One of those days! Food, sleep etc etc.Has anyone got a good resource for gluten free diet?

[hazeyjane]

Today has been one of those days, dd1 had an appointment with a paed this morning, wrt some blood tests, and he thinks the cause of her losing weight, Stomach pain and a myriad of other symptoms is wheat, and he recommends cutting it out of her diet. Ok, we did do a trial of cutting out dairy, which had no effect on dd1, but we did see a massive difference in dd2-constipation improved, eczema cleared up. So that would mean wheat free dd1, dairy free dd2 and ds eating his 7 foods that have no nutritional value. I asked for a family referral to the dietician!

In the meantime, the community nurses had rung about ds's sleep study, she wants to have a meeting with the chest dr in 2 weeks time about the results, which she said is basically that she thinks he should have a full sleep study, wrt obstructive sleep apnea. Oh and we got a letter from chest dr recommending that ds have a ct scan ASAP. And ds has a 24 hour ECG tomorrow.

I started writing a massive post about ds's sleep earlier, because we are in such a mess over it, and now it takes him several hours to get to sleep, until he is at the point of hitting himself and me out of sheer, overwound tiredness. When he does finally sleep it is like someone has switched him off, he is so knackered.

But i will save the sleep post until later! This has to have been the rambliest post ever,really what I wanted to ask was advice about gluten free, and just have a moan really! Sorry!!

What kind of things do you want to know? Dd1 has been gluten and dairy free for 6 years now, so ask away of there's anything specific.

In a nutshell, to go gluten free you need to avoid wheat,rye, barley and most probably oats (a lot of commercial oats are contaminated during processing. Dd1 cannot tolerate even gf oats). Lots of label checking needed as eg wheat starch or oat fibre creeps on everywhere.

As an aside, dd1 reacts really badly to Genius gf bread. No idea why (and I know of others on gf diets who also react to it, so maybe one to approach with caution?)

and meant to say - sorry you are having tough times.

was poting from my phone while jiggling ds, so forgot to ask - has your dd been tested for coeliac? I think it's odd a doc would say to cut out wheat without testing for it.

The oat protein equivalent of wheat gluten is a bit too similar, and coeliacs are recommended to avoid oats as well. At least maize is OK! I used to get gluten free wheat flour on prescription, it cost £9 a pack otherwise, but made the best substitute. You can get a lot of gluten free food from the major supermarkets these days, thank goodness, (like chicken nuggets and fish fingers) but home cooking solves most issues. You can get GF pizza bases as well, and GF pasta is fine, try a few types until you find one that suits. GF bread and cakes are the worst bit, and eating out and parties. I used to take along a packed lunch for him. GF chocolate brownies are great, just use Doves Farm flour, maybe substitute the butter for Pure to make them GFCF?

GF is easier, nutritionally, than DF, as wheat is entirely unnecessary and easily substituted with other cereals. See a dietician, as you mentioned, and not a nutritionalist. The latter are not medically qualified and a bit woo.

agree Doves Farm is good as a flour - I find I can just switch most recipes to gf by using the equivalent of doves farm.

gf pasta mostly rank, imo . there is a bob the builder childrens one that seems ok, but dd1 won't touch it.

if you see a dietician they will be obsessed with the fact that dairy free = low fat diet (it doesn't). be prepared.

thankyou

sorry my post was a bit vague! Yes she was tested and came back negative for coeliac, but we had done a trial of going gluten free, during which time most of her symptoms improved, so I think he is probably right.

I know I should probably post on the allergies board for some tips, but thought I'd try here first as I feel most at home here, and I know that a lot of sn mnetters have dcs who are gf.

Did you go gluten free as a family? I sort of feel we should all give up, but with dd2's own tummy problems and ds's limited food choices (and my enormous love of bagels!) I have been using the doves farm flours, which are good (gluten free pancakes tonight!) but have found most of the breads grim. I had thought rye bread would be ok, and she loves the really dense dark stuff, but I guess we should leave that out too. I think my main worry is lunches at school.

I love baking, so I will have a dig around for some good gluten free recipes.

It just all feels a bit overwhelming at the moment with ds, and when something starts going on with the dds it sort of tips me over the edge!!

