Considering Going Gluten Free, Want to Hear All Pro's and Con's

A friend of mine has children with multiple allergies, and she to got very tired of the horrible taste of the foods on the market so she created and now sells her own line of allergy friendly foods that are also gluten free. Her foods taste great! They are prepackaged and ready to just heat up and eat. Her products are now in multiple stores accross the country. Here is her web site www.allergaroo.com
You can buy directly from the web site or you can locate a store near you (on a store locator page on her web site). Good luck!

Go to www.befreeforme.com
It's a friend of mines website who lives in Boston and she has had celiac disease for years. There's tips, coupons, etc. Good luck! Jen

I don't know a whole lot about a gluten free diet, but I have only heard good things about it helping children who are on the autism spectrum. I have also read to go on a casein free diet as well. Good luck.

Good Morning B., you have some good advice already so I did the trusty google search..
This is a recipe page
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipes/gluten-free-diet

then the search page I used
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UT...

God Bless and hope you find what will work for you and your family
K. Nana of 5

Hello B.,
Wow, I do understand what you are saying.....and I thought the same as you time ago...., but, I have a sister who is celiac; she cannot eat or drink anything that contains wheat/gluten; therefore, she has to consume absolutely everything gluten free. At this time is an expensive diet, but it is getting better, if you have a problem alike is not a matter of wanting to eat or not gluten free, celiac disease is a problem that should be taken seriously,and if you do not follow a gluten free diet you may have very annoying symptoms with the passing of time. There are several options for gluten free products out there in the market, is not cheap, but you can combine things that you already eat with non gluten products and make this thing more enjoyable. I think that if you do not have a serious problem eating gluten, probably is OK to keep a healthy diet and mix it with several gluten free products or organic meals. BUT, you should not follow just a gluten-free diet just for fun because if you are not celiac you do need the gluten and your kids, and follow just a gluten free diet may cause you health problems in the future. Gluten is important in your diet UNLESS you have celiac disease. If you do have a problem you will have eventually to consume gluten free products to feel better and without those annoying symptoms which will appear if you do not take care of the problem. It is not a life or death thing, but it is important to take care of it.
Whole Foods grocery store has a wide variety of non gluten free products, really tasty! (flour, cookies, brownies, pasta, rice, pizza crusts, cupcakes, snack bars...etc.) There are products with good taste and the opposite, you just have to find out, but you really can have good meals gluten free, believe me. Whole Foods is expensive, but there are other stores where you can find better options to consume gluten free. You still can eat well, and nice treats with a gluten free diet. My kids love eating their aunt's gluten free cookies!!!
Anyway..if you do not have to have a gluten free diet,do not consume it, and eat more vegetables and fruits, less sugar and fried things, and lots of water..that's healthy too!...if you do....follow your doctor's instructions...
Good luck and take care!!!
Alejandra

Hi B.. My son just turned 3 and was diagnosed with autism last year. We have been doing a gluten-free diet with him since January. Our experience has been very positive. His speech has improved, as well as his eye contact, attention, and level of understanding and affection. There seems to be different levels of going gluten-free. Some people must be completely 100% gluten-free, leaving very little options. For my son, he responds well when we remove items that contain wheat (flour) as their primary ingrediants. If it has food starch way down on the list of ingrediants, he tolerates it, whereas someone with Celiac's disease would not. It is difficult because toddlers can be picky eaters...regardless of the autism. First we try to push any meat (not breaded in flour), veggies, fruits, and eggs as they are all gluten-free and healthy. We use corn meal to make our batters for fish and chicken nuggets. Potato chips, some Cheetos, and Funyuns, also do not contain wheat (but please be aware that since we are not strict with all the ingrediants that these may be problematic for some). I'm not sure where you live, but there is a great gluten-free bakery in Jeff City, MO that offers breads and cookies. Gluten-free bread can be a bit dry but I use it for french toast and my son loves it. Also, cereals like rice krispies use rice flour instead of wheat flour. Hope some of this helps! Feel free to e-mail me if you need any more help...or just want to talk to someone who is going through some of the same experiences - ____@____.com.

