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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Its fine to bring my children up gluten free

582 replies

Ironfistfunkymum · 28/08/2015 17:37

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?

OP posts:
missmartha · 01/09/2015 11:53

I spent two weeks working in Copenhagen earlier this year and would have been very hard pushed, much more than here, to find gf food.

My colleague is Danish and she's amazed at how gluten averse people are in this country.

multivac · 01/09/2015 11:56

the local restaurants don't use vinegar or soy sauce in their salad dressings

...or English mustard...

PHANTOMnamechanger · 01/09/2015 11:56

Anyway they did have ice cream the other day at a festival, you know what they just had it in a tub

again, that does not make it GF! unless you took other precautions?

honestly, even if it was premium organic homemade ice cream with no crap in it, it will still be contaminated by the seller pressing previous ice cream onto people cones then putting the scoop back in. even the pot of water they swish it off in between flavours, will be containing hidden gluten, enough to make my DD ill. she needs to be served from a new tub full, with a fresh scoop, by someone who has washed their hands before picking up the GF cone (if we are lucky) or the tub. if the tubs are stored next to the tower of crumbly cones, we would avoid those too. unless you meant an individual pot, ie sealed labelled tub, you cannot be sure it was GF.

Squooshed · 01/09/2015 11:59

No such thing as essential carbohydrates.'

Now that's just nonsense.

By all means cut bread and ice-cream out of your life but to say carbohydrates aren't essential is ridiculous. You do know that vegetables and pulses contain carbohydrates?

Toria2014 · 01/09/2015 12:02

I don't eat gluten. I have a medical condition but it was a nutritionist, not a doctor who advised that I cut gluten out of my diet.

The result being that my condition is now in remission. My mother also suffers ftom the same condition, I told her about gluten and she cut it out of her diet. She benefitted greatly from not eating it. My grandmother also suffered from the same condition.

I have a one year old daughter. I restrict her diet by not giving her foods containing gluten. She is not medically diagnosed with anything, she is happy and healthy.

Should I feed her gluten to molify the baying hoards or prempt the fact that she will more than likely have the same condition as me, as my mother and grandmother, so give her a better chance of avoiding it by not eating gluten. Which has been proved by my own experience to be damaging to my health?

its a rhetorical question really, as I'll do what I feel is best for my child, whether people think I am a fantasist/attention seeker or not!

Roonerspism · 01/09/2015 12:03

I don't have problems eating out or in.

You just have to change your mindset. So don't replace wheat items with cardboard gf equivalents.

multivac · 01/09/2015 12:10

You just have to change your mindset

Riiigggghht. I'll tell my son that. Cheers.

multivac · 01/09/2015 12:11

Oh, and again, Rooner - wheat and gluten are not synonymous.

KanyeWestPresidentForLife · 01/09/2015 12:11

I do wonder if CD people get irritated with the GF by choice people. If you go back 20, 10 or possibly even 5 years a food allergy was just that and the majority of people would just accept it when people said they had an allergy.

I think an awful lot of the prejudice CD people face today is because of 'compassion fatigue' when every Tom, Dick or Harry is asking for special treatment for a faddy diet which mimics their allergy.

multivac · 01/09/2015 12:14

He has changed his mindset, by the way. He no longer goes to parties assuming that there will be yummy food for him to eat alongside his friends. He doesn't assume he'll be able to have chips with his meal. He doesn't assume he can have the birthday sweets brought in by his classmate, or that he can join in with today's class cooking activity. He doesn't even assume that his stupid mother has put the right sandwiches in his fucking lunchbox.

Easy peasy.

thehypocritesoaf · 01/09/2015 12:19

I know that cutting out gluten didn't make me healthier- it made me hungrier. There'd be meetings at work- sandwiches only of course- parties with only crisps- nothing for breakfast unless you'd planned ahead.
I guess it's difficult to imagine how normal people leading normal lives will have their experiences enhanced by a blanket no gluten policy.
I suppose if you are super interested in food and meal preparation then it could be but I never was/am not.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 01/09/2015 12:20

Ironfist - why are you ignoring the question about the risk of causing gluten intolerance by restricting gluten in your children's diet?

