Wheat Allergy

My best friend has this and she shops at Trader Joes and has found a ton of food she can eat!

Hi, my daughter has this. We follow the Celiac diet. I just posted a reguest to start a support group for this. Celiac.com...that is a good site...I copy a list and take it to the store. I shop at meadow sweet....becareful because there is wheat is things you never dreamt of...licorice is a NO....let me know what you need help with and I would love to help you..

http://www.gluten.net/diet.htm

http://www.glutenfree.com/

My cookbook "8 Degrees of Ingredients" is great. It eliminates the top 8 allergens from over 250 recipes, is very kid-friendly (think Chicken Fingers, Corn Dogs, Onion Rings, Chocolate CHip Muffins, and more!), while also providing meals for the whole family (MEatloaf, Beef Stroganoff, Turkey Tetrazinni, Swedish Meatballs, and so many more...)

The reason why I would suggest my cookbook is the entire first chapter of over 35 recipes is dedicated to individuals who are newly diagnosed! The difficult thing with food allergies, is you don't have 3 months to figure it out, as you need to eat 3-5 times/day. This can be particularly stressful when it is your child. I would know, as my daughter was diagnosed with multiple food allergies at age 1. So many other resources already assume you have a working knowledge of alternative ingredients like rice pastas and tapioca flour, as well as knowledge on where to find them. My cookbook is sensitive to the fact that this learning curve takes time, but in the meantime, you need to eat and carry on with you life, and I know "8 degrees" can help you achieve that.
You can check out the book on Amazon, or feel free to ask me any questions directly on anything. After years of hypoallergenic cooking and dealing with a daughter with many food allergies, i feel like an expert.

Good Luck, and by the way, Rice Chex are now Gluten Free!!! (Just make sure you get a NEW box that lists molasses as an ingredient rather than Malt Barley.) :o)

i have this also and find that it is hard to find websites so i went to our exs. Service thru iowa state web (isu), and the best source of info came from my urgoulist yes him for i found out i had hardly any kid function left and this was the wheat allergery cause and also a local resturant here called gringos has a great gluten free menu. This way i could use this as a lookup and reg guide
D.

You have had some wonderful advice above.

I have also located a wonderful website that I love:
http://www.allergykids.com/

Best Wishes!
A.
Please take the time and find out what is really in your child's care products: www.mygreenhealth.com

Can I ask what her symptoms were?
My 19 month old daughter was intolerant of all grains until just a couple months ago. I found that Valley Natural Foods in Apple Valley actually has a group for parents of kids with gluten allergies that meets there, just call and ask about it, they will give you phone #'s of the parent who is in charge of it. Also, I was looking into getting this book: Grain-Free Gourmet by bestselling authors Jodi Bager and Jenny Lass. Ask your doctor to set you up with a nutritionist, we saw one and it helped me figure out what I could feed her instead.
Good Luck!

When my son was diagnosed with a peanut allergy we found great support and ideas from two support groups. First was the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network - http://www.foodallergy.org. The other group is local and called the Food Allergy Support Group of Minnesota - http://www.foodallergysupportmn.org. This group meets bi-monthly in Crystal. They organize many activities around all food allergies and are a great resource including a recipe book for all the allergies. Check them out. They may be quite helpful, especially in the beginning. There is another group that meets locally as well in St. Paul called the Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy Association. I'm not sure of their website but I can get it for you if you are interested.

Good luck to you!
J.

My 8 mo old has a rash that seems to be caused by gluten so I have been on a gluten free diet for the last month. I started by just entering how to start a gluten free diet in the search bar and found some pretty good sites. here are a couple...
http://www.gfutah.org/Starting%20the%20Gluten%20Free%20Di...
www.Glutenfreeda.com - has a recipe mailer to help give you ideas.
Good luck, it isn't easy!

Go on Yahoo and look up a group on there. There are lots of groups to help you. GFCFkids is a good one. You can also go on sites like recipezaar.com and find lots of recipes. You can find rice flour in health food sections at stores.
Best Wishes,
J.

www.foodallergy.org is a great website with downloads and wonderful information.

