{"id":725099,"date":"2026-08-02T23:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/725099\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T23:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:12:09","slug":"i-was-diagnosed-with-coeliac-disease-so-i-went-to-the-worlds-only-gluten-free-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/725099\/","title":{"rendered":"I was diagnosed with coeliac disease so I went to the world\u2019s only gluten-free town"},"content":{"rendered":"

Initially, I thought it would be easy. I\u2019ve seen lots of gluten-free products in the supermarket, I would just swap to those. I thought, surely, as long as I\u2019m largely gluten-free, the occasional bit of bread isn\u2019t going to hurt me. However, with coeliac disease, ingesting a single breadcrumb is enough to trigger a reaction. It started to sink in how careful I would have to be and the life-changing consequences of diagnosis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If I go to a party, even if there are gluten-free snacks such as crisps and olives, someone may have eaten bread before reaching into those bowls, leaving traces of gluten behind. My friends and I take it in turns to host dinner parties where we all bring a dish and, while they\u2019ve offered to make it gluten-free, I don\u2019t want to subject them to that, so I bring something along in Tupperware.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve made the household gluten-free. We have a small kitchen and it was going to be unrealistic to maintain a gluten-free area, so my wife cleared out the cupboards of glutenous foods \u2013 I even had to give away the Branston Pickle I\u2019d stockpiled, as it was an old version of the product (now it\u2019s gluten-free). We threw out the toaster and bought new utensils. My family has been so supportive and it means I don\u2019t have to worry at home.<\/p>\n

The children have enjoyed trying gluten-free versions of foods and picking out our favourites, though it is a much more expensive way to live. Bread is at least twice the price and pasta around three times as much. However, I\u2019m a convert to gluten-free beer<\/a> and wine, of course, is naturally gluten-free.<\/p>\n

Friends, with good intentions, try to tell me that I can probably have a bit of gluten every now and then. I think this is because people think it\u2019s a health fad. I lived in Los Angeles for three years and was exposed to all the trends in Hollywood. I also wrongly assumed gluten-free was a lifestyle choice. But coeliac disease is an autoimmune issue, not a choice, intolerance or preference. It\u2019s an absolute necessity.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s most gluten-free town<\/p>\n

A turning point was a work trip to northern Spain in June. While photographing Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernest, for The Telegraph<\/a>, I stumbled on Cangas del Narcea, a small market town in the mountains with a population of just under 6,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Initially, I thought it would be easy. I\u2019ve seen lots of gluten-free products in the supermarket, I would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[12774,16011,616,76055,7433,102,2281,6636,210469,5438,58919,56,54,55,157732],"class_list":["post-725099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-allergies","tag-bowel-cancer","tag-diet","tag-dieting","tag-gluten-free-recipes","tag-health","tag-health-and-fitness","tag-nutrition","tag-nutrition-and-dieting","tag-standard","tag-top-story","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-us-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}