How to help this mom re: type 1 diabetes and celiac

[Janna]

In addition to needing washer and dryer help from you Smarties, I also could use some wisdom for my very good friend.

 

One of her twin boys, 7yo, was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Doing some routine blood work after getting the diagnosis and being on insulin for several weeks, it was discovered that he also has celiac disease. My friend is devastated.

 

She has 4 children - 2 girls (13yo, 10yo) and twin boys (7yo). They have always been on a tight budget and therefore, eat a LOT of processed foods. Pretty much all of their food is from Aldi. So, you can imagine the changes that need to be made in their household and how large of a challenge my friend feels this will be. She and her husband decided that, because of the extreme sensitivity with celilac, their entire family would adapt to the child's new diet rather than just him.

 

I have been a vegetarian for years, moved into begin vegan for awhile and now am a raw foodist (not super strict). *I* don't see this as being a negative change, or even an impossible change. I can understand how she might feel overwhelmed, but I see this as so positive for her family.

 

She has asked me to help her make these changes and to be honest, I'm not sure how. I say that because, while my family has not joined me in the raw food adventure (I haven't demanded they do so), we have *never* participated in an abundance of processed foods. My kids have never had white bread, never had bologna, never had cheese "food" (aka cheese slices), never had chicken nuggets, spaghettios or other canned items like that, etc...which means I haven't had to deal with changing their pallets that severely.

 

How would you recommend I help my friend? Do you have good gluten free recipes they might like? Recipes that are diabetes and celiac friendly?

 

I do think it will take a LOT of time for them to adjust and a lot of time to work into a groove. My friend, I assume (and hope for), will have to spend more time making more foods from scratch which will be an adjustment. I know that currently, until she gets a better understanding of the situation, is fine with adjusting the insulin based on what he has eaten or in anticipation of what he's going to eat, rather than planning ahead on having the food he eats require less insulin.

 

I don't want to be unsympathetic at all, and I'm not. But I do think this doesn't have to be as painful and difficult as she thinks it's going to be. How can I help her?

[Soror]

Celiac/gluten intolerant here(along w/ soy and dairy as well). IMO the cheapest way to do it and the easiest to transition it would be to focus on whole foods. Processed foods that are gf are generally hard to find and WAY more expensive. You can make them yourself BUT there is a learning curve a fair amount of ingredients and it won't taste like reg processed food- not to them anyway. It is easiest to start with a list of things that are ok- meats, eggs, veggies and fruits. She can still use rice, potatoes and beans as well to be cheap but watch the serving size w/ ds who is diabetic of those things.

[canadianmomtofour]

Oh my, trust me this is an incredibly difficult time for your friend and I think you are wonderful to want to help her out. My oldest was diagnosed with type 1 almost four years ago so I completely understand how overwhelmed she feels rights now. The best thing I ever did was stumble across the forums at this site:

 

http://childrenwithdiabetes.com/

 

She can read, ask questions, and get support from so many experienced parents there. I probably spent a full year learning, learning, learning before I began to really feel confident. She will get there too.

 

My mother and grandmother both have celiac disease and that can be expensive especially if the whole family is going gluten-free, (which is what I would do in her shoes also). I can only speak through second-hand experience on this one, and I'm sure others can chime in with more useful information on this one, but I recommend she learn to get crafty in the kitchen. It is usually fairly easy to substitute gluten-free flours for regular flour to bake bread or anything else, and it usually tastes better than anything she can buy. Hopefully someone else here can give you some good recipe book/website recommendations.

 

Good luck to your friend.

[Mothersweets]

Just wanted to second the Children with Diabetes forums. Wonderful place to learn about caring for your child with type 1 and celiac. The parents there will be more than happy to help your friend with any questions or if she just wants to vent they will "get" it.

[bettyandbob]

If your friend has a tight budget, she will need to cook.

 

My house is gluten free. I'd recommend staying away from breads and pastas altogether--the gf substitutes are expensive and I don't think most gf breads work for a type I diet.

 

I'd look to meals using beans (dried or canned) as the main protien. The grains I'd focus on would be be brown rice and quinoa (technically not a grain).

 

This is going to take a lot of effort and food preparation will occupy most of her energy for a few months while she gets the hang of it. INO it will take time, she should be patient as she works to learn this.

