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?

The more I think about this, the crazier it seems. Why on earth would you take your two perfectly healthy DCs and lead them to believe that they have a serious, debilitating illness?

yes, why is is people come and talk about mounting evidence yet refuse to link to any of it? I think it's because they don't understand any of it themselves.
They have read a bit somewhere which says something like 'there's mounting evidence' and then they go and post that somewhere else in an authoritative manner.
I would be very interested in a link to the studies too. I won't get one though.

Why on earth would you take your two perfectly healthy DCs and lead them to believe that they have a serious, debilitating illness?

No-one. Neither did the OP.

PrimalLass - She is teaching them that they can't eat gluten when they can. She is limiting their diet to one associated with a number of diseases. When the DCs talk to other people about what they can't eat, for example to another parent at a party, the DCs will say that they are GF and the other parent will probably assume that they are have one of a number of disorders, depending on their own knowledge. It's not a stretch to think the DCs will start linking their restricted diet to that of the various illnesses other people might mention.

My DD is 7 and is perfectly aware she does not have CD.

"There is mounting evidence as to gluten's detrimental effects even in "healthy" individuals. But don't expect the NHS to pick up on it any time soon."

I'd really like to see the mounting evidence. And to understand why the NHS wouldn't pick it up- apart from anything else, it would be an incredibly cheap way of treating people with gut issues..........

I think the more common scenario is that children will go through a phase where they are very cautious and conservative about what they eat - they restrict themselves. The parent encourages them to eat a wider range of foods on the grounds they are more likely to get a balanced diet that way, and also that it will make life easier as their social circle expands - with sleepovers at friends houses, parties, visits, meals in cafes and restaurants.

Sometimes though it's the opposite scenario it is the parent who wishes to restrict the child's diet - not because of diagnosed allergies or because of religious/cultural custom - but because of fringe ideas about 'health'.

For me one of the key issues as a parent is about wanting a child to feel confident in a widening, changing world. Our children may travel widely. They may work abroad. They may socialise informally or formally in circumstances where refusing offered food - for reasons that cannot be readily understood - may give offence. Refusing food and/or demanding something different to eat may limit their opportunities, and also - when alternative/preferred dishes are not available) cause them to become malnourished.

Bertrand - my consultant is Kamran Rostami and he works in the NHS. He has written many papers on gluten sensitivity.

Here is a link to a paper suggesting a new classification of a spectrum of gluten related conditions which are based on serious epidemiological studies he and collaborating researchers have done.

The gluten sensitivity end of the spectrum is the part which has led to many people following a GF diet even though they are not classic coeliac. He treats many people like me and his research involving worldwide collaboration shows a growing epidemic of gluten sensitivity promulgated by a our western diet which is now spreading to rice based diet cultures as they move to a western wheat based diet.

Quite Marianne. This is all a bit Munchausen's by Proxy isn't it? There's nothing wrong with my child but I'm going to (largely) exclude a major food from their diet anyway. I find it quite alarming

Beta - no one is suggesting that there are people for whom reducing gluten in their diet has real health benefits. You are following medical advice. The OP is not.

Further, she keeps saying that she is raising her children GF when she isn't. Muddying the waters for people - like you - who have genuine intolerances.

So it's ok to drop meat from children's diets for ethical/health reasons but not gluten?

Munchausen's by Proxy isn't it? - same thought had occurred to me.

Eliminating gluten from a child's diet is incredibly restricting. Not eating meat isn't. And there are solid ethical reasons for not eating meat.

Hilarious. So not feeding your child something you think is unhealthy is Munchausen's by Proxy? I'll remember that when I tell mine that sweeties are bad for their teeth.

Bertrand it actually isn't incredibly restricting. We manage fine.

Although obvs for people with CD it is.

"Bertrand it actually isn't incredibly restricting. We manage fine."

So either you never eat anything that you have not prepared from scratch at home, or you aren't gluten free.

What?

Look, the OP has been kicked about for saying 'gluten free' when she meant 'restricted'. But accusing hef of child abuse is just utterly ridiculous.

Anyway, I give up. Am going to do some work.

Lol love how people are experts on what advice I'm following.

Gf isn't restrictive unless you have a lot of processed foods. We don't so its no hassle at all.

Life changing loaf done today

"
Look, the OP has been kicked about for saying 'gluten free' when she meant 'restricted'. But accusing hef of child abuse is just utterly ridiculous."

I agree. But stopping saying "gluten free" when she didn't mean "gluten free" might have been a good idea, no?

I'm actually interested to know whether the people saying that going GF is easy, or they manage without too much trouble etc do actually ever eat out? ever go to parties? weddings? ever grab an ice cream or a sandwich on the run? ever get caught in bad traffic jams and make an unplanned stop at a service station?

all of these things are part of a normal everyday life and a normal healthy diet. Each and every one of those scenarios is a PITA for a coeliac or someone with a genuine wheat allergy.

do you honestly read every product to ensure it is free from cross contamination? do you buy lentils or oats or nuts 'packed on a line that also handles wheat'??

my friend was glutened by an innocent sounding cheese salad - simply because the cheese was grated prepacked cheese with wheat starch as an anticaking agent. We ask every time about cheese now, and although most often it is potato starch, we still get the eye rolling looks and the exasperated 'its just cheese' from people who have no idea about what it actually means to check every single ingredient and every single preparation method.

"Gf isn't restrictive unless you have a lot of processed foods. We don't so its no hassle at all"

So what happens if your child goes to a party? What happens if your child is walking home from school with friends and they decide to get some chips? What happens if they go to someone's house for tea?

OP's justification for being GF is protecting her DC from (as far as I can see from the posts) a potential (but not proven) source of harm. To achieve that she has to restrict their diet which is probably having an impact on them when they engage in social activities.
DS14 plays a lot of contact sports to a high level. We joke that he has his own room at the local minor injuries unit because of the frequency he goes there after been hit on the pitch. That isn't potential harm - it is actual, real, on-a-regular-basis harm which we could avoid by stopping him playing sport. But we don't stop him because that would be silly and unfair.
I can't get my head round the super-precious attitude that the OP has. DCs need to be taught about risk associated with the different aspects of their life, not wrapped in cotton wool and told not to eat certain foods because there might be some research that shows it might be harmful.