Patients With Celiac and Overlap Inflammatory Bowel Disease Often Skip Out on Gluten-Free Diets

Good evenimg to all. All sounds great, however what if you can't afford it? I didn't have a choice, especially a senior as myself. Thank you all. 

Even with the recent inflation I spend less on food now than I did before GFD (2014). Most fruits, vegetables and meats are gluten free until some company "adds value" and puts it in a box or bag. Glten free facsimile gluten foods are no better than gluten foods, despite the millions spent to convince us otherwise.

Yes, you don't have to buy dedicated gluten free prepared foods in order to eat gluten free. Many mainstream foods are naturally gluten free. But it does mean focusing on fresh meats, vegetables and fruits and cooking for yourself. It is the pre-packaged dedicated gluten free foods that make eating more expensive for those with celiac disease and NCGS.

I can agree to a point that focusing our food choices on whole, naturally gluten free foods is best, but no, it is not really less expensive.  At least not where I live.  I don’t have to look much further than the sale flyers for most grocery stores to see that.  Probably 90% of grocery items in sale flyers are gluten filled, pre-packaged garbage.  Meat prices are outrageous, even “on sale”.  The same is true for fresh fruits and vegetables.  And even with those - how many more times do we need to learn about recalls on romaine lettuce or tomatoes, or chicken or etc…before we understand that our food supply is not safe or healthy?  It’s like playing Russian Roulette everyday.  But, we have to eat, don’t we.  Whenever I can, I buy fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables locally grown and harvested,  and processed.  The less food had to be handled, the less it has to travel to reach my table, the better.  I have started an indoor herb garden, and am preparing for a small outdoor garden to keep myself in fresh vegetables this summer.  I have budgeted grocery money that will be spent exclusively at local farm markets and U-pick farms.  I will buy in bulk and preserve it myself with ingredients that I know are safe and healthy for me.  Over the last 2 years, I have managed to stock my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer with less and less processed pre-packaged garbage.  It’s not perfect yet, but I am not starving and I haven’t been nearly as sick.  So that’s improvement.  But, it wasn’t inexpensive either.  I won’t really get to realize the true savings until I am able to rely only on the food I have preserved at this year’s and last year’s prices, and not today’s and next year’s inflated prices.  

1 hour ago, imdoodah331 said:

I can agree to a point that focusing our food choices on whole, naturally gluten free foods is best, but no, it is not really less expensive.  At least not where I live.  I don’t have to look much further than the sale flyers for most grocery stores to see that.  Probably 90% of grocery items in sale flyers are gluten filled, pre-packaged garbage.  Meat prices are outrageous, even “on sale”.  The same is true for fresh fruits and vegetables.  And even with those - how many more times do we need to learn about recalls on romaine lettuce or tomatoes, or chicken or etc…before we understand that our food supply is not safe or healthy?  It’s like playing Russian Roulette everyday.  But, we have to eat, don’t we.  Whenever I can, I buy fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables locally grown and harvested,  and processed.  The less food had to be handled, the less it has to travel to reach my table, the better.  I have started an indoor herb garden, and am preparing for a small outdoor garden to keep myself in fresh vegetables this summer.  I have budgeted grocery money that will be spent exclusively at local farm markets and U-pick farms.  I will buy in bulk and preserve it myself with ingredients that I know are safe and healthy for me.  Over the last 2 years, I have managed to stock my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer with less and less processed pre-packaged garbage.  It’s not perfect yet, but I am not starving and I haven’t been nearly as sick.  So that’s improvement.  But, it wasn’t inexpensive either.  I won’t really get to realize the true savings until I am able to rely only on the food I have preserved at this year’s and last year’s prices, and not today’s and next year’s inflated prices.  

Yes, grocery prices in general have gone up dramatically in the wake of the pandemic but my observation is that gluten-free groceries price in creases have outstripped mainstream grocery prices.