Gluten free

[MistressMary]

Hello, anyone got any advice or links for Gluten Free foods, recipes or diet info? The diet is for an eight year old in the family, thank you.

Sainsbury's Well-being aisle for

shortcake with jammy bits (yummy)
wide selection of other biscuit type things
corn pasta (follow the cooking directions)

Lloyd Grossman ready made pasta sauces (all gluten free)

You can bake anything you like with gluten free flours (from local supermarket) .. cakes, pizza dough, bread (although I never found gluten free bread worthwhile) ... just add a tsp of Xanthan Gum to it and increase liquid by about 10 - 20ml .. you can get Xanthan Gum from Asdas I believe (its a stabiliser and stops it all crumbling away) or barbara's kitchen (who also do a starter pack)

HTH ...anything else you want to know?

does the child have coeliac disease? the coeliac uk have a list of products which are gluten-free and i assume they have recipes too. a coeliac friend of mine uses a breadmaker.

barbara s kitchen website

if you phone make sure you have time and no distractions, because Barbara talks .... a lot

what are his / her favourite things?

Hello Twiglett, it's actually a niece of my OH who has a weight problem, no thanks to her "mother"! Anyhow that's another story and one I don't really think belongs on here.

All I know is that she has to cut out snacks, sweets, rubbish and cut out wheat based products in favour of Gluten free. I'm really concerned for her and MIL and OH brother obviously are too.

But living with Mother still it's going to be a problem.
I thought if I could print out a info sheet for the family and advice it might go a way to help.

Thanks

is she gluten intolerant though? or just a little overweight

I really really don't think its a good idea cutting out gluten for no medical reason .. it is a pointless exercise

If it is just a weight problem then I would've thought following healthy eating guidelines and increasing exercise (fun stuff like dancing / swimming etc) would be best for the whole family.

I cannot stress enough how gluten free is NOT a diet for reducing weight .. its one for intolerances / disease

sorry .. shall I get off my soapbox now

agree with twig, can understand cutting out crappy food, but gluten-free is really only for people who've had a gluten tolerance test.

Hello I think the Doctor had a say in this, she has been to the Docs before too. She is active but very overweight. Her mum feed her rubbish and has been known to take her to mcdonalds for breakfast. I don't really want to go into details though, please.
I know what you are saying and I wish that the girl was with her dad all the time, for proper guidance, anyhow any other advice or suggestions most welcome as we are concerned.
I just wish it didn't get left til this late, to try and sort it out.

sorry, mistressmary, didn't want to sound judgmental (have met gastroenterologists with a special interest in this area & asked them about the current craze re: gluten intolerance). i really hope that help from people around her like you does make the difference for her, x

Not at all, bundle and twiglett I'm with you totally. The one person I get jusgemental with is the mother!
Please though if anyone does have any advice I am most greatful.

there are some links on here to coeliac sites, so they might help

there's nothing you can do from afar

unfortunately a gluten-free diet is really quite hard to manage (to begin with at least) .. it takes preparation and time

if the mother is already taking her to mcdonald's and serving up crap food because its quicker / easier there's no way she'll do a gluten-free diet

I don't know what to suggest / how to help

I know Twiglett, it's so frustrating.