How to stick to the diet but still enjoy a meal out
You don’t have to become a hermit just because you are on a diet – there are plenty of options out there that will allow you to enjoy a meal out with friends without being the only one at the table with rabbit food and water.
Going out for an Indian meal doesn’t have to be bad at all. There are plenty of lower fat options, and you could also select a really hot curry – there’s only so much of that one person can eat so there’s very little chance of over-indulging!
So, what are the low fat options?
Firstly you need to remember that Indian meals can be full of calories and fat because they are cooked with oil and clarified butter, so you need to choose dishes that don’t have as much of these as the main ingredient. Also, dishes with rice offer a good all in one option rather than ordering a side portion of rice with your main meal.
If you are choosing a curry, go for chicken and vegetable as they are the lower in fat than lamb or beef. And the sauce it comes in will be the decider on whether you pack on the lbs or not. So choose a tomato based dish rather than a creamy masala. Also, consider having chicken tikka (chicken pieces cooked with spices and clarified butter) which will be served without a sauce. Avoid Chicken Tikka Masala however as this tends to be made with cream. Chicken tandoori is another low fat option and a bhuna is also ideal as it has a tomato based sauce.
If you are having a side dish, it is likely to be rice, remember that pilau rice has oil added to it so plain boiled rice is the bead – and just a small serving. Popadoms are a great option and reasonably low calorie especially if you’re considering reaching for the naan bread which is not at all diet friendly.
You could also share a meal with somebody so that you don’t feel under pressure to finish it all yourself. And while you are being healthy on your diet, you can also take comfort from the fact that Indian food has many of the benefits of healthy ingredients such as garlic (often associated with cholesterol lowering effects) coriander (associate with migraine treatments, and has been referred to as an anti-diabetic plant), turmeric (great for the digestive system and is considered to be a liver detoxifier) and ginger (often associated with treating indigestion and as a digestive aid).

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Gluten Free – what’s all the fuss about?

At it’s most basic level being a coeliac means you can’t have gluten or wheat in your diet. Sounds simple enough really – it’s sounds like it’s just about giving up bread for a while? And imagine the health benefits from that? The lbs would drop clean off, right?

But think again, it’s not just about bread – eating ‘clean’ when you are a coeliac has a much farther reach. In a given day, you’ll need to watch out for quite a few things.

Let’s start with breakfast, you can’t eat any cereal – what doesn’t contain gluten/wheat has been made in a factory where gluten/wheat are present and so cannot be classified ‘kosher’. Bread is obviously off the table. As are sausages, pudding, pancakes and scones. Unless you are prepared with a gluten free alternative, you better sick with coffee, fruit and / or yoghurt. If you are lucky enough to have prepared and purchased the ‘kosher’ GF varieties – enjoy, because they ain’t no Kelloggs.

Lunch – if you’re out and about, lunch is a nightmare. No bread, no pizza, no pasta, no soup unless it’s home made without flour as a thickening agent (no cuppa soups either – unless it’s oxtail or spicy tomato), no breaded fish, spring rolls, pies, crepes, wraps etc – your only options again here are fruit. Yum. ( you can see how this diet suddenly becomes quite the healthy option, can’t you?!). Unless you bring your own bread with you (which MUST be toasted unless you have a food related death wish – it tastes putrid ‘raw’), you’re not really going anywhere fast. And lunch gets real dull with just one bread. Which isn’t that nice to start with.
You can of course eat cheese, ham (not crumbed), tuna (yuk), and like I said, fruit. Joy.

Dinner – this is where you get a temporary reprieve. Dinners are quite easy as long as you like your meat and two veg. Anything ‘natural’ is gluten free – so spuds, veg and meat are mostly all kosher. You can also buy a GF gravy, which is utterly enjoyable. Steer clear of anything with pastry (so that’s no pizza, pie, beef wellington, vol au vents, quiche and no apple tart for dessert). You can eat rice by the way, so knock yourself out.

Eating out – if you enjoy talking to people who have little or no interest in your allergy, and less of an understanding (“yes of course we can accommodate Coeliacs, we have a varied vegetarians menu and today’s special is vegetarian pasta”) then you’ll LOVE eating out. Alternatively you can order in – Chinese is generally off the list – unless they agree to prepare gluten free but then it’s tasteless. Thai is a little better, but you need to reinforce that soy sauce is a no no. Indian is best – they genuinely do have a wide reaching variety. Pizza … ok so you’ve heard the pizza line already.

Evening beverage – you can’t have any beer. I’ll just say that again for effect, you can’t have any beer. To be fair you can have wine, any amount of it. But no beer.

Desserts – you can have meringue and ice cream. Sounds nice doesn’t it? Well good, because that is ALL any restaurant (and yes even the fancy ones) have on offer.

Special occasions- no finger food, no birthday cake, no cupcakes and limited crisps. Sounds like a fun party eh? Unless you are a bit of a whizz in the kitchen, party food is totally and utterly out. You can of course buy alternatives – but gain they are expensive. Oh wait, did I mention you can have popcorn, yes, you can eat popcorn until it comes out of your ears.

For all the advancements that have been made with GF alternatives in the supermarket, and to be fair some restaurants and cafés are making a genuine effort, you still have a very limited choice. And for the products that are available to buy in the supermarket – they are supremely expensive, and many of them are pretty shoddy.

So … in answer to the question asking just what all the fuss is about … well, there you have it. It’s awkward, expensive and not so tasty.

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