Chocolate, for the Gluten Free!

Hi, I’m Megan and I’m a chocoholic.

Okay, this post comes at a very sad time because… well, I’ve found out that CADBURY’S CHOCOLATE ISN’T GLUTEN FREE.
(And I’m also stuck in bed with a stinking cold, upset that I can’t gorge out. I’m not bitter, you are!).

I suppose it shouldn’t come as a shock, like all nice things these days, they contain some sort of wheat bulker. I should have known – I should have been prepared.
In all honesty, I’m gutted, but slightly relieved that my allergies haven’t extended to something like… dairy (my apologies to the lactose intolerant, it must suck) because sitting in my bedroom, whinging that my stomach was hurting after devouring a Cadbury’s chocolate bar (or 3 (don’t judge me..)) was worrying me that I was becoming sensitive to dairy, as if living without gluten wasn’t hard enough!

Well anyway, leading onto what this post was originally about (which certainly wasn’t me complaining about my infuriating digestive system…. much) and that’s finding chocolate that actually IS gluten free.
Being gluten free, whether for health purposes or you want to be, is a huge learning curve, and it’s mostly about eating fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and rice.
Just recently I’ve learned that most sausages contain gluten, and to be honest, it shattered my world (not quite as much as Cadbury’s but still…) because I bloody love bangers and mash.
Nostalgia left over from my childhood I suspect, so to find out that my precious sausages were contaminated with the ‘baddy gluten’ kind of depressed me a little bit (I went on to find M&S’s sausages were all gluten free, but that wouldn’t make this story sound as sad as I wanted it to, would it?) – so the moral here? Read every label. And I MEAN every label. Wheat and barley crop up in odd places, and as unsuspecting as you are, it’s probably there somewhere, lurking in a dark corner of the package waiting to give you chronic stomach cramps and rampant diarh… actually, we’ll leave that to the imagination.
(Seriously, soy sauce, WHY!?)

SO… ON TO CHOCOLATE.
I think it’s fairly obvious to say that anything that contains a biscuit element is definitely not gluten free. Don’t try. Don’t do it. Just put that cookie crumble galaxy bar back on the shelf and walk away. It’s not worth it (and I hope I won’t be alone when I say we’ve all contemplated eating it. But it’s not worth the pain afterwards).

CADBURY’S:
Outlined on their website is says:

“Showing all products which do not (deliberately) contain Gluten & Wheat
Please note that products and their ingredients can sometimes change. With this in mind, please always ensure that you read the label before consuming our products and never rely solely on the information provided here.”

If you ask me, you should just avoid this brand completely.
But if you’re in the business of taking risks then here is what you can eat:

– ALL GLUTEN / WHEAT FREE PRODUCTS

NESTLE:

 

“We can guarantee that Nestlé products produced in the UK and shown on this list are suitable for your allergy/ intolerance as outlined in the next few pages.For your own safety, please check the label of the product that you have purchased – even if you have eaten the product before.”

I mean, this sounds a hell of a lot more reassuring than Cadbury’s chocolate, that’s for sure! And I eat Galaxy like it’s going out of fashion and have yet to have an allergic reaction (I say yet, my heart still hurts from losing Cadbury’s…).

Here is the INCREDIBLY helpful list of chocolate that you can or cannot eat:

– ALL GLUTEN / WHEAT FREE PRODUCTS

 

LINDT:

Okay here’s the thing about Lindt – there is absolutely nothing online that shows what goes into their chocolates – which I would suggest avoid, unless you read every package, and don’t assume that they are gluten free.
Outlined on their website they have said:

“Gluten can be found in several premium chocolate products that Lindt & Sprüngli produces; either as a cereal ingredient or as a barley component.”

Basically said: LOOK AT THE LABEL.
Chocolate is life, guys! And just because we can’t eat / or won’t eat gluten, doesn’t mean we have to miss out!

And the main reason for this post was certainly to outline that there ARE brands out there that we can eat and don’t hide gluten containing products from us! (Cadbury’s, really?! Who knew?! Because it certainly isn’t on any label I’ve read!)

And maybe, possibly, POSSIBLY to do with getting my boyfriend to buy me Godiva chocolates. MAYBE.

Hey, a girl has to dream big in order to succeed in life.

Love, The Vivacious Blonde xo

Please do follow me on Twitter or like my page on Facebook! I love having new faces join me on my crazy journeys!