Its fine to bring my children up gluten free

[Ironfistfunkymum]

I've been gf for 6+ years, not alergic or anything but feel so much better for it. People seem generally fine with this.

However now I have children people do seem to judge bringing them up gf. But why would if feed them something that I dont think is very healthy (grains hard to digest) and something that I don't think is very ethical (wheat production is causing more deserts due to its growing conditions).

Aibu to expect people to respect my choice and leave it at that?

Many of you sound like school ground bullies.

Thanks for that

Ah,yes, whenever people point out facts (and it goes like this on the homeopathy, ghosts and religion threads too), they are accused of being "arrogant" and nasty.

Some people just have a real problem with being told facts in a straightforward way.

I'm sure it is, OP. I'm sure it is.

It's not semantics. My point is that there is a difference between gluten free and avoiding gluten. Cutting a pasting parts of people's comments without the the explanation as to why it's different makes you look like you like to pick and choose what parts of things you read.

You are avoiding gluten but in now way are gluten free.

You are aware that a runny nose after eating pasta is more than likely a wheat reaction not gluten? Because you have done lots of research.

As for the bully comment, please do get a grip. You want people to ensure they don't feed your children gluten, except you feed them gluten. You can infact do what you want. But you asked the question, my response is Yabu. Mainly because you don't follow a gf diet but also because you don't seem to fully understand the paleo lifestyle. Not do you follow the rules you hope to impose on others.

The OP has presented herself badly and comes across as ignorant, smug and self satisfied. This isn't simply about her food choices, it's about her attitude.

I was brought up by a mother who had unusual ideas about what was and was not wholesome food.

She was vegetarian which was relatively rare in the 1960s. Unfortunately at that time the range of vegetarian foods available wasn't great. So we ate quite a lot of savoury cheese or egg based dishes plus a lot of TVP. A typical supper would have been spaghetti with tomato puree stirred in, grated Red Leicester cheese and frozen peas.

She also believed that fried food was unwholesome, and she did not use anything spicy. So the only seasoning was salt, and we never had - for example - onions. It was a bland, boiled, bloodless diet. This meant that as I grew up, when I went out I encountered food with which I was completely unfamiliar. I remember - with some embarrassment - sawing at a chicken leg like an awkward toddler when I was about 10 or 11 because I had no idea what to do with the thing.

I suppose that if one of the tasks of a parent is to prepare a child for the wider world, a restrictive diet - unless there are religious or medical reasons - doesn't really help a child to cope with ordinary eating outside the home.

I don't feel hugely scarred by this aspect of my childhood. But she was a very joyless person where food was concerned. I do wish childhood meals had been happier and more varied.

I have looked in plea. Trouble is for everybook/article/comment you read you will find many more that say the complete opposite.
Then a couple of years down the line a new diet/way of eating will come in. Paleo, say, will be dismissed, scientific evidence will be unearthed to prove that it is a rubbish way of eating. etc etc etc.and it goes like this
BREAD IS GOOD/BAD; WHOLEMEAL IS GOOD; NO IT'S BAD; AVOID SUGAR; NO AVOID FATS; NO, FATS ARE GOOD, WELL SOME FATS; AVOID CARBS, STILL AVOID SUGAR THOUGH; DRINK RED WINE, DON'T DRINK RED WINE.

If you feel your diet is affecting your well being then by all means investigate tweaking things. What works for one person won't work for another.
I suspect the old adage of everything in moderation ( apart from veg, eat lots of that!) is a good one.

paleo-bloody auto correct

But she hasn't said she is paleo (which is very low carb and not a great idea for everyone), she hadn't said there are wheat allergies, she hadn't said she is trying to piss people off with true food allergies.

Her only misdemeanour in my view wld to raise this issue on MN

There is a eally good Ted talk by an archiologist that completely rubishes the claims about Paleo diets.

Paleo is very restrictive .
Imo it doesn't really matter what 'diet' to food fad the op is following. it could be paleo, it could be vegan, it could be only eating blue food. All purported healthy eating advice should be taken with a pinch of salt. Diet fads come and go, as I said earlier, then years down the line they are dismissed. Now apparently we should be eating fats and reducing carbs and the healthy food well is infact wrong.
I say if you feel better reducing wheat, and that's what the op is doing, then by all means keep reducing wheat. I think it is a good idea since we do all eat a lot of it and eating a lot of anything( unless it's sugar) whilst leaving out something else isn't great. You need balance.

I am glad we live in a country where parents can differ from each other in how they bring up their chidlren.

My own views are that most mumsnetters feed their chidlren a load of junk which is why the population is fat as pigs and people are dropping like flies and losing sight and legs from diabetes. That is the choice of the parents but it is pretty galling when those of us who eat a healthy diet are castigated as weird.

