posted
I would desperately like to try gluten-free for my children- especially 2 of them (I have 4). I have put off attempting to even try this because of the fact that I feel like it will be next to impossible unless I put all of them on the same diet. My two middle children are the ones with the most Lyme symptoms (neuro mostly) and I feel a GF diet would probably help them.
I am just not sure HOW to go about it. Changing their diets overnight seems so incredibly difficult. How do I explain why they can no longer have all the foods they love? My 9 year old is such a picky eater- he gags on anything that he is trying for the first time, and he only really likes pasta, chicken nuggets, yogurt, and breads/carbs. I do the best I can to make his diet healthy, but with his sensory issues it is so challenging.
Has anyone had experience with this? Any advice on how to go about this change? My two middle children are very defiant, moody, etc and I don't look forward to this process but I feel it could help. Thanks for any input! J
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I put my children on the GF diet when they were 10 and 8. My older one was very defiant and moody and is very picky. My younger one had stomach problems.
To try out the GF diet and to hopefully get their compliance, I let them eat whatever they wanted as long as it was GF. I wanted to emphasize all the good things they could still eat. I'm talking about candy and ice cream, potato chips, and other junk food. When they came home from school and said there were cupcakes that they couldn't have, I made sure they had some treat they thought replaced it.
I did it this way to see if it would help. We ended up having to get rid of milk, too.
The good news is that my older one, that was so defiant and difficult, turned into a different, easy-going child. My younger ones stomach problems went away.
There are good GF chicken nuggets available frozen. Our favorite pasta is Tinkyada. Yogurt can be GF.
Our favorite bread is Udi's. My picky nephew who hates GF food actually ate some, thinking it was regular bread. If they don't like the bread, I would avoid bread for a while and look for naturally GF foods to eat.
There is a lot of bad GF food out there. I would try it first before giving it to your kids. It isn't going to help them get with the idea if the replacement food doesn't taste good.
I think it would be difficult to get a teen to do the diet. My oldest is now 15 and knows it helps her, but doesn't stick with it all the time. And her nasty attitude is back when she doesn't.
We did all of this before we knew my younger daughter had Lyme. Having to minimize sugar is an additional complication that I didn't have.
I also told them we were going to do this diet and gave them about a week to eat all of the foods they liked "for the last time".
Good luck.
Posts: 984 | From US | Registered: Dec 2007
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I think that once you get started, it will be easier than you think. Basically, once you start, GF stuff will pop out at you that you've never seen.
You can get gluten free pasta at Wal-Mart as well as gluten free alfredo sauce. You can also find Betty Crocker GF cake and cookie mixes at Wal-Mart.
Here is a link for a GREAT GF online bakery. The bread is the same texture as regular bread!!
We really like Nut Thins by Diamond I think. They are amazing "crackers" that the kids love! You can find GF pizza crust to make your own pizza.
And I would stress that EVERYBODY goes on the diet. It isn't really fair to have food in the house that only 1 or 2 people can have. And when you get rid of all the illegal food, they have little choice but to eat what you have for them.
It is also important to keep food that they already enjoy, that is "legal", around. This way they won't feel like you are taking everything away.
Good luck, I hope it goes smoothly for you!!
Posts: 265 | From Oregon | Registered: Aug 2009
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momindeep
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posted
It is a large learning curve, no doubt, but my daughter went GF about six or seven months ago, and it is A LOT easier now...so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Start out easy...Chex cereal has five? GF cereals. Eggs are GF and a lot of candy is too. We had to buy some books that were VERY helpful from Triumph Dining.
Stir-fry dishes are easy to make and GF. I agree...Udi's is the best GF bread and they make other bread products too like bagels.
Like I said, books help you start out because you have them at your finger-tips and can take them with you to the store for quick reference.
My daughter feels so, so, much better...it has been a significant help to her healing process...worth the effort and the money hands down.
Posts: 1512 | From Glenwood City WI | Registered: Jul 2005
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www.celiac.com also has lists of OK and Not-OK foods.
and recipes!
Serve them proteins and vegetables! And there are tons of GF products out there now. Just don't overload them on too many of them. They are mostly white foods.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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nefferdun
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Member # 20157
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Red Mill makes gluten free all purpose flour that you can use for all of your baking goods. You can make cookies and cut the sweetner way down. Red Mill also makes a GF bread mix that you can put in your bread maker.
The only problem is most of these replacement flours are very "white" and I was getting gassy from them. But it is a start. I am trying GF to see if I feel better.
I bought an assortment of flours to experiment with such as almond, rice and soy. There are some online links that give you the tricks for producing palatable products.
