Thanks. I know I haven't had time to respond to the last thread about my son... I have so much information coming at me at once... it's hard to keep up. The mental health therapist suggested starting to go Gluten Free.... he said just do it a little at a time to get started. He tried it and felt much better. So I would like to try this for both my son and I (hubby won't do it, nor will his sister)... So what exactly can we eat on a Gluten Free Diet????? Looking for normal every day items I can find at the store that aren't expensive. Any help is greatly appreciated. My son likes potatoes and rice, those are ok right? Is it mainly bread and pasta and anything with breading, etc? Because that might be kinda easy... my son likes plain natural foods and I can stand to lose a ton of weight! I assume a lot of sauces and stuff would be off limit because of the added starches to thicken them. Thanks again for your guys help. You guys are a wonderful support system and the only people I have to bounce ideas off of these days.
Thanks.
Laurie
1|1|Hi Laurie...gluten free|jilda|vze4gj4m@verizon.net|23:21:49|06/02/2012|
You have to be vigilant about reading labels and don't always count on the allergen information to give you the details. for example Corn Flakes have gluten in them. It doesn't say "contains wheat" under allergens BUT it has barley malt or something like that in it. So he can't have that. It tends to get expsenive so be warned. My son has tried every bread and LOVES the Udi's bread. There are blinkies out there for these right now..I saw a poster on the couponing board who has them so do a search. There were coupons out for it (blinkies) $1.50/1 and my store was discontinuing the hotdogs and hamburger buns so they were $3 each and then with the $1.50 coupon it was a great deal. i bought every single package they had and kept buying it everytime they restocked. I had about 25 packages of buns in my freezer. BUT he has one every day for lunch.
He cannot have soy sauce. soy sauce has gluten in it.
most sauces do NOT. Most dressings do NOT. He can have icecream but nothing with a cake/cookie in it. He can't have icecream sandwiches but can have chocolate coated ice cream like klondike, good humor bars.
No waffles, pancakes, cereals etc. He can have all CHex cereals but not the whole wheat one. We buy gluten free bisquick and my husband makes him waffles in one batch and I freeze them. Vans also makes good G/F waffles but they are pricey. Our local stores sometimes has them on sale for $2 a box but he likes the bisquick ones better.
If you make meatloaf try to make your own breadcrumbs from the g/f bread. My son always brings home any part of the sandwich he hasn't eaten. I never ever throw out g/f breads of any kind. I just make breadcrumbs out of them and make his meatballs, meatloaf, etc.
You can also find g/f pizza flour, regular flour, etc. ...our Big Lots sells this for a reasonable price. I use it to make his chicken cutlets or anything that needs to be breaded.
I can't give you any advice about pastas b/c he doesn't like pasta ..even the regular pasta.
He can have chips, fritos, cheese doodles, fruit snacks.
Trader Joes has a great g/f line...like their snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies..they are really good.
Be careful with chocolate. He can peanut butter cups, snickers, regular hershey's but just read labels.
He's 9 and he now knows to read every label. He knows what he can and can't have.
Thankfully these days there are SO many g/f things to choose from. we even went to Red Robin and they actually had g/f bun for his burger. I sometimes bring my own buns to restaurants and barbecues to make it easier but he likes a burger without a bun as well.
Let me know if you have any questions.
2|1|Here are a couple more items|tollman62|thebossatnight@yahoo.com|00:54:05|06/03/2012|
my kids eat gluten free these are some of the things they eat
gluten free rice krispies they also make the treats using these
Udi's muffins
Nathan's hot dogs (read the label
some of the smart one's dinners are gluten free
Fruity pebbles has gluten free bars
lara bars
bob's red mill makes gluten free items
a good place to find out some basic items is amazon. com type in gluten free as a search
email me if interested
please send your board name in your email thanks
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you always hear noises in the dark when you work at night 3|1|I second the UDI'S product line, I am not gluten free, however, I have 4 gluten free students, at the school I cook at. We have tried a number of products, and the Udi's was the favorite by a land slide. ALso Udi'd pizza crusts are awesome. We use a brown rice pasta at work, that is very tasty, and has a great texture. |dlpavitt|dlpavitt@att.net|05:46:00|06/03/2012|
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He does not have celiacs disease correct? Because if he did, he could not have corn flakes because of the malt flavoring in it, but if you are just trying to limit his gluten intake then corn flakes has less gluten in it than other cereals. But Chex and Rice Krispies are GF. Also, if you use Worcestershire some of it has malt in it. Lea and Perrins original does not. Try reading the Book "gluten Free for Dummies" Its an eay read!
Pamelas Baking Mix is stightly costly but it is wonderful. I love the GF Pasta "takayada" and brownies by "Hodgkenmills.
I tried to make my own GF bread. None of my kids liked it or the Udis brand. So, we went with GF crackers and meat for lunch. They liked it much better.
Much of our GF food was bought at Walmart in the GF section. Some came from the health food store.
