Gluten free diet? New to this idea.

[momsuz123]

So, for a whole lot of reasons, I am toying with the idea of going gluten free for mostly my kids, but in starting to look into it, maybe for our whole family. Anyone on here doing this that can give me some advice? I have been looking at different articles and what not on the web. Anyone? Thanks.

[NicAnn]

We have been gluten free for at least 5 years. It's a breeze now, though it was difficult in the beginning.

 

Is someone in the family Celiac or gluten intolerant, or is this for other health reasons? That can make a big difference in how you need to approach the change.

 

My biggest advice is to focus on what you CAN eat, not what you cannot. Meal plan at least in the beginning. Cook a lot from scratch if you are able, as that saves big money and hassle.

 

I'd be happy to PM/email if you have any more in depth questions.

 

A sample dinner meal plan, from this week: (we are dairy free and mostly vegetarian)

Pumpkin lentil soup, cornbread

Taco soup, leftover cornbread

Chickpea curry with brown rice

Honey baked lentils with leftover rice

Baked french toast (using a Pamela's bread mix) and fruit salad

Mashed potatoes, bbq baked beans, greens and fruit salad

Tacos, mexican rice, corn and refried beans

 

Breakfast is usually some variation of gluten free oatmeal, Chex, hard boiled eggs, fruit.

[momsuz123]

Thanks - I am doing this for what I think are gluten intolerance issues. A few things that I see in both of my dd's is leading me down this road. I just need to start doing some good research, and personally, I think talking to someone who has BTDT, is way helpful.

 

Thanks again.

[hsingscrapper]

My nieces have gluten issues. The oldest was recently found to have IBS. They had to dig deeper as the gf diet wasn't helping as much.

 

My point is to have your doc thoroughly check the girls for the full extent of issues.

[Alenee]

I didn't go "gluten free" but I did turn to a Low Carb/ High Fat way of eating and with that, gluten has been taken out of my diet because of the high carb content. I can say at the very least, I don't hurt after eating. I used to feel terribly bloated after eating but that feeling has disappeared. That could be the lack of carbs but because of a test we did last year with dd, I'm certain it's the lack of gluten. When we cut gluten only, I liked the Pamela's brand mixes. Almond flour is far tastier than Bean flours. On the whole, I prefer to avoid though, rather than replace.

 

Many people here live a gluten-free life. You can search the forum and find tons of information. Good luck! :grouphug:

[Durriyyah]

We have been gf for about 3 years, and now we are gf, dairy free, and nut free, but not for everyone. Dh is gf, dd1 is df, and dd2 is gf, nf. Whew, got that? Lol

 

You will quickly learn what you can use as a sub, and also learn to balance meals that have subs and meals that don't need it. Look for rice based meals, or meat main items with a side of potatoes or something. You can search for gf meals on allrecipes.com (just put gluten free in the search bar), or use yummy.com... It is great!!

 

If you can afford it, and it is available to you, go to your natural food store the first few times you try to shop. At least at the store by our house, they have tags connected to the price tag that says if it is gf, df, etc.

 

I buy our gluten free noodles, bread mix, and cookies from Amazon in bulk to save money. You can find coupons wherever you find natural and organic coupons. You'll probably start to learn how to make more things from scratch, like pizza crust, because the sub is just so expensive. Oh, and you can find Bob's Red Mill all purpose gf flour at many large grocery stores on the natural section, or order it online. You can swap that out in any recipe for regular flour.

 

It is overwhelming at first and you'll probably make some mistakes when you forget to read all the labels (you must get used to reading every label, all the time, until you get to know your safe choices), but it is a process. You'll also find if you are able to handle small amounts eventually. Dh and dd2 both can handle small amounts, like breaded fish, and dh even orders a pizza every so often and just takes a probiotic because he likes this one pizza so much.

 

Also, I would suggest getting proper testing from a homeopath. They have accurate testing for food allergies that the allopathy doctors just don't use. Seriously, dd1 was suffering from awful headaches every day and the regular doctor had no clue. We brought her to a homeopath and he found she needed to avoid dairy and she has been 100% better!

 

Hth!

[Mystie]

We were gluten free for awhile because we thought my husband had gluten intolerance (that wasn't the problem). He hated "wannabe" foods like gf sandwich bread, so I mostly did sides like rice and potatoes and main dish was meat instead of casseroles. It totally changed the way I cooked even after we went back to gluten and dairy.

 

I have an eBook on going gfdf w/o weird health-food foods or gluten-free flour mixes. You can still cook "normal" foods, you just have to be more selective and pay *a lot* more attention. The link to my eBook (and a discount code) is in my signature if you want to take a look. The intro material and gfdf pantry list is available as a free sample.

[Sevilla]

Look into paleo recipes and cookbooks as they are all gluten-free but really satisfying food. I don't even miss breads/cereals/grains eating this way

[momto2Cs]

We have been gluten free for at least 5 years. It's a breeze now, though it was difficult in the beginning.

 

Is someone in the family Celiac or gluten intolerant, or is this for other health reasons? That can make a big difference in how you need to approach the change.

 

My biggest advice is to focus on what you CAN eat, not what you cannot. Meal plan at least in the beginning. Cook a lot from scratch if you are able, as that saves big money and hassle.

 

I'd be happy to PM/email if you have any more in depth questions.

 

A sample dinner meal plan, from this week: (we are dairy free and mostly vegetarian)

Pumpkin lentil soup, cornbread

Taco soup, leftover cornbread

Chickpea curry with brown rice

Honey baked lentils with leftover rice

Baked french toast (using a Pamela's bread mix) and fruit salad

Mashed potatoes, bbq baked beans, greens and fruit salad

Tacos, mexican rice, corn and refried beans

 

Breakfast is usually some variation of gluten free oatmeal, Chex, hard boiled eggs, fruit.