I use honey instead of sugar and cut it to 1/3 or less of what the recipe calls for. I make my own granola which is gluten free and really good. My favorite "desert" is blueberry cobbler made with just 2 T honey and Red Mill GF flour.
Once in awhile I make dark chocolate candy using honey, unsweetened chocolate bars and walnuts. Try to stay away from sugar and junk food with lyme. Fruit is a great option - especially exotic fruits served with yogurt dips.
You can buy a slightly used ice cream make off of eBay for about $20-30 and make frozen yogurt with a bit of maple syrup or honey. Cover with berries or home made dark chocolate sauce. After awhile the sweet tooth goes away and you are addicted to healthy alternatives.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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posted
I thought going gluten free would be impossible and I dreaded it.
Once you're in the groove you'll see that it is very doable. There is a site that lists the ingredients to avoid (ingredient lists don't always say "wheat" and they never say "gluten") I can't think of the name of it, but when I remember I'll let you know.
Every meat, fish, fruit, veggie is gluten free along with eggs. I have found that the majority of dairy is gluten free as well.
For starches, risotto is delicious and rice cooked in chicken broth and topped with a little butter is very good too. There's also baked potatoes and sweet potatoes.
My favorite pasta is Schar. We tried the Tinkayada which many prefer, but didn't care for it. Schar tasted the best to me. I cook it in salted water with a little oil to prevent it from sticking together. A dab of butter with a little tomato sauce and poof--really good pasta.
The most helpful thing I was told was how to make my own breadcrumbs. I use breadcrumbs in meatloaf, meatballs, chicken cutlets, a topping for baked fish.
Once I saw that a little container of GF breadcrumbs was $7 (!) I figured we wouldn't be using breadcrumbs much.
Rice Chex cereal is the way to go. Put it in a food processor/blender and whirl it til it's very finely ground. For me this takes 3 or 4 go rounds b/c my food processor is very small. I put all these "breadcrumbs" in a gallon ziploc bag.
Then I put grated pecorino-romanog cheese, garlic powder, dried oregano, dried basil, dried parsley, salt, pepper into the food processor. I blend all those together, add it to the ziploc bag, mix it all together and store in the frig.
I initially used fresh basil and fresh parsley, but I think the dried herbs last longer.
I agree with the person who said it's better that the whole family go gluten-free. Your work will be doubled if you are trying to cook both ways and it really isn't fair to be serving regular bread, muffins, etc. when others can't eat them. Plus you'll be spending more money.
And whoever said that Udi's breads/bagels are the best is right. Keep them frozen and take out what you need. They're expensive so you can't afford to throw anything out.
Good luck to you!
PS--We went GF for one of my children. I am not gluten intolerant or celiac. So, when I was out by myself I snuck a slice of pizza. I felt so sick afterwards.
Thinking that was a fluke, I snuck another piece of pizza in today while running errands. And I got very bloated and felt sick almost immediately. Needless to say, I'm going to stick to GF too.
-------------------- You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'
---Eleanor Roosevelt Posts: 748 | From somewhere | Registered: May 2010
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Didn't realize that lymetoo! I will have to save the link to my favorites.
Also, other thoughts...Glutino pretzels IMO are actually better than regular pretzels.
And there are corn chips that are GF...excellent for chips and salsa or nachos with cheese for a snack.
And for taco night--there are many GF corn tacos--and McCormick's taco seasoning is GF. Add cooked ground beef, diced tomatoes, diced onions, chopped lettuce, grated cheese and you have a fast easy dinner.
There are a variety of GF sweets. The best ones IMO are the mixes you can make yourself. There are GF brownie and choc chip cookie mixes that are actually pretty good.
When we had family over they devoured the GF brownies and choc chip cookies---and had no idea they were GF.
Granted this is a lot of "white" food, but when going GF with little kids we have to start somewhere. It's very important to get them used to the fact that there are very good GF sweets.
Once they try them you can slowly move away from them--they can be the occasional treat. Ice cream is a really good satisfying alternative, and kids don't even have to know it's GF. I buy Breyer's b/c it doesn't have the additives the others do.
Ice cream sundaes with chocolate syrup and whipped cream (check ingredients) are GF and an excellent dessert.
My little one (picky eater from day one) has come to like cantaloupe, pineapple, green beans w/garlic, caesar salad, steak and broccoli w/garlic.
I absolutely hate broccoli but I cook it b/c I know it's good for you. She eats it and goes back for seconds. Hubby loves it too. I go along pretending to like it---but UGH.
I have found (pre-Lyme/cos) that the more you offer a food to your child, the more likely the odds that the kid will eventually eat it and come to like it.
