Living with gluten intolerance can be hard work – never more so than when you’re looking for a place to eat out. MARION SAUVEBOIS meets a couple who are aiming to ease some of the biggest headaches

FROM vinegar to curry powder and gravy, gluten can be found in the most unlikely of ingredients and products.

That’s what Diana Murphy realised as she set out to phase out any trace of wheat and gluten from her diet five years ago, suspecting her poor health may be a direct cause of coeliac disease.

Through trial and error, culinary experiments and some baffling discoveries – namely that even vinegar and soya sauce contained gluten – she eventually embraced the Free From lifestyle and has never looked back.

In June, the 38-year-old set up a Facebook page for people grappling with gluten intolerance to exchange advice, recipes and practical information.

Within weeks the page had no fewer than 11,000 likes, and a single comment could spark a discussion between scores of social media users.

Initially taken aback by the instant popularity of her “community hub”, the businesswoman was soon inspired to launch The Gluten Free Centre with her husband David. It’s an online directory, recipe and advice website for anyone leading a gluten-free lifestyle.

“I had this vision of a hub where people could share information, talk and help each other,” said the mother to 20-month-old Christian James. “The response was huge. There were a lot of questions about eating out and availability of products.

“We got all these inquiries and it became clear there was a need for an online community hub. The Gluten Free Centre became obvious for David and myself. There was nothing else like it.”

The Gluten Free Centre website, run by Diana and David from Brinkworth, went live at the end of October and provides a platform for people to share their experiences, ideas and to support one another. It includes a directory of products, restaurants, cafes, hotels and other facilities catering directly for those who live gluten-free.

Events are also listed as well as recipes, news, reviews, advice from experts and articles about companies, large and small, which manufacture gluten-free products.

The site was selected by Dragon’s Den’s Theo Paphitis as one of his #SBS business of the week on Twitter.

Hungarian-born Diana first began to suspect she had an issue with certain foods soon after marrying David in 2002. She experienced severe irritable bowel syndrome and became convinced milk was the root cause. After following a lactose-free diet, her quality of life improved but the symptoms of IBS did not subside. In fact, they worsened as the years went by.

Five years ago, one of her friends suggested she may be intolerant to gluten. Following a raw food detox and elimination diet, both wheat and gluten were identified as being the problem.

She started following a gluten-free diet and soon her energy levels shot up and her health improved tenfold.

But with very little in the supermarkets for those on such a restricted diet, she had to do most of the groundwork and research on her own. “It was a huge problem at the start. There were not many products available then. Today it’s easier to live in a gluten-free household. There are a lot more products available.

“But it is still difficult and when people get diagnosed they are still in the dark. They don’t know where to start. It’s a learning curve. And I am still learning.

“Although I don’t have a choice, I learned to enjoy and love my gluten-free diet. It gives me the opportunity to discover and experiment with a range of unusual ingredients and ultimately makes me pay closer attention to what I eat.”

Coeliac disease is an auto-immune disorder for which there is no cure, except for a 100 per cent gluten free diet for life.

According to research, one in 100 people are affected by it, with possibly hundreds of thousands of people remaining undiagnosed.

Although she was certain gluten was behind her health issues (and probably had been since childhood), Diana realised phasing it out completely before being tested by her GP for coeliac disease was rash.

She has yet to receive a formal diagnosis – and this would mean reintroducing gluten in her diet for six weeks for conclusive results.

Formal testing is something she is keen to highlight on the website.

When she gave up gluten, eating out became a rarity and was mostly restricted to salad. Every meal had to be planned in advance, and travel became a nightmare.

Finding restaurants and specialists offering not only options but a full gluten-free menu has become one of Diana and David’s main goals for the website – which already lists 100 eateries and cafes across the UK.

Restaurants may think a tiny amount will not be a problem and many do not consider the importance of avoiding cross contamination in the preparation of food.

But even a trace amount of gluten can inadvertently cause a sufferer a severe bout of extreme pain and illness.

“The restaurants we have listed are passionate about gluten-free food,” said David. “Obviously finding them is a lot of work.

“When we you go out some restaurants have skinny burgers as the gluten-free option which means a burger without a bun. But if restaurants serve gluten-free dishes they need to have gluten-free pasta, grains and bread and go all the way to support people with coeliac disease or those who choose to eat gluten-free.

“We hope the Gluten Free Centre will make people’s lives easier.”

To visit the Gluten Free Centre go to www.theglutenfreecentre.co.uk. Or check Facebook – www.facebook.com/ theglutenfreecentre, Twitter – @theGFcentre UK, or Pinterest – The Gluten Free Centre.