 

I think if it were me I'd feed the family something simple most nights while I was in the process of learning to cook. Baked chicken, quinoa or brown rice and steamed vegetables can work for gluten free and diabetic needs and it can fit into a budget. I'd make a point of learning 2 new dinner meals a week for a few months. What's learned cooking dinner can be adapted to other meals. Enlist the older dc in learning to cook meals as well. They are old enough to go through cookbooks and help pick something for the family and help prepare it. Get cookbooks from the library with recipes friendly to the diet restrictions and look for recipes with cheaper ingredients.

 

A slow cooker and a pressure cooker can be amazingly helpful for someone who wants to spend less time in the kitchen. Perhaps these could be acquired on freecycle or at a yardsale.

[Mama Geek]

Soy is another option that is more protein than carb.

 

I would start with meat, veggies, some fruit, potatoes, rice and corn.

 

In place of pasta you can use spaghetti squash. It isn't quite the same but it is good and pretty healthy.

[Janna]

Just bumping for some additional responses. Thanks to those that have already responded!

[Mom0012]

I went through this years ago when we realized my son was unable to tolerate gluten. He also has multiple food allergies. It was completely overwhelming and I did not even have the diabetes to deal with.

 

What I did was figure out one meal at a time. I started figuring out an option or two for breakfast and then moved on to the lunch and dinner once I had those down.

 

Some ideas:

 

Breakfast - bacon (or maybe chicken sausage), egg, gluten free toast. We also now do cereal, gf pancakes and gf waffles, but I don't know how that would work with the diabetes.

 

lunch - leftovers from the night before, soups (there are prepackaged gluten free soups), Amy's gf burritos, yogurt, wraps with corn tortillas, melted cheese and ham, gf chicken nuggets and rice, canned, jarred or fresh fruit

 

dinner - meat, veggie, starch (here that is pretty much rice or potato with an occasional cornbread mix). I do a lot of crock pot meals. We also get a rotisserie chicken once a week. GF pizza or spaghetti with meat sauce once a week.

 

It is hard! If there are no dairy or nut allergies, a lot can be done to add flavor and variety with those ingredients. We have all gotten used to eating like this, but I do miss the casseroles and all the lovely recipes I had from my mother.

 

Lisa

 

ETA: Our whole family is not gluten free. Even though I buy a minimal amount of prepared gf foods, it would be too expensive for me to do that. However, I do make almost all of our dinners gluten free and if it's pizza night, I have a gluten free pizza for my son and regular pizza for the rest of us. Same with breakfast. I'll make both my kids bacon, eggs and toast, but my daughter's toast will be from regular whole grain bread and my son's will be gf. I also think there are nutrients that my son misses out on the grains and I don't want my daughter to miss out on those since she does not have a problem with gluten.

Edited March 12, 2012 by LisaTheresa

[LNC]

You probably already know this, but your friend's child was diagnosed with two autoimmune diseases. They often times go together, as do autoimmune diseases in general. Type 1 diabetes was not caused by this mother's cooking/shopping habits. Shopping at Aldi and eating processed foods had nothing to do with it. There isn't a "diabetic diet" for type 1 diabetes bc it isn't a lifestyle disease, it is an autoimmune disease treated with insulin. Celiac reaquires such a strict adherence to a gluten free diet, that most of us who are on gluten intolerant diets for various reasons - autism, inflammatory diseases - can't even begin to relate to their challenges. Even cross contamination can cause serious issues with a celiac patient. She will be assigned a dietician for diabetes training and also for celiac training. They will also provide her with materials to take home and study. You can help with sympathy and support!

Edited March 12, 2012 by LNC

[Janna]

You probably already know this, but your friend's child was diagnosed with two autoimmune diseases. They often times go together, as do autoimmune diseases in general. Type 1 diabetes was not caused by this mother's cooking/shopping habits. Shopping at Aldi and eating processed foods had nothing to do with it. There isn't a "diabetic diet" for type 1 diabetes bc it isn't a lifestyle disease, it is an autoimmune disease treated with insulin. Celiac reaquires such a strict adherence to a gluten free diet, that most of us who are on gluten intolerant diets for various reasons - autism, inflammatory diseases - can't even begin to relate to their challenges. Even cross contamination can cause serious issues with a celiac patient. She will be assigned a dietician for diabetes training and also for celiac training. They will also provide her with materials to take home and study. You can help with sympathy and support!

 

Thank you, LNC, for bringing me back to this reminder. You are absolutely correct. Sometimes it is difficult for me to remember that not everything is diet related. Most autoimmune diseases can be cured or significantly reduced symptomatically by diet, but that doesn't mean this child will. So truly, thank you for that reminder.