Usually Food Co-op's are the best place to find wheat/gluten free food. Cherrybrook Kitchen has great baking mixes that are wheat/gluten free.

If you live in St. Paul, MN, I have a lot of places to suggest!

My son has an egg, peanut, and treenut allergy. He is 3 and hasn't grown out of it!

C.

I am not sure where you are located, I am in the Rochester, MN area. My son was diagnosed at 15 months with Celiac Disease and has been on a gluten free (GF) diet since that time, almost 11 months! It is crazy how overwhelmed I was at first, so I totally sympathize with you. I tried to look at it as what can he eat vs what can't he eat. We did a lot of fresh fruits/veggies and pure meat and dairy. You just have to be diligent and call lots of manufactures.

Best book: Raising our Celiac Kids by Dana Korn

Best Grocery Stores: Gluten Free Cupboard in Rochester, MN
Hy-Vee in multiple cities (they have a PDF with all of their brand that is naturally GF. I don't know what I'd do without their soy sauce!

Resturants: Outback Steakhouse; The Redwood Room; Chipolte; Victoria's; Paradise Pete's; Valentino's Pizza

Websites: I like Cecelia's Marketplace--- they have a service you can sign up for that sends you the GF product of the day, and I usually learn of something new every week that I could use.

It is tough with little ones as they have so many other things you need to be careful with like peanut butter; and choking hazards-- many GF products are harder than the "normal" version.

We really like the Envirokids cereals-- they are available at Target! We also do their animal cookies-- similar to animal crackers.

And so you know, M&M's and Cool Ranch Doritos are GF, so if you are in a pinch and need a treat while you are out, there you go-- not nutritious, but not everything is.

Feel free to ask any questions, I was just there, and now I have embraced the new lifestyle, we do mostly GF for our entire family.

Hi S.,

I'm sorry to hear about the gluten intolerance, I hope that your little one is doing well. What I would suggest is going to Whole Foods, there is a lady at the concierge desk named Emily who will walk through the store with you and show you all the different allergen free foods that are available and the different brands that carry different gluten free foods. I know that there is a whole section there that is gluten free!

Hi, S..

The "FAAN" organization has a great website and is a great resource for kids with allergies. My daughter was diagnosed with tree nut allergies so I cam empathize with you. The website is:

http://www.foodallergy.org/

You can sign up to ask for alerts on mislabeled items, etc. on there as well.

I do a lot of searching on the web for food allergen info and recipes, ideas for holidays, birthdays, etc. I also know there are a few good recipe and informational books out there you can order online as well. I got a couple of them from Amazon.com.

Another site I found was: http://allergymoms.com

Good luck! And remember to read, read, and read food labels!!

A. S.

S.,

What a hard allergy to deal with! I feel for you. My husband has 3 cousins who all have celiac disease (a severe intolerance to gluten). They were all diagnosed later in life (35+ years). It is great that you have figured out what is affecting your daughter, it will make her life easier!

I recommend the following grocery store (not sure where you are located, but there are several locations around the cities).

http://freshandnaturalfoods.com

They have some classes available at the store on gluten free cooking (my husbands cousin and his wife are teaching one at the Shoreview location - information below).

Gluten-Free Fest
Saturday, May 10, 2008

Time: 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Location: Fresh and Natural Foods - Shoreview
Cost: Free

Event Information: Imagine a food tasting dedicated to people who suffer from gluten allergies and sensitivities. Come join us in sampling a variety of new gluten-free products. The day will include food samples, door prizes and lots of fun!

Good luck to you!

J.

