Husband needs dairy free gluten free diet

[TwingleMum]

My DH needs to go on a casein free gluten free diet. Anyone have any hints or sources. What about snacks ? Fast food? When you are at WDW?? HELP!!!

 

[mechurchlady]

Reading labels is part of celiac. I use Ralph's and Oscar Myer bacon but not Farmer John as it has wheat. I love corn tortillas that are labeled gluten free and use them with hot dogs, pastrami, burgers, and peanut butter. Lays plain chips are gluten free as are some other plain ones. Rice and popcorn cakes are good but most have food starch in them that may have gluten.

Fast food is a killer for me. McDonald's is the worst restaurant for allergic people. They have dedicated friers but would not trust them, Read the online info on fast food places you go to. I only eat at In n Out right now.

WDW and DLR are excellent with dealing with allergies. CMs do need to be reminded as allergens can be overlooked. At a local restaurant I had the chef scrape the coating off the fish and reserve it then another time he ripped the bread off the meat and served it that way with bits of bread stick stuck on it. Not everyone understands cross contamination or that soy sauce has wheat and the whey is a dairy derivitive. It takes planning but people with celiac usually have no problem in parks. You can bring in snacks if you are on a special diet. I like fritos, lays chips, raisins, corn chips, and ralphs cinnamon rice cakes for snacks.

Do not at home use Rice Dreams as it has gluten. Celiac is the great pretender disease. I get at time malnutrition, bloating so bad I feel like I am having a heart attack, psoriasis like dry skin, hair loss, bad teeth, poor healing, mental unbalance, mood swings, vision problems, phantom pains which are not like real ones, fatigue, nausea, and a rash on my back. I also get a racing pulse from allergens and headaches. The gluten damages the stomach and makes it so the body does not absorb fats, minerals and other nutrients which leads to malnutrition.

 

[TwingleMum]

Thanks for all the great information.

 

[dawnball]

Gluten free, dairy free is harder than either one alone. The options in WDW parks are fairly slim, but better for adults than children. There is usually something you can eat though.

As far as regular life, we ate a lot of nuts when we were GF/CF. Nut based brownies, sweet breads and savory breads. I like the Namaste brand mixes for nut-free options.

For snacks we tended to eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, beef jerky (make sure there's no soy sauce), rice or nut based crackers with peanut butter or hummus, etc.

I avoid fast food completely. I figure that the average risk of a decent restaurant screwing up is about 1 in 10. For fast food it's more like 8 in 10. They aren't generally set up to make avoiding cross-contamination easy, and the staff usually doesn't understand. For the rare times we eat out we make sure to go somewhere with a gluten free menu that's fairly easy to make dairy free. Outback (they butter the steaks by default, but will omit it for you), Pf Chang's, etc. The other option is small, chef-owned places that we check out ahead of time.

Instead of milk we tended to use coconut milk, coconut oil for a butter substitute, etc. If you skim the thick cream off the top of a can of coconut milk and refrigerate it then you can whip it into "whipped cream". Bacon grease makes a good butter substitute from time to time, also.

One more thing to be aware of, non-dairy doesn't mean that it doesn't contain a dairy derivative. Non-dairy creamer almost always contains whey or casein, non-dairy whipped topping isn't dairy free either.

 

[mechurchlady]

Here are some things I found,

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1063379&referrerid=&highlight=gluten

http://www.allearsnet.com/din/guestceliac.htm
As I stated with proper notification and planning using the FAQs a person with religious, medical, allergies, or other diets can go to the parks and have little or no problems. This lady and others are well informed on GF and dairy free dining in the parks.

http://sleepingbean.blogspot.com/
This is a good blog to make you hungry.

Anna's is a line of food you should try as it is gluten free. I am trying to include chocolate, egg and soy which I cannot have as part of my advice. I have had reactions to lighthouse dressing, del monte creamed corn and jones soda pop. Vitamin E and tocopheral can be made out of wheat and xanthan gum can contain wheat. I love Emeril's honey mustard and he is very clear on what is gluten free. Mona's is a site that sells gluten free items.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=806868
They asked here about food allergies and lots of suggestions were made.

 

[TwingleMum]

Thank you so much for the info.

 

[AnnR]

Where in NY are you? I live in Rochester and there is a pizza place near here that serves gluten free pizza and other things.

 

[LisaFB]

When at home, we buy TONS of stuff for DS from www.allergygrocer.com and it's great since you can search by allergen free (ie you can put in you want GF/DF stuff and it'll show you only those items. We also shop at our local health food store for him (he's allergic to dairy, wheat, eggs, any and all nuts, plus a ton of other things). We found that our Shop Rite has a microwave popcorn that literally just has corn and soybean oil, so that also makes a great snack.

 

[TwingleMum]

Where in NY are you? I live in Rochester and there is a pizza place near here that serves gluten free pizza and other things.

I live on Long Island. We have lots of health food stores and Trader Joes.

 

[luvdzny]

This info will be helpful since DD's boyfriend is a Celiac. Thanks!

 

[mechurchlady]

The FDA or is it the USDA has a list of what allergens are covered. Companies are supposed to label for the big 8 allergens like wheat, soy, nuts, peanuts, crustaceans, eggs, dairy and corn. It is supposed to say something like destrose (corn) but I rgularly get reactions like from creamed corn because it has unidentified dextrose.

CF is different from LF. Vegans are fighting for better labelling of foods that say dairy free but still contain cassein like nondairy creamers and dole whips.

I like almond milk the best but there are hazelnut, rice, and soy milk available. Stay away from Rice Dreams and any products from that company as their stuff has traces of gluten in them.

 

[LisaFB]

Definitely still read labels if it says dairy free since we've also found casein in it. Then on the ingredient list it'll say contains milk.

We got back last week from our 10 days land/sea trip to WDW and DS ate like a king! He had to have dairy (ie whey, casein, etc), egg, wheat, seeds, pineapple, beef free and didn't have a single issue!

 

[BeckyScott]

The GFCF Kids website has a listing
http://gfcfdiet.com/NewpageDirectory6.htm#B

It's a whole lot to print out, but it lists everything you can think of, really, brand names etc. They do point out, though, that sometimes companies will change ingredients... but I have that whole thing printed out in a folder, with highlights on the things I can find in a "normal" grocery store.

There is also a Yahoo Group that I think is just called GFCF Kids, and it's big and busy. I realize DH isn't a "kid" but those two places will definately get you going in the right direction.

 

[mechurchlady]

Bless you as I have been looking for gluten free foods and it is a comfort to know that many of the brands I use are gluten free. I will continue to use Heinz ketchup even if it is not on the list. It is nice to finally find a place with a good list of safe foods. I have a list in my head.

The biggest complaint is vague labelling like gums, natural flavours, natural colouring, food starch, dextrose and even sugar.