I never forced foods on my kids, just offered healthy foods over and over and encouraged a taste. When the kids didn't like something, we didn't make an issue of it.
That's also been my approach with GF food.
I also keep a lot of nuts (not including family members...hey I have to maintain a good sense of humor) in the pantry.
Recently I made my own healthy mix with macadamia nuts, dried cranberries and chocolate chips. That was a huge hit.
I think someone said that your kids will get used to it. They will eat what you have in the house. This is so true--because they have no other choice.
Once your kitchen is gluten free, life will be simpler for you and your family. I cleaned out the pantry and frig and gave the gluten stuff to family members. That eliminated guesswork in terms of what I could make for dinner, snacks, etc.
The fact that you have 4 kids is challenging. All the more reason to go completely GF in your home. Your kids who aren't GF and are eating outside the home can get their "fix" elsewhere.
You CAN do this!
-------------------- You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'
---Eleanor Roosevelt Posts: 748 | From somewhere | Registered: May 2010
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julielynne4
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WOW everyone...thank you so much for all of the responses. You have all encouraged me so much. You make it seem very doable- and much less intimidating to go gluten-free.
I am still unsure about it but I am definately going for it. In particular, my 9 year old son is SO picky, his diet is so limited, he gags when he tries anything new (which is rare). He truly would rather cry himself to sleep than eat something new - even if I know he will like it.
Plus, he is so defiant (he and my other kids have congenital lyme- not currently in treatment). I believe his defiance is part of his lyme and possibly connected to his diet...
But the other challenge is that my husband and I are recently separated and getting divorced and I am just about 100% sure that he will never go along with the GF diet when the kids visit him. He will actually do anything he can to upset me, so he will probably make SURE to feed them crap.
So it just adds that extra stress to the whole thing- the kids still adjusting to the change in the home, plus knowing their dad will not be supportive. I guess I still do what I can do on my end, since they are with me most of the time.
Thanks again for your help - and I will definately let you know how it's going. J
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momindeep
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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The reality of being GF is just that...you have to be TOTALLY gluten free or the pay-off will not be realized...sorry...not a speck of gluten or you are basicallly back to square one.
Posts: 1512 | From Glenwood City WI | Registered: Jul 2005
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It will be hard to get your ex on board. I was afraid I was going to end up divorced myself just over the diet.
If you can keep your kids on the diet long enough, maybe they will notice when they are at their dad's that they feel worse and start to demand their GF food! One can dream, right?
My younger one would want her GF food. My older one might look forward to the opportunity for a gluten free for all.
I would work hard at making very tasty GF food at home. GF brownies are actually better than regular. Try to make your food so good that they actually like it better. :-)
Posts: 984 | From US | Registered: Dec 2007
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Oh, one more thing I thought of. Once your kids go GF and realize the difference and how gluten makes them feel, they are likely to not be tempted.
When we switched my nephew, he would sometimes sneak something he wasn't supposed to have (his father refuses to go GF) and he quickly realized that the gluten stuff makes him sick.
To this day if we say something has wheat or gluten in it, he doesn't even argue.
I hope you have the same luck!!
Another thing, I would suggest that when you go GF, go shopping and stock up on stuff. This way, you can just go to the pantry and have stuff right there. No frantic running to buy something quickly. Its just easier have a bunch of stuff stocked up!
Posts: 265 | From Oregon | Registered: Aug 2009
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There are a lot of articles and helpful tips for picky eaters. My son is very oppositional right now and is barely eating just a few foods. I tried the diet before without noticing improvement for him but I am considering trying again but I better wait til we get his behavior under control (he has Asperger's, ADHD and Epilepsy). I plan on getting him tested for Lyme soon. Ugh!
GL with the diet. Oh yeah the TACA website has gf tips when going to amusement parks and eating out a resturants too.
Posts: 34 | From southern CA | Registered: Dec 2010
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posted
Ooops forgot to mention that when you go to the website click on "Family Resources" and GFCF diet will come up, then click on that.
Posts: 34 | From southern CA | Registered: Dec 2010
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-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Dekrator48
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18239
posted
This is a really good GF treat from the cookbook, "The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook" by Marjorie Hurt Jones, RN...
Carob Crispy Crunch
2/3 c light agave nectar or clover honey
1/2 cup almond or cashew butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract(optional)
1/4 c carob powder
4 c GF crisp brown rice cereal
Oil an 11"x7" baking pan.
In a 3 qt saucepan, combine the agave nectar or honey and nut butter.