For children with Aspergers/ Autism- Also watch out for the dyes especially in kids type foods. There is a company called Kirkman and they sell Super Nu Thera Powder (it is a vitamin) it comes in GF, but you might want to try it and some of the Barleans Omega Swirl that is found in the Health food stores. Both at the same time. The reason why I say this is that we paid for very expensive testing at the Naturopath Office becuase we did not want to try medication. It showed many food sensitivites, gluten as one of them. The Naturopath prescribed this and a mega b12 vitamin along with the diet. I cannot tell you how much of a difference this made. Although his regular pediatrician thought it was "hokey", and didn't agree, I am so glad that we tried the naturopathic way. 5|1|Lots of natural GF foods|Sara_s_Mom|IClipCoupons@gmail.com|08:31:18|06/04/2012|
Fresh veggies/fruits --- naturally gluten free
Kelloggs Rice Krispies come gluten free and 5 varieties of Chex. Also GF are Fruity Pebbles.
Udis or Rudi's make decent GF bread. Cost is about $5 a loaf though :(
Mixes: Betty Crocker makes some gluten free mixes for choc cake, brownies, choc chip cookies, and yellow cake. Wegmans also has come out with some baking mixes (to be priced around $3.49 a box).
You can always mix your own flour blends, though I advise staying away from anything with fava for goodie baking because it tastes beany.
I buy Hodgson Mills GF flour in a box at Walmart and I also like Heartland's gluten free pasta --- also found at Walmart for around 2 bucks.
I advise getting dedicated gluten free oats --- suggest Bob's Red Mill. Bob's Red Mill makes many gluten free products too.
Bisquick also comes gluten free --- the biscuits aren't half-bad.
Amy's has a line of natural foods, including some gluten free options. She makes a very nice chocolate cake (think Hostess cupcake, minus the puffy white stuff...) and also has some mac and cheese
Iain's also makes some gluten free foods, including gluten free pizzas, chicken nuggets. etc. Wegmans also has a gluten free nugget.
Chick-fil-a offers a gluten free "nugget" option - it's basically a chicken breast cut up in nugget shapes. Their fries are real fries. Look for hidden wheat places because a lot of times, fries at Fast food joints aren't "real" fries, they're processed and do contain wheat. I don't eat any fries at a fast food place unless I know they're real (prefer to see the skin on them...)
Dominos has a gluten free pizza now. I haven't tried it, but I've heard it's a few bucks more than a regular pizza.
If you have a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods nearby, they often have a good bit of gluten free foods. If you can possibly do it, buy gluten free bread while it's fresh. Trust me on this! Once they freeze it, you have to thaw it, but it really tastes better fresh. Save all your ends (if your son isn't a fan of them) and then make a bread pudding so you're not wasting that expensive bread ;)
If you get any boxed mixes or pre-packaged gluten free goodies, they always come at a premium price. Eating gluten free can get expensive. The best thing I can tell you is to try brands and see what your son likes. I believe you'll not find a "one stop shop" as many stores have some kind of dedicated gluten free aisle (though just as many of them put GF products on the shelves next to their wheaty counterpart) though they don't all carry the same products. I have to go to several stores at times to get the things I need.
Please email me if you have any questions! I eat gluten free due to a wheat allergy. Know it can take several weeks to de-toxify your son, so it may be more than a month on the diet before you can really say whether it helps or not. 6|1|Answers to your questions|Sara_s_Mom|IClipCoupons@gmail.com|08:39:51|06/04/2012|
You said, "My son likes potatoes and rice, those are ok right?" = Potatoes and Rice are gluten free.
"Is it mainly bread and pasta and anything with breading, etc?" = Yes, breads, pasta, breading... all likely contain gluten/wheat. There are gluten free breading options out there. Going gluten free means a lot more "home cooked" means made by you, vs. just grabbing something off the shelf/out of the freezer. Look for gluten free bread crumbs you can season at home for breading. You can even find gluten free stuffing in a box, or save your gf bread and dry it out in the toaster to make your own.
"I assume a lot of sauces and stuff would be off limit because of the added starches to thicken them." Yes --- always read labels. Many sauces do thicken with wheat, though some do not. A lot more companies are using different thickeners now to appeal to gluten free people. I use Prego pasta sauce. But though they do sell some gluten free gravy mixes, I have yet to find one that isn't gross. I make my own using Swanson's broth (again, even with broth, read the labels. Many generics/even name brands list wheat as an ingredient) with some gluten free bouillon and thicken that up with cornstarch. Always do what you can to cook your meat in with the broths to enhance the flavor of the broth so you'll have a yummy gravy.
If your insurance will cover it, I do suggest trying to visit with a nutritionist once so that she can help you choose foods that he will like and can give you some pointers. I search a lot of recipes online and just stick "gluten free" in front to find a gluten free version.
7|1|Thanks so much for everyones ideas! I really appreciate this!|jdlaurie|savethosepennies@aol.com|18:56:29|06/05/2012|
I'm just lost when it comes to this type of stuff... but I do cook most meals from scratch anyway, so it might not be that difficult. I made chicken, rice and a vegetable the other night... so I think that was good. I'll have to check out the rest of the products.
Laurie