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?

Isn't that just semantics? I say we don't eat gluten and you say your allergic?
Is that meant to be a joke?

The problem is that posters come across as holier than thou, claim to have some research etc then link to quack websites.
Psychology is an element of diet and omitting food groups with no evidence that they are unhealthy is a control issue,especially when you impose it on your children.

I think you need help OP. You have an unhealthy obsession and it's likely to cause your DC psychological and possible physical issues with food in later years.

I know you are doing what you think is best for them and you are feeling defensive right now but I think a visit to your GP would be a good idea, to at least reassure yourself that this way of eating is healthy long term for your kids and to make sure you are thinking rationally about it.

The op didn't help her cause with the ridiculous comments about tamari.

For those of you having a go at Ironfist you need to be aware that the effect of gluten on the body is far from well understood by the medical profession. The science is not at all settled.

My consultant is carrying out a worldwide study collaborating with other groups. The impact of gluten on health is highly complex and the research findings are controversial. That is how scientific debate works.

We understand coeliac disease very well but it is now becoming clear that 'gluten sensitivity' is a spectrum condition that can have a severe impact on health. My consultant treats people who had mystery illness for years who looked like they had been stroke victims but recovered once going GF. I was almost bedridden and could barely walk I was so ill but I wasn't a coeliac. My condition is a severe autoimmune response that affects many parts of my body.

It is very hard to live with and yes there is a 'faddy' side of all food intolerances that people jump on. My suggestion though to Ironfist is get a proper diagnosis and have your children tested for wheat intolerance to exclude that as a possibility. Gluten sensitivity is often mistaken as wheat allergy and vice versa.

bruffin

just out of curiosity who do people believe anyway.

The NHS and all the low fat and sweeteners advice?

The people backed by all the companies boycotted by MN?

If I looked hard enough I'm sure I could find evidence eating carpet is good for my bones.

everything is either from a "quack" or people sponsored by companies selling you the crap in the first place.

would genuinely like to know an unbiased view.

giles I spent a while looking into this. PM me if you want to know more x

I just dont think you should rely on some paleo blog that has been set up to validate the writers own psychological issues, and at least check out the research that is being used to make the claims. You look at both sides of the research. Like the wonder food coconut oil at the moment are a marketing myth but the NZ heart association did an evidence paper which does look at the research behind the "healthy" oil claims and it really doesnt pan out. Yet OP thinks her coconut oil ladened (sounds actually revolting) cheesecake is healthier than shop bought cheesecakes.

As I said there is a TED talk tebunking the paleo diet, none of the foods we eat today are anything like the foods available to gatherer/hunter. Carrots bear no resemblance to those days, nor does a lettuce or a blueberry or avocado etc

The ridiculous notion that just because you go to an Asian food shop and have a veg box that you have a wider diet than anyone else on the thread is frankly nonsense. I made a macchu tea bundt cake the other week, it didnt taste that good because it was made with olive oil which overpowered the taste of the tea, we have vegetables like kolokassi because i am half cypriot and thankfully there is a turkish shop locally that has many of the foods I was bought up on in the 60s and my favorite daktyla bread.
Open my cupboards there is swedish graham flour, various asian soy or fish sauces, curry spices, halloumi and cypriot sausages. I suspect most people on this thread do have a wider diet than the OP
As I said there is a TED talk tebunking the paleo diet, none of the foods we eat today are anything like the foods available to gatherer/hunter. Carrots bear no resemblance to those days, nor does a lettuce or a blueberry or avocado etc

Ironfist - maybe this will help.

'Going gluten-free' = scrutinising everything for any trace of gluten, and not eating anything with even a tiny trace.

'Avoiding gluten' = cutting out major sources of gluten, but not reading every single packet or list of ingredients.

And there is a HUGE difference between being allergic to something, and avoiding it - to say any different is ridiculous.

Your children can and do eat gluten without getting anything more serious than feeling a bit under the weather and/or having a runny nose. Someone who has coeliac disease will become really ill if they eat gluten, and it can cause long term damage to their gut which can lead to cancer in the future - which is, as I hope you will acknowledge, a little bit more serious than a runny nose.

At the end of the day a healthier diet is one that minimises processed crap. Whatever eating plan you have you will always find studies that prove and others that disprove that it is ideal.
It is very confusing I agree. It you fell better for not eating gluten/wheat then don't eat it.

I agree with bigb.

ironfist - you feed your kids what you want at home.....but YABU to tell other people your kids are gluten free.

when (IF) they go to school and are invited for tea at a friends - please consider the friends mum - let her knock up beans on toast, or fishfingers peas and chips - have jelly and ice-cream - or fruit salad if she's trying to impress you......be polite, say thank you and return the invite within 2 weeks. if your kids get the sniffles, say oh X wasn't it worth it to play with your pal and go for tea - big smile, distract move on....

do not - say thank you for the invite - my kids cannot eat XZY.....(unless they really really cannot -but it doesn't sound like your kids had CD) 1 reason being the kids will drop you in it - oh mummy gave me a yummy oat cake with some soup last week, friends mum is think - but they've got gluten in, now i'm confused etc etc. 2 reason being its just not fair to the hostess.

my friends LO has genuine dairy allergy - we have him for tea - i strictly check and double check and feed all the kids the same meal, we have a nice time, she returns the favour....we have built that friendship and trust. likewise if your kids were genuinely gluten free i would work my ass off to invite them for tea without making them ill - and make sure mum knew that. its how kids friendship/mums friendships develop.

don't jeopardise that for the sake of attention seeking food weirdness!