My 34 y/o husband is a celiac and we have found the PAMELA'S mixes to be the best tasting and best price. (Way better than Bob's Red Mill) The bread mix is breadmaker compatible and the baking/pancake mix is light and fluffy. The rest of us like to eat this one too. The frozen breads aren't as good but are ok to use in a pinch, and there are frozen bagels and muffins that are pretty tasty after heated and buttered. They have different cookies and cereals to try also. These products are most likely to be found in your grocers natural/organic section. If you have an Asian market in your area, they have different types of noodles and such that are gluten free. You will find that you'll be spending more money on groceries for your child because it costs more. Health Valley makes a gluten free cream of mushroom, celery or chicken soup and these are very good for those hotdishes you might make. Staples to have around are rice flour, tapioca flour and maybe some potato starch or flour. There is a dough enhancer to add to your bread to add stability so it won't crumle so easy and adds a little life to the loaf. We generally have one frozen at all times.....cut it into slices after it cools from the breadmaker, but put pieces of parchment paper between the pieces otherwise they stick together. We also keep one in the fridge so it doesn't get moldy. There are lots of chips (potato and Doritos) that she will be able to have, I'm sure you'll see that you spend alot of time reading labels in the store. My husband can tolerate maltodextrin but not modified food starch, that is something you will have to experiment with and if she can tolerate it will help with a whole lot more she can eat. Oatmeal is usually ok for celiacs but you have to make sure to get the kind that isn't milled in a place where they also do wheat, barley or rye. The label should tell you this. There are websites to check into such as glutenfreeclub.com.........this has a yearly membership to pay. I did this once, didn't think it was worth it and didn't renew, but I still get recipes from them so maybe you want to pay the $40 or so just once to get the recipes and there is a chat forum and such. You can google celiac disease or sprue or whatever term you want and you'll find alot of info. Check into restaurant websites also, they may have gluten free menus available...I know Wendy's and Outback steakhouse do for sure. If you would like to contact me or to chat with any questions, please feel free to do so ____@____.com husband was diagnosed 3 years ago and we are still learning about it. I have other homemade recipes for bread and snacks too if you would like them. Good Luck, I don't know if it'll be easier for her to start this young or harder than finding out later in life you can't have things you've always loved! T. Hinrichs, wife of a celiac

Please get in touch with a local health food store whose employees should be able to show you around and connect you with support organizations in your community.

I too am a SAHM with 2 girls, 3 1/2 yrs and 20 mos, who like me have celiacs disease (a fancy word for wheat/gluten allergy). 1st thing to do is google celiacs disease and you will find many websites with helpful information about how to avoid wheat. My best 2 pieces of advice are, know what other names wheat can be called in an ingredient listing. For example, Modified food starch could be one of 5 things including wheat so if a label says modified food starch without parenthesis behind it stating the source (corn, rice, wheat, potato and one other I don't remember off the top of my head) you shouldn't feed it to your daughter. Good news, by the end of 2008 all labels are required to state the source of the food starch and also have an additional line stating if it contains a common food allergen: wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, peanuts, etc. The other thing that has helped us greatly is finding a alternative flour recipe that we can substitute cup for cup in place of wheat flour. Here it is....6 cups rice flour, 2 cups tapioca flour and 1 cup potato flour/starch. It works perfectly in place of a cup of wheat in any recipe. Also, makes great pancakes and cookies. Last words to share, don't beat yourself up if you accidentally feed her a wheat item while you are learning...kids are resiliant and their systems clear of an allergen within a day or two unlike adults who can take months! Good luck and keep me posted.

the Red River Celiac group (http://www.redriverceliac.org), or she can contact

Stacey Juhnke, ###-###-####, ____@____.com or
Sandy Kohler, ###-###-####. ____@____.com

Maybe that will help you out some.

There are a lot of sites out there for this kind of thing and there are support groups as well. You should ask your pediatrician if they know of one. You could also get online and google Celiac groups. You may also want to find a nutrapathic Diatician as well. They can help you find supplements and food sources for your little one. I don't know if you shop in the organic sections, but Coborns, Lunds, Byerlys all have great organic sections. There is a bread called Tapioca bread that is wheat and gluten free. It's really good, but it is best to toast it first. There are lots of baking goods as well that are all celiac friendly. They are typically all marked and believe it or not they are really good. I also love to use brown rice noodles when cooking. They don't taste any different than regular noodles so the rest of the family won't be excluded! I don't have celiac's, but eating this way does make me feel good!
Hope all goes well!