 

My reason for speaking of the shopping habits and place she shops was not to put blame on her by any means. It was simply to show the drastic way she will have to change their eating and shopping habits. She can still get her produce and other items that work for them from Aldi, but there will be a significant change in where she shops and how much she spends, which is partly what is overwhelming to her.

 

You are also right in that she has been assigned a dietician. That appointment is set for later this month.

 

The cross-contamination with celiac is what has prompted her and her husband to decide to have the whole family adapt to this lifestyle. I know another poster had mentioned kids using non gf bread in the toaster and that would absolutely not work for her because the smallest crumb of non-gf bread that may get on the gf-bread from the toaster would cause a major setback. It's definitely a serious issue.

 

She specifically asked me for help with diet. I am her healthiest friend (her words) and so she wants direction and recipes. That's why I mentioned that I have never had to change my kids' pallets so severely. I'm not sure how to help her change over to recipes that will taste good to them when they are used to such dramatically different tastes than my own family. Does that make sense? That's where I'm unsure of how to help her.

[Jill]

Hi Janna, I'm a celiac who avoids the processed GF foods (breads, pastas) primarily because they cause easy weight gain in me. I could see limiting those with a diabetic child just for ease of calculating insulin and for general health and of course, it's generally more budget friendly to rely on rice, sweet potatoes, other tubers and veggies for healthy carbs. I have a few links to recommend.

 

Everyday paleo has many family and budget friendly recipes that are also easy on the blood sugar. Roasted rutabagas and cabbage are both delish and relatively inexpensive. I buy HUGE bags of frozen green peas at about 8 cents an ounce and use them as a starch/veggie. Many good tips in paleo eating for improving diet.

http://everydaypaleo.com/category/food/

 

If you or she is on pinterest, I follow a "Feeding the Diabetic Family" pinboard that has healthy GF recipes:

http://pinterest.com/ragani/feeding-the-diabetic-family/

 

I'm not as anti-grain and bean as some paleo-ers but I do agree that for maximum nutrition and digestibility, beans be soaked for 24 to 48 hours before cooking. This helps not just with gas but it reduces anti-nutrients in the beans and is definitely easier on a celiac's often tender guts. Grains and nuts also benefit from soaking. Soaked garbanzos are so much more tasty! http://thenourishingcook.com/beans-without-side-effects/

 

Ultimately, when she gets the hang of it, she could start baking with GF flours. Baking from scratch costs less than the mixes and garbanzo/fava flour and almond flour (at $5 to $6 a lb really isn't that bad in GF land) substituted in for some portion of the flours improves the nutritional profile.

http://forums.glutenfree.com/topic4972.html

http://milkforthemorningcake.blogspot.com/2008/02/sweet-potato-pitta-breads.html (<-variety of other recipes there too)

 

I'd say make sure she has a rice cooker and a huge bag of basmati and brown rice. We mix brown and white half and half to fit our families dietary limitations/needs - it's easier on the guts and balances some of the anti-nutrients in the brown rice. I hope this gives you some ideas. Pass on my good luck wishes to your friend!

[Lawana]

Most Type 1's are taught to match insulin to carbs, *not* to minimize the amount of insulin used. Since Type 1 is a disease of lack of insulin, and not, in and of itself, a disease of insulin utilization, as is Type 2 diabetes, the restriction of carbohydrates is generally *not* taught as a goal. That being said, sometimes a Type 1 will find that a particular food plays havoc with his/her blood sugar, in which case avoiding that food makes sense.

 

IMO, the first step here should be to accomodate the celiac, and do a really good job counting carbs. Does she have a food scale? A Salter brand scale is extremely useful in determining carb counts. When making a recipe, one can weigh the ingredients and add up the carbs. Then when serving, weigh out a portion and use the carb factor to determine the carbs in that serving. If you need more explicit steps, please ask. Also, the Salter scale has many foods in a data base, making carb counting easier. Determining carb content of some foods such as cereal and fruit are done *much* more accurately with weighing, rather than measuring.

 

Along with brown rice, potatoes, in their natural form, are another easy to cook, very well received, gluten free starch.

[Jill]

Hey, I just bumped into this forum today specifically for kids with DMI & celiac :

http://forums.childrenwithdiabetes.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

 

Just in case Lawana's post was directed at me I wanted to mention I was just thinking of avoiding various processed foods and food combos and instead working with whole foods in case it might make it easier for the calculations. Instead of looking up the carb counts for all the individual ingredients in some complicated casserole (gf or not), looking up the the carb count for a half cup of sweet potato is probably an easier job. But I don't have to do that so of course I don't know for sure, only 2nd hand from other moms.