Hi B.
I am a personal chef and have cooked for someone who is GF. I think the best way to approach this (and any diet for that matter) is to focus on what your son can have rather than what he cannot. It's relatively easy to convert regular recipes to meet the needs of a gluten free diet. It's not as restrictive menu-wise as it first sounds - simple things like changing the thickener are often all you need to do. You'll want to use very fresh, whole foods which means little or no processed ingredients. A GF diet CAN have veggies/meat/seafood/quinoa/rice pasta/rice/brown rice/canned tomato products/some ready made stocks/legumes-beans/rice cheeses/milk/almond milk - READ LABELS! Don't use any condiments without reading the ingredients, ditto on anything pickled as many types of vinegar are made from grains. Distilled white vinegar does not contain gluten. Don't use spice blends which tend to have anti-caking agents made from wheat - Penzey's has a good line of spices that do not contain gluten. Straight herbs or spices are best; you can blend your own or find some without the added fillers. A good brand that Hyvee carries is Namaste - they have packaged mixes for things like cookies and cakes.

There is a magazine called “Living Without” published 6X a year which addresses food allergies. It can be picked up at any health food store. Or check out www.Livingwithout.com
Here is a web site that might help.

http://www.gicare.com/pated/edtgs06.htm

And a book that has good recipes is Cooking Gluten Free by Karen Robinson. Feel free to pm me if you need more info - I do have some recipes that are gf that I'm happy to share! Good luck!

M.

After 26 years of living a VERY gluten filled life in the Bread Basket of America, I found out that I am actually allergic to wheat. My allergist confirmed that I get an IgE reaction to wheat. I haven't been tested for celiacs, but he said that they can go hand in hand, so I am completely GF now. In one word- "YES!!!!" is it horribly limiting and it is near impossible to eat out and eat with other people and participate in potlucks and, and, and... With that being said, it was the best thing I did in my life. I feel WONDERFUL. I had been very sick for years and I had no idea. OK- brands: some health food stores offer tastings. In Wichita, Food for Thought offers tastings the last Friday of the month. It is a great way to see what you like. Bread- Warning-do not expect it to taste like regular bread. It won't. I use tapioca bread. I am not sure the brand, but it comes in a special air filled pouch inside the bread bag. Making your own bread is the best way to go if you have time. I eat a lot of pretzels. There are awesome GF ones out there that you can't even tell they are GF. Chex are now GF. The highlight to my life this past month is finding honey nut, chocolate, and strawberry Chex. I LOVE Chex! Betty Crocker is also coming out with some GF baking mixes soon!!! It will take time. Let me tell you I refused to eat GF bread a year ago when I was diagnosed, but now I realize that it makes pretty good toast and grilled cheeses. Good luck! If there is anything that I can help you out with message me.

This appears to be a very good website http://glutenfreemommy.com/

When my son was 3 we tried a gluten diary free diet and we noticed an immediate response. His aggression went away and he started making eye contact. We did a ton of therapy and used homopathic and other natural remedies, but I truly believe the diet made a difference. It is more expensive and hard to do at parties etc, but we did it for over 5 years. My son is now in 3rd grade and doing very well. We took him off the diet last fall. Olivia's oven here in KC is a great place. They deliver to your house or you can get her bread and goodies at local grocery stores. Good Luck- I figured when we started we had nothing to lose but a few hundred dollars, but when it worked we kept up.

Speaking as a provider that tried to do it for us all to accommodate one child, it was horrible. I tried all kinds of very expensive products, spent almost twice what I normally do on food, threw away more food that usual that the kids would not eat and did it for months on end just to find out that the mom of the one child I was doing it for, was feeding her McDonald's when she had her at home. GRRRRR I pretty much lost my shirt trying to feed all the kids that way. I'll never do it again.

Suzi

I dont know alot about going gluten free, but I have a friend with a gluten allergy, and I know some restaraunts have gluten free menus, Carrabbas and Red Lobster, for example, that they will give you if you ask.

There is a gluten-free store in Ellisville on Manchester.

My best friend has Celiac disease. She has found a good deal of food on Amazon.com. She looks for some gluten-free brands and shops. She finds great deals all the time! One thing that she told me was that many "ethnic" foods are already GF with minor modifications. For example, Chipotle is GF if you get a burrito or fajita bowl (everything except the tortilla... just eat it with a fork). She also has really good luck with most Indian food, Thai food, etc.
Good luck!

My sister just within the last 6 months had to go on a Gluten free diet.She hasn't mentioned about the food being horrible but it is expensive i'm talking the natural food store,there are several proucts out there we use everday that say on the box Gluten free.She hasn't had any prescribed medication to help her condition any but she does take a pill from the natural food store to help her with the gluten in her food.It has helped her alot.

Why are you going gluten free? Does your child have allergies if so there is something new that's amazing at eliminating allergies! Its called the BAX 3000 check it out online and there is a doc in the kc area doing this work with amazing results.