People aren't 'dropping like flies' though. Life expectancy has never been higher. The majority of health problems relate to lack of activity rather than diet per se. And there's nothing 'healthy' about a diet which designates a food group 'bad'.
The OP asked for views and she's got them. In the process she's shown herself to be very muddled in her thinking which is a concern given the impact this will have on her kids.

My own views are that most mumsnetters feed their chidlren a load of junk which is why the population is fat as pigs

My own view is that you can have no idea what 'most mumsnetters' feed their children unless you're sitting in their kitchen at meal times so maybe you should tone down the hysteria?

is pretty galling when those of us who eat a healthy diet are castigated as weird.

..or must have an eating disorder.

those of us who eat a healthy diet are castigated as weird.

But what is that 'healthy diet?'

There are problems that young people face because lifestyles have become increasingly sedentary - computers, perceived stranger danger, lack of investment in public transport, decreasing cycle use. Regulation of the food industry has diminished and supermarkets selling processed food rather than small shops selling unprocessed food - bakers, greengrocers, now predominate. Processed food is also marketed aggressively to small children and to their parents. Long working hours, as well as pressures on parents who are at home to be a kind of non-stop entertainment/transportation service (so there is less time to prepare food) also add to the difficulties parents face when feeding their children.

However, despite all this, I go about my daily life without seeing people 'dropping like flies.'

Thats a bit silly and faddy if none of you have sensitivity to gluten or celiac disease!

www.scientificamerican.com/article/most-people-shouldnt-eat-gluten-free/
celiac.org/blog/2014/02/12/9-things-you-should-know-before-going-gluten-free/
www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/will-going-gluten-free-make-you-healthier.aspx

Whats wrong with a balanced diet?

There is no evidence that inactivity is the sole cause of increasing health issues. And let's not forget that type 2 diabetes and its complications is going to be a huge issue for the NHS

Some of us no longer trust the NHS to provide unbiased nutritional information and seek answers elsewhere.

I agree janetblyton

I keep my opinions to myself and let my kids eat as they want outside the house. But I'm amazed at the shite that people feed their kids. And I say that as a not particularly virtuous parent when it comes to my kids' diet and I do allow treats

By way of example, my baby had her first (NHS) dietician appointment recently (diagnosed cow's milk protein intolerance)

I was told to feed her Cheerios and calcium enriched orange juice!

Oh and sorry - before I go and make DC's lunch (a humble spud), people are definitely not healthier. Most of us can look forward to decades of ill health. Thyroid problems, obesity, heart disease, cancers, diabetes....

Just think - imagine, for one minute, that it could be down to food. Look at your whole grain supermarket bread - the "healthy" choice and its ingredients. Then ask yourself if perhaos something is going wrong after all

Would you like some nutrition along side your air and sugar roon

of people feel better eating a certain way then they should be able to eat that way. no one's asking you to have to eat that way.

People bang on about how restrictive some diets are. well alot of the time they are only restrictive if you rely heavily on pre made or processed stuff that has a bunch of unnecessary crap in it to keep it cheap or make it taste better than the box it comes in.

I don't agree with drumming the messages into children that X is bad and to avoid at all costs as it's obviously about balance.

but if a parent is providing a healthy varied diet to their children then that's a good thing and people shouldn't have to poor gallons of stuff down their necks just because some other person some where else has an allergy to it and their idiot friends don't believe them.

It's possible to be thankful you don't suffer an allergy to something and still choose to avoid a product because you feel better for doing so.

I don't bang on about anything in public. But a thread specifically about this subject - well that's fair game ????

Mumsnet is always surprising in that those of us who eat normal foods like fish, eggs, meat, veg are regarded as precious and unusual and eating disordered!

Anyone who thinks the way most people eat in the UK is good and does not cause health problems is obviously kidding themselves. This is the first generation to have worse health than parents in history because of the junk everyone eats day in day out.

What seems wrong is to decide the past was a golden age in terms of health - which is an attitude that many dietary extremists/purists like to take.

Many women used to be pretty wrecked by childbirth. A high sugar diet combined with lack of dentistry meant that adults often had terrible teeth - or no teeth of their own. People used to be unaware of the dangers of smoking. Many cancers that used to be untreatable can now be treated effectively. Serious illnesses such as polio diphtheria and TB (now largely eradicated) took their toll. Heavy industrial work could also result in various kinds of lung disease.

It is at least partly because we now have greatly increased life expectancy, that it is more common for people in their 80s and 90s to have health problems. In an earlier era, they simply wouldn't have lived that long

usually it's the vegans that get the stick.

I find it unnecessary that people take so much glee in catching people out on stuff. All the sauces or the wine or whatever.

I usually find that threads like this can actually provide nice recipes or ideas, I'm always looking fir new ideas. just a shame people are so hard on others for something that really doesn't harm them.

All these children who's parents are going to these measures to try provide a good diet. well they are all very lucky that the parents care so much.

If you look at the school dinner threads teachers report of kids given cans of red bull and a Mars bar day after day. those are the parents more worthy of judgment. not the op