Join coeliac org uk. You don't have to be coeliac. They have a good little food directory that gives you lots of branded products and shop's own that are GF free - then work out the CF part!
There are apps for your phone 'food wizz' I think is one? You can scan food as you go around to check the contents.
Try going to the allergy show www.allergyshow.co.uk/london/e-ticket-registration/ There's a show further North as well. If you ever thought that you can't have good GFCF cakes/chocolate/icecream etc try those at the show.
Don't beat yourself up is the main advice. I think it took a good 6 months or so until I had comfortably got meal times sussed. Now we're at that comfortable stage of having a big enough repertoire that nobody notices.
There are tons of websites such as Goodness direct etc that have lots of good staples for baking.
You can get vitamin and mineral products that are GF and CF to supplement if you have concerns that when you are changing over to a new eating regime that your DC will not be getting all they require nutritionally.
Feel free to PM if you ever get stuck at finding a substitute.
On the down side - when we finally got a referral to a NHS dietician (When DS3 was losing enough to be classed as failure to thrive) - she couldn't give any suggestions other than to keep his weight and height monitored I've had more ideas and help from internet sources than NHS. Private might be more helpful?

We eat gf about 99% of the time - I refused from day one to cook 2 meals. Dh has normal bread and he has lurpak butter. DS eats gf bread but only the bread from wheat free bakery - this tastes just like real bread and he has his own butter. I avoid bread where possible as whilst not coeliac/intolerant it gives me horrific indigestion. Wheat free bakery also do bagels (ds assures me they taste just like he remembers) and cakes (which taste normal). Agree re pasta - we tried 3/4 brands types before settling on asda pasta.

M and s sausages re gf, thy also do chicken nuggets (not had them yet) and chicken steaks (made into a "tower" burger)

Thankyou - that is all wonderful, and really helpful.

I do feel as though I have to be an instant gluten free super mum, so thankyou for the 'don't beat yourself up' advice, Auntevil!

Gluten free pancakes were a big success! Dd1 ate 3!! And nobody had any idea they were gluten free - we may be eating a lot of pancakes!

We tried many different types of GF pasta, TBH, most were gritty, but found one in the end that was nice enough, but buggered if I can remember what it was. Rice and something else, I think.

DS was GF for only 9 months in the end, luckily our GP was sympathetic and let us have some stuff on prescription. This was 9 years ago and there wasn't much in supermarkets back then. The directory from the coeliac organisation was very useful, though, as auntevil says.

Biona pasta is a favourite in our house. That with some of the sainsbury's 'pesto' frozen herbs (no parmesan - CF) makes a good base for meals.
Also, being tight, I use every last scrap of the GF bread and make bread crumbs for coating chicken /fish etc from the scrag end bits at the end of the loaf that my DCs won't eat. Keeps well in a jar.
God I'm sounding like my mother!

Haha, I 'rescued' some gluten free bread from being used as duck bread today, anyone overhearing me shouting after the girls, 'not the genius bread for the ducks, girls!!' would probably have started a thread on here about the 'ponciest thing you have heard today'!

I will look out for the Biona pasta, the Tesco one is grim. Made some good gluten free mini victoria sponges for dh's birthday tomorrow. Has anyone tried making their own bread?

I used to use the (expensive, on prescription, hence for DS2 only) GF 'washed' wheat flour for bread in the bread maker, which was OK ish but still reminded me of crusty rice pudding, somehow. I think shop bought GF bread might be the way forward, unless someone has a good recipe?

Hazey, sorry haven;'t had time to read the whole thread, but my ds1 is the same. Tested negative for coeliacs, but we were advised to remove gluten from his diet after completing a food diary that showed a clear correlation of symptoms.

He is veggie as well and doesn't eat potato, which is a right pita, as the gf option when you're out and about is nearly always baked potato.

Ds isn't picky about the past he eats, as long as it's liberally smothered in pasta sauce. I usually make my own, but Seeds of Change sauces are gluten free, so I always have a few of those in for emergencies.

Ds likes the Warburton gf bread and Tesco are doing a new one which is called something like 'yes you can'.

Definitely look up if there are any allergy roadshows near you soon. Dh took ds to one at the end of last year and they came home with a tonne of free samples, plus bought loads of things in bulk, as they were well below normal prices.

Ds can't tolerate normal oats either, but has porridge every morning using Tesco pure oats.

He likes the Dietary Specials herb crackers, that you can get in most supermarkets.

I will pop back as I think of anything else I would recommend.