Hands up everyone who's a little bit worried about the whole contaminated wheat gluten issue currently in the news? Not many wheat-free eaters I bet. But, whether you eat wheat or not, it's a really worrying hit to the food chain. And if you have a pet, while you may not eat wheat, I'm pretty certain that your pet does, or did, in their pet food.

Now hands up everyone who's a little bit smug that they don't eat wheat and enjoy watching the wheat eaters sweat? Come on, don't be shy, it's human nature to feel a bit mean about people that can enjoy eating out without breaking into a sweat at the thought of a little wheat contamination in for example, their supposedly crouton-free salad.

... and the next thing I remember I was looking at the clock back on the ward which was saying 9:20, and a nurse was telling me to turn over onto my left side to have a bit more sleep.

After another 30-ish minutes peaceful sleep I was wide awake, and slightly disconcerted that I'd completely lost 50 minutes. I honestly couldn't remember a thing after watching the 3rd injection into my IV. Okay, so I'm really pleased about that, as I really wasn't looking forward to a long tube being pushed down my throat into my stomach anyway, but all the same, they could have removed a kidney and I wouldn't have noticed.

My long awaited appointment for a gastroscopy has arrived. Basically as I understand it, they sedate me, then poke a tube with a light and camera down my throat into my stomach and have a good look around. At that time they also will take a biopsy for coeliac disease.

Hmmmmmmmm... this sounds like fun... not!

Having once bitten my dentist, not on purpose I might add, but as a reflex action when he accidentally touched too far back in my mouth, I'm not real keen on having a length of plastic tube poked down my throat.

Easter. I love it. Although I'm not remotely religious it doesn't stop me eagerly anticipating the arrival of the myriad of extravagantly decorated eggs in the shops. The brightly coloured wrappings, the pretty ribbons, the promise of secrets inside the chocolate shell... mmmmmmmmn I love it all.

After all the skin prick tests were completed I was despatched to the lab for blood tests, because whilst the skin prick tests indicate no wheat allergy they are not 100% foolproof.

But the allergist suspects that it could be an auto-immune issue, not an allergy, or there again coeliac disease even though I don't have a problem with rye, barley or oats. However to be on the safe side IgE and RAST blood tests should surely tell the truth, I must be allergic to wheat if I can't eat it, right?

It’s December and the festive season is rapidly gaining speed. In our neighbourhood businesses and residential properties are already well decorated, lights twinkling away at night (and during the day).

Trying to be more environmentally conscious this year we decided to buy white LED lights for inside and outside, however whilst stockists of LED lights had thousands of packs of every colour you could imagine, the shelves where white should be were stripped bare. Something tells me that their buyers are not switched on!

NO! STOP RIGHT THERE! Strawberries are not wheat free.

Now you probably think I'm nuts, but if you have a wheat allergy then you will want to be very careful if you are going to choose strawberries as a wheat free dessert option.

I'll make no apology for it, I'm hopelessly addicted to chocolate.
In my younger days (pre 30) I wasn't discriminatory, any chocolate would do, and the greater quantities the better, so more chocolate for my money was always good with me. And of course I didn't have a wheat allergy then, so kit kats, twix, chocolate covered biscuits, you name it, if it had chocolate on it I'd eaten it, or was currently stuffing my face with it. If I didn't eat 3 to 4 bars a day I felt I was missing out.

I was interested to hear that a new no-dough pizza was released a few days ago. Although I'm not a big (wheat free) pizza eater, it's always good to know that there's a readymade wheat free pizza available to buy off the shelf, for those “must have pizza but haven't got the time to make it” moments.

So I wanted to know the low down on these new pizzas, as I'm sure does anyone else that loves pizza but can't eat wheat.

Well if you buy Amy's rice crust pizza, which is clearly labelled gluten free on the box, that's when.

For sale in the gluten free freezer section of my local healthfood store I was excited to see an organic rice crust pizza for sale. Inspecting the box it clearly said "gluten free", I quickly scanned the ingredients to make sure that they hadn't used wheat starch with the gluten removed, was satisfied that it was okay, so bought it.

If you have a wheat allergy or coeliac disease how do you cope with Holy Communion?

The Catholic doctrine believes that the wafer and wine taken at Holy Communion are the body and blood of Christ, and therein lies a major problem for someone with a wheat or gluten allergy.

I am of course being facetious. Eating out 99% of the time on a wheat free diet sucks!

Visiting friends just before Christmas we went to a local hostelry for lunch. The menu consisted of fried, battered or breaded foods, burgers, fries & lasagne. Even the salads came ready made with the croutons on, and a “well we could pick them off for you”. I don’t think so.

We have been contacted with some interesting information from Josie about her son's tentative diagnosis of petit mal, medication issues and subsequent changing to a wheat free diet.

Does anyone else have any experience of this? Or any comments they would like to add?

So Canadian news reported that a scientist at the University of Alberta has discovered a way to turn the dregs from brewing beer into a sweetener. Using the grain waste left over, which is often sold as cheap animal feed, the process can now create xylitol, a sugar substitute.

Now scientists are getting excited that this new discovery will have environmental benefits as well as financial ones. But what about the health ones?

Whilst the US Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act 2004 (FALCPA), that came into force 1 January 2006, has got to be a good thing, I’m starting to worry that there won’t be much left for people with food allergies to eat based on reading the packaging.

This is something that I’ve blogged about before, manufacturers covering their butts by stating that everything they make MAY contain or have traces of blah blah blah.