Whole Foods, food co-ops and natural food stores all have wheat-free products from cookies, to crackers, to pancake mixes. They also have cookbooks and information desks that have walk-in food and nutrition advice.

www.biologiquefoods.com online is a store where you can shop for healthy foods including wheat-free. The same site has a healthy coaching component ~ these guys are smart and understand food allergies.

When my daughter went gluten free, I must have read every website, book and was so confused, I didn't now where to start. It wasn't until I read Living Gluten Free for Dummies - best book I've ever bought. I'm not sure how sensitive your son is, but we've had to change everything - shampoo, conditioner, soap, laundry detergent, toothpaste - all contain gluten. Best of luck to you.

I know you were looking for more food websites, but www.twincitiesrock.org is a local group that raises awareness of Celiac, but in a few weeks they are having a walk and carnival, and all the foods will be Gluten Free. Good Luck, my daughter has a dairy, egg and peanut allergy. It is a huge adjustment, but now it is second nature for us and her.

Sorry, I was in a hurry this morning and acccidentally typed in .com instead of .org, so now it will work for you!!!!!

S.,
There is great advice here. Check out GFCF Kids site. I've received tons of information here.

Good luck and be thankful you've discovered it early on. It can be taken care of!

J.

Here’s what Wendy had for local info. Otherwise just going on goggle and typing in Celiac Disease will get many sites.
Wendy has two kids with this health issue so she knows what you're dealing with.
Wendy sent us this info.
THE NAME OF THE LADY TO CALL
BEV LIEVEN ###-###-####
SHE IS THE CONTACT FOR ANYONE TO CALL.
I HOPE THIS LADY CALLS HER, SHE WILL GET
SO MUCH HELP AS IM SURE SHE’S JUST BESIDE HERSELF.

Hope this helps,

Kathy Wentland
Patient Accounts Research Team
Ph: ###-###-####
____@____.com

I'm not so sure about any websites, but have found that our local natural foodstore does a great job of color coding products. For example they have a different colored dot for different allergens like wheat, soy, dairy, etc. On the shelf under each product there is a dot that signifies that the product is free of which ever ingredient is not in it. My daughter has dairy allergies, so when we first learned about it we shopped there to find products that we couldn't in the grocery store and to learn what products she could have without reading the side of every box. They also have good resources as to where to find more information.

I really like www.celiac.com becaus they have a message board that you can search on. I go there if I don't want to take the time to research a product that I am not sure of.

I agree with everyone else on her with their ideas. We love Outback and Trader Joes (trader Joes has mislabled some of their products though, so always double check).

Whole Foods also has a Gluten-free bakery that is really good. It is expensive but a nice treat once in a while.

"Bob's Red Mill" mixes are really good also. I like their brownies and pancake mixes...although it was from eating them that I realized that I was allergic too eggs too :) I still kept getting sick and asked my doctor at Mayo to test me for an egg allergy ......sure enough I was.

I realize that you don't have to stay away from all gluten, but these are good resources none-the-less. As you go on just make yourself a list of products that are okay and keep it with you. That is what I started doing to make shopping easier, I just keep it in a little notebook.

Oh, and chipotle is good too for gluten-free items when your 1 1/2 old is older :)

Looking into autism diets are a good start (the GFCF diet). Here are some links (though they also avoid diary products... which isn't bad thing for anyone these days... it may not be what you need... but they have good ideas anyway):

gfcf-diet.talkaboutcuringautism.org
www.gfcfdiet.com
www.autismweb.com/diet.htm

Hi S.,
I am on a Gluten Free diet. A great book for children is "The GF Kid, Aceliac disease survival guide" by Melissa London. One of my favorite GF flour recipes is 6 pts Rice flour (I use brown rice flour), 2 pts corn or potato starch, 1pt tapioca or sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour and no there is no gluten in it). I use this to substitute for an wheat type flour. If your child is not sensitive to oat flour it works well in many recipes.
I can give you some other recipes if you like. We used to have a home day care, my homeschooled son is almost 14 now. I now have a home business that pays my mortgage.
Blessings and health,
S.