Cook, stirring over medium-low heat until the honey melts and the nut butter visibly softens and is easy to mix. (Do not boil) Remove from heat.
Quickly stir in the vanilla, if using, carob and rice cereal.
The mixture will be stiff.
Press firmly into the prepared pan. Chill for 1 hr before cutting into bars. Cover with foil and keep refrigerated. Will stay crisp for up to 3 days.
I don't eat gluten or sugar and this was soooo good!
-------------------- The fibromyalgia I've had for 32 years was an undiagnosed Lyme symptom.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". -Jeremiah 29:11 Posts: 6076 | From Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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There is lots of great info here. I just wanted to add a tip a nutritionist gave me for cooking rice pasta.
It has a tendency to be more gloppy than wheat, which we didn't care for. She said to ignore the instructions on the box and boil for five minutes. Then turn off the fire and put a lid on and let it sit for five more minutes. It tastes a lot better this way!
Like others, we like Udi's G/F products best - bread, muffins, pizza crusts, though they are pricey.
If you have a Trader Joes in your area you will find lots of inexpensive G/F items - especially like their toaster waffles and their pancake mix.
I have found that we end up eating more "mexican" style dishes, with corn and rice as the base.
Totally agree about getting the gluten OUT of the house. Your ex is a quandry. I hope you can figure out a way to get him on board somehow. Good luck with that and this endeavor. It's easier than you think and well worth the effort.
-------------------- "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." Anonymous Posts: 450 | From California | Registered: Feb 2008
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I do a lot of cooking at home, have a food blog and so on.. A few years ago my wife went gluten free, and as the primary cook in the household, I did at home too.
A few things I have found:
The gluten in wheat can get replaced by stuff which I consider far more hostile to the body than gluten itself (unless you have a gluten allergy of course, which we do not). Xanthum Gum and Guar Gum immediately come to mind. They are used as replacements for gluten, and (not matter what they might say on the packet) are highly processed ingredients that really shouldn't be in any food.
Instead of using those, I prefer to use egg or a paste of ground flaxseed and water. Personally I think it gives gluten free breads a far better texture, without chemicals.
You will also find that a lot of prepackaged gluten free foods contain a LOT of starches - potato starch, white rice flour, tapioca starch etc. These aren't that great for you either. I personally like to use a mix of 50% brown rice flour, 25% oat flour and 25% white rice flour.
As for pastas - there is a huge variety in quality with rice pastas. I might also add that if you can try and buy organic. A lot of fertilizers and pesticides are often used to grow rice, which aren't great for you either.
My personal favorite GF pasta is Quinoa pasta (which is normally a mix of Quinoa flour and corn flour). Again, make sure to use organic otherwise you have GM corn to deal with, especially here in the US. It has great texture, and doesn't seem to get as mushy as most rice pastas.
My son who is 4 is a ridiculously picky eater. He has taken to these gluten free substitutions really well. The one thing I do find however is that now I bake my own bread, make my own muffins etc, whereas before I just got them from a great local bakery. This is good really, but does take a bit more time, since I generally don't like what goes in to a lot of GF products.
Posts: 5 | From seattle, WA | Registered: Feb 2011
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kidsgotlyme
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Member # 23691
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You already have so many good suggestions but I just wanted to add one thing that might encourage you.
When you go GF for a few weeks, you are likely to see a marked difference in your children's behavior. It can really seem like a miracle. Gluten is a big problem for a lot of people.
And also, we have so many choices now. Fifteen years ago, you couldn't find hardly anything that was made just for people who needed a GF diet.
Quinoa pasta is my favorite. Just added that as gift...LOL!
-------------------- symptoms since 1993 that I can remember. 9/2018 diagnosed with Borellia, Babesia Duncani, and Bartonella Hensalae thru DNA Connections. Posts: 1470 | From Tennessee | Registered: Dec 2009
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@matthew wright... do you have recipes and cooking tips on your food blog? Would you be willing to share the link? I'm a horrible cook and I'm looking for all of the resources I can find to help. :-)
-------------------- IgM: [18++,31+++,34++,41++,83-93+] [39 IND] IgG: [41 IND] Positive according to IGeneX. Negative according to CDC. Negative for co-infections. Currently treating for Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia Posts: 225 | From Minnesota | Registered: May 2011
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D'oh! I didn't notice the date on that post. oops. Thanks, Lymetoo!
-------------------- IgM: [18++,31+++,34++,41++,83-93+] [39 IND] IgG: [41 IND] Positive according to IGeneX. Negative according to CDC. Negative for co-infections. Currently treating for Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia Posts: 225 | From Minnesota | Registered: May 2011
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