Are you sensitive to gluten in your diet? Do you have any gluten-free tips or recipes I could try while I'm on the challenge? Let me know in the comments box below...