I receive many questions and comments about gluten free/dairy free eating. The most common response when someone learns that Charlie and Celia are GF/CF is "I could never do that". Followed by "What do they eat?!". Followed by "What about pasta and bread?". In this post you will find what has worked for our family. Once you get the hang of what to be on the lookout for, it is actually quite easy.
First, the "I could never do that" comment. One of my favorite resources that was shared with me when we embarked on this journey is
Gluten Free Goddess. Karina (aka Gluten Free Goddess) shares a wealth of information from "How to do Gluten Free" to delicious recipes. Karina addresses many of the questions first timers like me had. What do I look for? Are there keywords that should be red flags? Her site was so helpful to me and really gave me a sense of "I can do this!".
I do want to add that Charlie and Celia aren't GF/CF because it's the last fad. We had to change diets drastically just a fews weeks after Charlie turned one. Approaching his first birthday we noticed he started exhibiting many sensory behaviors- humming while staring at a moving object (his hands, bead necklace, etc) and just "zoning" out to the point that he sometimes wouldn't even respond to his name. I researched quite a bit about sensory behaviors and disorders and found that one very easy thing to change and something that I could control without medication was diet. I feed my children several times a day anyway, so why not just change what I feed them?! And really, it was that easy. I didn't find it to be as grueling as some people talk about and dread. It became a matter of trying to gain my silly, alert son back. So, yes, if I can do it so can you.
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DELICIOUS Granola Balls- completely GF/CF. Find the recipe here. They are so easy- I now
make them by the bucketfuls! The kids devour them, and I am happy because I know they are eating
something healthy. I do use Agave instead of honey, leave out chocolate chips and add raisins. |
Next, the "What do they eat?" question I hear all the time. We went cold turkey and cut out all gluten and dairy. He no longer drinks cow's milk but instead drinks rice milk. After about 1 1/2 weeks Charlie's behaviors had almost vanished. I would say we do occasionally see some sensory things going on, but he is 95% better. A true miracle!!
Foods that are naturally gluten/dairy free- beans, rice, fruits, veggies, nuts (and the butters made with them- double check labels, though!), eggs, meats (again, nothing processed unless your scour the labels!). Basically, whole foods. Natural foods. And I do believe we could live off of that list of foods alone, but we enjoy other things so I have become accostume to buying other staples.
I do try to make most of our foods from scratch and Bob's Red Mill Rice Flour has become a necessity for cooking. I have not met a recipe yet that flopped because I substituted rice flour for regular wheat flour. Bob (we are on a first name basis now:) also carries some other wonderful flours and meals and oats. And oats are tricky. Oats themselves are naturally gluten free but MOST of them are processed in plants that also process other unsafe grains and then contaminate the precious oats. Bob carries some safe, delicious oats that my kiddos eat and eat and eat.
And the last question "What about bread?". I bake their bread...usually. For mommas who don't want to or can't find the time to bake, Udi's makes a bread that is quite delicious. We have tried several different brands and Udi's is by far the best premade bread. I can find it at our local Kroger and Publix but Amazon also sells it by the case.
If I am not in the mood to bake or haven't planned ahead, I reach for Pamela's. Pamela's is much like Bisquik. She carries several different varieties including Baking and Pancake Mix, Bread Mix,
Cornbread Mix, Chocolate Brownie Mix, etc, etc. I often use Pamela's Baking Mix to make the top crust of our chicken pot pie. Quick and easy. I can also use it to make flat biscuits if I need to make a sandwich for Charlie and am out of Udi's or fresh bread.
As far as pasta goes, we just don't eat it. It's not that there aren't substitutes (there are many rice noodles on the market) but since going GF we have just lost the love we once had with pasta. We have since fallen deeply in love with mexican food because it is pretty safe for the little ones and so quick and easy.
So, there you have it- why we do what we do and how much it has helped Charlie. Why does Celia eat this way, too? Celia did show some signs of a pretty severe dairy allergy so we just never added dairy nor gluten to her diet. It can't hurt! And we, as a family, try very hard to follow the diet as closely as possible so I don't have to make multiple meals. It just makes life much easier if we do it that way.
In Him,
E