And why do you persist in saying that you are raising them gluten free, when what you are actually doing is restricting gluten in their diet?

If you are not checking everything they eat, for hidden gluten in the ingredients or for possible cross-contamination, then you are not raising them gluten free - never mind the fact that you actually give them food with gluten in (oatcakes iirc).

AnUtterIdiot · 01/09/2015 12:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Roonerspism · 01/09/2015 12:30

Well, if she is but restricting gluten, you have answered your own question there, haven't you SDT?

bigbuttons · 01/09/2015 12:35

the OP is just on a wind up. I say this because she refuses to answer any questions put to her. You can't take someone like that seriously . I also think she is a wind up merchant because all she is is goady.
I suggest we leave her to it.

multivac · 01/09/2015 12:37

Thanks, AUI - I'll pass those on Smile

MiddleAgedandConfused · 01/09/2015 12:43

bigbuttons - completely agree with you. I'm off.

ImperialBlether · 01/09/2015 12:48

Talking about avoiding things, I avoid anyone who talks about food as much as this.

I've a friend who lost her child to an allergy - I would do anything for anyone in that position, but to sit and read all this bloody rubbish... it's like watching someone give themselves an eating disorder. It's so boring, too.

BertrandRussell · 01/09/2015 12:48

"You just have to change your mindset. So don't replace wheat items with cardboard gf equivalents."

Are you gluten free?

Roonerspism · 01/09/2015 12:50

Yes. Why?

In fairness, it must be very hard with school age kids with coeliac. Whole different ball game.

BertrandRussell · 01/09/2015 12:54

"Yes. Why?

In fairness, it must be very hard with school age kids with coeliac. Whole different ball game."

Why? Don't you just have to change your mindset?

HippyChickMama · 01/09/2015 12:56

thehypocritesoaf breakfast is probably the meal dh struggles the most with. He used to have Eat Natural gf muesli but he got sick of it. He has bacon, scrambled egg, mushrooms and tomatoes at weekends sometimes and I often make batches of egg muffins for him in advance. You lightly oil a muffin tray and fill each of the wells with whatever you want, chopped up mushroom, tomato, bacon, ham, cooked veg, cooked gf sausage etc. I usually try to do a few different ones in each batch. Then you beat some eggs with some milk, salt and pepper and some herbs if you want them. Pour egg mixture into the filled muffin tray, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake until set. Dh has them warm for breakfast or cold with salad for lunch.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 01/09/2015 12:56

Roonerspism - yes, I know she is not raising her children gluten free - but she persists in saying that she is. So people will hear her say her children are gluten-free, and will see her feed them something with gluten in it - and may assume that everyone who says they can only eat gluten-free, can actually eat some gluten - which they can't! Some people will become really ill, and may suffer serious ill effects in the long term, if they eat gluten.

If the OP was telling people she was restricting gluten in her children's diets, that would be very different.

TheRealAmyLee · 01/09/2015 12:57

If you are gf by choice it WILL be easier because you will have no idea if you've been cross contaminated and how often. Many restaurants "gf" options are NOT gluten free. This won't matter for you but does for those of us with reactions/illnesses. The more people who eat the supposed gf options and are fine the harder it is for the rest of us. As a pp said ice cream is totally out here unless I've bought it myself, checked ingredients and never ever use a scoop that's been near a cone in it/leave the ice cream near a cone.

Also gluten free does not equal healthy. Many gf alternatives are full of sugar and you can still stuff yourself with crap it just costs 3 times more and tastes nowhere near as good... except those oat and fruit cookies from Asda. I agree on those.

thehypocritesoaf · 01/09/2015 12:58

That sounds lovely, hippychick!

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