My Gluten-Free Kitchen

Before diving into this blog, I want to clarify that I’m not exclusively gluten-free. I’m also working through a recent IBS diagnosis, trying to figure out my triggers.

That said, I’ve been strictly gluten-free for nearly three years now. I don’t have celiac disease, but I’ve found that even the slightest cross-contamination can leave me feeling unwell for days.

Because of this, I try to eat as though I have celiac—I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s been asked, ‘but how bad is it really?’ by waiting staff in a restaurant, only to find that something got mixed up in the kitchen and I’ve been ‘glutened’ as a consequence.

In fact, I once got asked this exact question by a waiter, followed by a jokey, ‘It’s just a bit of diarrhea right?’ I looked him dead in the eye and told him I’d be ill for a week. He immediately jumped into serious mode and helped me navigate the menu to find the safest options for dinner, and I was really grateful for that.

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Adapting to a gluten-free diet

Over the past few years, I’ve made it my mission to find the tastiest gluten-free foods wherever I go. In fact, just a week after being told I needed to avoid gluten, I was sent to Rome for work.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that eating well and gluten-free there was easier than I’d imagined. That trip gave me the confidence I needed to start eating out safely, and now, I’m excited to share my favorite gluten-free finds from the past couple of years—both at home and abroad.

How Did We Get Here?

About three years ago, I noticed that I was feeling unwell multiple times a week. I’d push through it, but I was constantly bloated, in pain, and never sure what foods were safe or what would trigger a bad day.

After several tests, I was given a list of foods to avoid, organized by a traffic light system: red for “never eat,” orange for “avoid,” and yellow for “probably shouldn’t eat.”

I started working through the list and quickly realized that some foods impacted me more than others.

For example, gluten made me feel absolutely terrible—bloating to the point where I looked six months pregnant, nausea, and digestive issues that could last for days.

However, I found that things like potatoes and tomatoes were okay in moderation. I don’t tolerate large amounts of lactose well, but a bit of butter doesn’t bother me much. Yeast and cashews, on the other hand, give me reactions similar to gluten.

It took a couple of months, but I eventually figured out what I could eat safely and what I needed to avoid.

Fast Forward to Now

This summer, I noticed that I was slipping back into old patterns—feeling unwell three, four, even five days a week. It wasn’t great. I was crampy, grumpy, and exhausted.

My clothes felt tight around my bloated stomach, and my energy levels were in the gutter. A visit to my GP and some tests later, I was told I need to manage IBS. Honestly, it was a relief to have an answer.

Enter the low FODMAP diet. This is the latest chapter of my food journey, and I’m currently trying to get my head around it so I can do a full elimination diet and finally identify my triggers.

I’ve already started tracking different foods and suspect that Fructans and Galacto-Oligosaccharides might need to go, but I’m still figuring that part out!

A Note on My Recommendations

The gluten-free recommendations I share come from my personal experiences. Since I don’t have celiac disease, they shouldn’t be taken as celiac-safe unless I specifically mention that a place is celiac-friendly.

If I’ve had a bad experience somewhere, I’ll be honest about it—but remember, everyone’s experience can be different.