Decided to feed son (family) gluten free........how?

[loofagirl]

I posted earlier in the week about my 8 year old son that has just started exhibiting motor tics. I took him to the pediatrician today and the doctor felt confident that it wasn't Tourettes. He explained (as I'm sure you guys already know) it's probably a reaction of an overstimulated nervous system (he more than likely has ADHD as well). After spending just a bit of time on this site and now, after talking to my pediatrician, I'm going to try to feed my family a gluten free diet - even if just temporarily just to see if it works.

 

I just spent the past 10 minutes looking in my packed pantry and couldn't find a single item that was labeled "gluten-free". What I did find was lots of pasta (seminola), canned tomatoes, Ritz crackers, a multitude of sugary kids' cereals, and so on.

 

I've read online that as a rule of thumb, sticking to the outside perimeter of the grocery store is usually a safe bet when buying gluten-free but what about all of the other ingredients in the recipe? What do you use when the recipe calls for tomatoes, soy sauce, cream of chicken soup, or some other known gluten containing ingredient that cannot be easily substituted?

 

Do ALL food colorings have toxic dyes in them (i.e., cheapy ones from the grocery store vs. Wilton's cake coloring).

 

I really want to try this diet out but I'm finding this very daunting. Where do you start when your are just beginning at this and have to put together a meal?

 

And how long should I give this diet before expecting results (if any)?

 

Thanks so much for any guidance/information that you can pass along.

[annag]

Hello, just wanted to share how frustrating it was to go gluten free at first - but it got so much easier. Once we decided to go gluten free, I was certain that I'll walk into a supermarket and they'll direct me to the right isle. So, I went to Shoprite and asked where they have gluten free items. They handed me about 15-page photocopy listing all the items they sell that are gluten free, without listing isle numbers. What a joke! I spend about 3 hours (and this is after working for a whole day) in a store looking for these items, 3 hours later, I made it thru 3 isles at most. It was beyond frustrating! Then, the next day I went to the Whole foods market, they have much bigger selection, and actually have someone who can help you in each isle. They sell gluten free soy sauce and many other sauces, including gluten free pasta, breadcrumbs, cereal etc….Did you know that many vitamins have gluten? Mine did. After visiting Whole foods, I tried Shoprite again since it is much cheaper. Eventually, I learned which isles sell which items that are gluten free. We have been on this diet for about 6 weeks now and I can make my shopping now with confidence, so don’t give up! I found Red Mill makes wonderful mix for gluten free pancakes, and we bake gluten free cookies. Making lunch for school was another dilemma, but once you do it for a little while, it gets so much easier. Just don’t give up and try to do shopping by yourself in a beginning, without taking your child with you.

[loofagirl]

annag-

 

Gluten in vitamins too? I'm to the point where, as I'm hearing my washing machine go right now, I feel like there is gluten in my detergent and my son will get it topically. It seems to be in EVERYTHING!!!! My kids are currently on Flintstones vitamins but the ped recommended my son so on something a little more substantial like Centrum Jr.

 

How did you find out that your vitamins had gluten in them? I'm sure it's not as easy as just being listed as one of the ingredients.

 

Thanks so much for the advice and encouraging words.

[annag]

Hi, there, yes, beleive it or not the vitamins I used to give my child originally had wheat listed in "contains" description. would you beleive that I also had fish oil purchased from GNC and looked at the back closer and saw that it said "contains wheat". I buy vitamns now from whole foods that say gluten free but I am sure there many other brands that do not contain preservatives and coloring and wheat. funn though, these gluten free vitamins do not taste as good as others did, so both of my kids complain. But that's just too bad .

[Calicat]

Hi,

About the food colouring question, as far as I know, the cheap stuff and fancy Wilton stuff are likely equally bad. They are mostly tar-derived colours... very chemical. Almost every product on the shelves with added colour uses the crappy stuff. If you want to search for natural colours it is much harder to find. Health food stores to tend to carry food with natural colours (derived from seeds, fruits, vegetables, and so on, such as tumeric, beet, etc.) I recently bought special food colouring made this way, and also some decorator sugars for cookies. Haven't yet tried the colouring, but we made cookies the other night and used the coloured sugars. They were a bit muted compared with the bad stuff, but I found them beautiful! And it was great to be able to let me daughter actually decorate cookies with colour again. I ordered these through an online natural candy store... can't think of the name at this minute. Hope this helps.

Calicat