 

Do you make your own gf cornbread from scratch, or a mix? If from scratch, can I get your recipe? and if it's a mix, can you recommend a good one?

[Shelsi]

We've been GF for several years now. Dd & dh have celiacs and I'm gluten intolerant. So everyone but my ds is GF. Everything I make is GF and ds only has a few gluten items but otherwise we're an entirely GF household.

 

Overall I find dinner quite easy. We had enchiladas yesterday and today - I make my own enchilada sauce but I think there are some GF ones out there. We're going on a little weekend trip so tomorrow we're going to have salads for lunch and then tacos for dinner (easy to bring with us and heat up in hotel microwave). Tonight I made a bunch of banana nut muffins to bring with us for snacks/breakfast.

 

I love the crockpot 365 blog. She used her crockpot every day for a year and she happens to be GF so everything is GF on her site.

 

We regularly have things like shredded BBQ served over rice, fish, quiche, pizza (I make my own crust), quesadillas made with corn tortillas, etc. We don't eat a lot of pasta but when we do we like the quinoa & corn pasta.

[meggie]

We are trying to switch over. We would be except I keep making mistakes. Like tonight we went out to eat at a restaurant that could do GF, but there was a delay on my plate, so the boys' plate got sent on down the line w/o me and they automatically put cheese on it. I scraped off as much as I could, but they still ate some. Digby woke up screaming and inconsolable and itching all over. So be forgiving of yourself if you make mistakes.

 

For me, the easiest one to "get right" is the dairy. It's easy, we just don't eat anything with it or we use almond or coconut milk as a substitute. But it's also what I miss most. I love cheese. And there's not really an affordable substitute. No more lasagna :glare: How can life be lived without lasagna?

 

However, finding gf substitutes is fairly easy. We have GF pasta at Winco for a decent price. I can make our own sandwich bread. But we don't have much money at all, so I have to do most everything from scratch which takes a lot of time. This is usually where I mess up. I haven't allotted enough time to get something done, so we end up having to get a convenience food. Most convenience foods have some form of gluten. So it's the easiest to live without taste-wise, but the harder one to live without practically.

 

We are making the switch to help with Digby's eczema and Chuck and Pigby's digestive troubles. I recommend the book Cooking for Isaiah for some really yummy recipes.

[momsuz123]

Thank you so much for all the replies - any more stories or advice?

[hsingscrapper]

What about soy cheese? I've seen shreds at our local co-op.

[NicAnn]

Do you make your own gf cornbread from scratch, or a mix? If from scratch, can I get your recipe? and if it's a mix, can you recommend a good one?

 

1 cup corn meal

1 cup gf flour (Pamelas or a good flour blend)

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 eggs

2 tablespoon sugar/honey

salt

 

bake 350 for....15minutes (?)

[sbgrace]

If you are suspecting celiac get tested before you go gluten free.

 

Outside of that I think it's easier to adjust if you focus on naturally gluten free meals before you investigate gluten free baking type substitutes. If there are nut allergies be very careful about buying flours or anything gluten free prepared.

[momto2Cs]

1 cup corn meal

1 cup gf flour (Pamelas or a good flour blend)

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 eggs

2 tablespoon sugar/honey

salt

 

bake 350 for....15minutes (?)

 

Thank you!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

We've been GF for about a year now, following DS's celiac diagnosis. It seems really hard, but it's not bad at all once you are in the swing of things. We eat a lot more rice and potatoes, we also love GF corn bread and tortillas.

 

The suggestion to make menu plans for the first phase of adjustment is a good one. Plan out everything.

 

Then, depending on your time, try to do one "experiment" per week/month/whatever, where you try to duplicate a favorite food. We recently tried chocolate chip cookies with almond flour and natural sweeteners, and they were a HUGE hit.

 

Another tip- I make a batch of GF chocolate cupcakes every few months, and I always put 5-6 in the freezer. When we are invited to a party, or over for dinner or whatever, I can easily pop one out of the freezer and bring a GF dessert for my son so he doesn't have to watch everyone enjoying cake without being able to participate. This has worked out really well.

 

I do the same with pizza crusts. I make a large batch of GF pizza crusts, roll them out, roll them up in parchment paper, then freeze. I can now make a GF pizza in a pinch when the rest of the family is having regular, or if he is invited over to a pizza party.

 

Good luck!

[lexi]

We are.........my Hives blog has some recipes and GF helps. We are also free of many other things as well. It's overwhelming at first but becomes much simpler. Many restaurants are also offering GF items. If you have specific questions you can PM me. My mom has been GF for years and our family has been GF for almost 2 years now.

[momsuz123]

Thanks ladies - what books would you all recommend me to start reading. I was at B&N today, they mostly just had cookbooks, but not more like health books on it.

What are some obvious foods that I need to watch out for, what are some not obvious?

[momsuz123]

bump :001_smile:

[Sctigermom]

Scratch, scratch, scratch! If you can make it from scratch do so. There are good gluten free cookbooks out there and a lot of grocery stores carry gluten free foods. My son can have gluten but is allergic to rye barley so it's easier to just avoid the gluten. At first I was overwhelmed, but now we are used to it. I will tell you it's extremely difficult when eating out, but can be done.

[Stacey in NY]

I love the book " Everyday Paleo" for Gluten -free recipes. There is also a specific cook book out now "Everyday Paleo Cookbook" Practical easy recipes!