I should add that my stepdaughter has been diagnosed as having an inability to digest gluten by NHS consultants. Prior to that she thought the difficulty was IBS. She lived with us in the year before diagnosis and she lost a considerable amount of weight as well as having regular bouts of pain and cramp. (We'd thought it must be related to tiredness and stress as she was doing a demanding training course and travelling long distance.)

She is much much much better now.

As others have said this situation is nothing like just sniffing a bit more than usual after eating a particular meal- it's much, much worse.

Again - as others have said - while it's not been difficult to adapt what we eat when she is with us, my stepdaughter is very restricted in terms of what she has when eating out in restaurants. And clearly it's a bit trying in social situations where everybody is handing round biscuits and she can't join in

There is such a vast difference between mildly eccentric dietary preferences - which can be allowed to influence family meals - and a painful physical inability to tolerate a particular food stuff which totally dictates what a person can and can't eat in every situation

The ridiculous notion that just because you go to an Asian food shop and have a veg box that you have a wider diet than anyone else on the thread is frankly nonsense.

I don't think the OP was saying this - she was responding to all the comments that she was restricting her kids' diet.

"Ironfistfunkymum Sun 30-Aug-15 10:10:33
The thing is soaf people that have a high wheat diet don't have much variety. I have a wide variety of stuff, I eat fruit and veg that many have never heard of thanks to my love of Asian shops and my veg box."
To quote the Op

I note with interest (but little surprise) that ironfist has not commented upon or acknowledged those posters who have said that restricting gluten in her children's diet might actually cause them to become intolerant to it.

Why would anyone risk causing that in their child?

I don't understand why anyone would impose draconian (and cutting gluten out is draconian for school-aged children) on a whim.

It's going to be a complete PITA for them when they start school.

But bruffin, surely you can see that was likely in response to all the people telling her she was restricting her children's diet. Is it ok for lots of people to have a go at the OP, but not for her to respond?

It's a hard decision to take, cutting out something like gluten. DD had a coaliac test and it came back negative . So should I keep feeding her something that gives her a sore stomach, makes her vomit, gives her black circles under her eyes and pronounced nipples (at 6)? Is that on a whim? Likewise, I know she can cope with very small amounts occasionally, so should I keep feeding her it just so that people with CD don't get annoyed?

There's one of these threads every few weeks. The gluten thing seems to really piss people off.

She is restricting her childrens dist. Nothing she has posted however defensive she may be she is cutting out a whole food group..
Cant yo7 see its people like hsr that are making you so defensive about your daughter..If your dd had an allergy to nuts or seeds like my ds would would you worry about what others think .
Nobody is amnoyed at genuine allergies, most people will go out of their wsy to help of they know the isdues. Its people who expect others to cater to their food isdues because they are following the latest fad diet .
I am giving a party in a few weeks which 8nclude a coaliac, nut and seed allergy and a vegetarian. Its going to involve a lot extra work as making nice cake for the coaliac means the nut allergy cant eat it. Then i have to keep all the pans and boards seperate etc

PrimalLass - you cut gluten out of your DD's diet as a way of dealing with issues she was facing. I know other people who've done the same. But that isn't what the OP has done. She's decided that, because it causes her problems, she should cut it out of her children's diet.

Entirely different.

It reminds me of at least 3people who i have come across who make a big fuss about being vegetarian when they read the menu,then have gone and ordered fish or chicken

adults force diets on kids all the time. They feed them micro crap make them live off orange food or they make then eat school meals or they only eat white meat or they bring teh kids up vegi or vegan or don't allow sugar or whatever.

as long as the kids are eating a wide variety of fresh food and are growing and developing well then I don't see the problem and quite frankly all this "ot will be a PITA at school" translates more like "shit I can't feed someone else's child sausage rolls and pizza"

that's easily gotten around. pack lunches and provide food for play dates or host yourself.

Sorry but people don't choose their diets or ethics on the basis of whether some school mum in 5 years might find it a bit hard.

I'm sure I remember seeing news stories about middle class malnutrition in children - where parents impose restrictive diets on their children, and cause actual harm. I think it referred mainly to people giving their children very low fat diets(problematic because children need fat - for brain development, and for the absorption of essential, fat soluble vitamins), but it does show that parents, even well meaning ones, do not always make safe or healthy decisions for their children.

No, it's all the 'without a diagnosis' comments that these threads attract that makes me defensive (maybe not this thread, but those that crop up most weeks). It is impossible to get a diagnosis for gluten intolerance, so the GP just said 'don't feed her it'. And I'm not in a rush to go through weeks of force-feeding her it for another coeliac test.

(PIL was coeliac, and all my side of the family are very gluten intolerant, so we all avoid it, just as the OP does.)

But that goes fir everyone. those who eat "everything" still manage to raise malnourished children. even with no restrictions you sill have to he careful about the balance you provide. A diet of processed meats chips and little veg and too much sugar would create health problems also.

less so than a vegan or paleo or Gf person who carefully constructed meals to ensure they were balanced and healthy.