New to gluten free

[tinkerbell423]

My aspie DS's GI has told us to put him on a gluten free diet. Can any gluten free veterans give me their favorite web site/ books/foods to help me start this process. I ahve started with the basics but I feel overwhelmed

Thanks

 

[mamabear7905]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Gluten Free! I have also been recently introduced to this diet as my 6-year old was put on this diet to help manage her ASD. I know it's controversial but I have noticed a big difference and I'm sold on it!

Starting out can be very overwhelming I know. I am still learning myself. here are a few of the sites that I have found to be helpful.

glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

glutenfreeville.com

Also Cooking Light just released a new Gluten Free cook book this month. It's around $15 and is so worth the buy.

We are going to be going on our first WDW trip in a few weeks and this new diet made me very nervous about it, but from what I have seen here and from talking to the wonderful dining cast members at Disney our vacation should be as great as we are hoping it will!

I am constantly doing research on this Gluten Free stuff and I will try to pass it on as I come across anything worth while! GOOD LUCK!

 

[tinkerbell423]

Thank you Kira I appreciate the tips I will check out the sites tonight and look fornthe cookbook.

Do you find you have to cook from scratch more due to the gluten free?

 

[jcano]

Two Celiac kids in our house. Dx'd about 4 years ago. It is challenging, but once you get the hang of it cooking at home isn't bad. Going out...well....that can be a different story, and a mission trip to Nicaragua can definitely be challenging; however, we've always found a way to work it out to where our DD's can do whatever they want, even if they do end up taking a suitcase of food with them.

There are a couple magazines that are great.

http://www.livingwithout.com/
http://www.glutenfreeliving.com/

Cecilia's is a great resource when you are first learning what is gf and what you need to avoid. The book has a whole list of "regular" grocery store items that are GF.

http://www.ceceliasmarketplace.com/

My favorite cookbook for desserts is The Cake Dr. Bakes GF. We have loved everything that we have tried...especially the Snickerdoodle Cake...yum!

You'll probably find that most of your recipes can be converted with a few minor changes to ingredients. Watch out for the soy sauce, marinades, and BBQ sauce. Most soy sauce is made from wheat (who knew!), and malt flavoring (made from barley) tend to show up in the strangest places (like Rice Krispies). Kellogg just came out with a GF version of Rice Krispies, so we celebrated with a huge pan of RK Treats.

I do cook and bake a lot more from scratch than I used to. The pre-made gf items tend to be expensive and (sometimes) they just don't taste good.

 

[jcano]

Just thought I'd add...WDW is the best vacation that we have taken since going GF!! It is the one place that ew have found that a GF mom doesn't have to worry about, "Where are we going to eat?"

 

[jcano]

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Just remembered this one. All crock-pot recipes...all gluten-free.

 

[C&G'sMama]

We started our son with Asperger's on GF diet in March of 2010. So it's been about 1 1/2 years. I don't have any websites I frequent, if there's something a recipe I'm looking for I will "google" it to get ideas.

Once we got used to it it isn't really a big deal and is second nature. And because companies have gotten on board (realizing there's money to be made) I feel like it's pretty easy today.

While the whole family hasn't gone GF we definitely feel we are all eating better because we do a lot more of "scratch" cooking. DS knows how to read labels and will check a package to make sure it's okay. I don't do GF baked goods from scratch but I love Bobs Red Mill mixes as well as Betty Crocker's cake mixes and GF Bisquick.

If we want meatballs we make them, we buy GF bread crumbs to bind. We've done GF chicken parm. For bread he likes UDI's and we have a local deli that has GF products (the wife is a Celiac and loves to cook so she develop bread, pizza crusts, meatballs etc)

We have found a good range of GF cereals that he'll eat. He eats a lot of meat, fruits and veggies which he has always liked. We make our own French "Fries". We cut up potatoes in strips and put them in the oven. We all like those. We eat a lot of rice (which always have). We make a lot of homemade stir fry, which we always have too, but we pay attention to what's in the sauces now.

If you're family likes to eat out at all we've found our couple of favorites. We don't eat out a lot but we do like to go out once in awhile. We've found a couple of local places and a couple of national chains.

As for GF at Disney. Wow. This past May/June was our first trip to WDW since putting him on GF. He LOVED it. It was absolutely wonderful. He had Chicken Nuggets and fries (a big treat to get out for him), cheeseburger on a bun, GF rolls BBQ etc.

Good Luck and keep us posted!

 

[ZandZsMom]

My DD11 has been gluten free for just over 2 years now. I really like Robyn Ryberg's "Gluten Free Kitchen"..the recipes are all made from corn starch and potato starch. I find the recipes to taste the closest to their gluten laden counter parts. If you want to send me a PM with your email address I will send you an excel spreadsheet that I keep updated with the brands that she likes best.

Sadly, it takes alot of trial and error (and wasted money) to find what you do like. Adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com has great granola bar and "goldfish" crackers recipes.

Like a PP said, be careful of marinades and such. There is gluten hidden in the darndest places.

 

[brown1442]

My 6 year old with autism also has celiac and multiple food allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, milk, soy, vanilla, and bell peppers). He's been gluten free for 4 years now (since before his autism diagnosis actually). I have honestly found the less specialized the product is the better it tastes We do the VAST majority of our shopping in regular grocery stores. Specialty gluten free products are expensive and rarely taste good. You just need to find a few key ingredients and then go from there. I buy gluten free flour (there are several good ones), gluten free bread crumbs (I like Gillians), and rice pasta (Tinkyada), and then the rest of his food we buy in a regular store.

I actually don't make a ton homemade... just a few things like chicken nuggets, muffins, meatballs, and pancakes. I usually make them once every 2-3 months and freeze.

From a regular store my son eats...
* applegate farm hot dogs, hormel mini pepperonis, hormel or hillshire farm lunch meats,
* Lays potato chips, Tostitos (original), Fritos, Mike sells puffed corn, and kettle corn (forgetting the brand off the top of my head), sweet potato chips, and rice cakes
* Craisins, Fruitabus, Twisted fruits, Annies gummy bunnies, Brothers all natural freeze dried fruits
* Rice Chex, Corn Chex, GF Rice Krispies, Fruit Pepples, and Cocoa Pebbles

Thats just a few examples... there's many more!! It just takes time to figure out what your child like and what they are willing to eat.

 

[tinkerbell423]

Thank you to everyone that offered the adivce. I found some great avice and help.
I appreciate it!

 

[KristenFNJ]

Welcome to the club! Lots of great pointers here. I agree that checking out celiac info will give a lot of sound gluten free advice. celiac.com is a good place for g/f info, they have a message board with forums devoted to gluten free foods, g/f ingredients and labeling and g/f restaurants.

 

[C&G'sMama]

I just noticed your location. Assuming it's Upstate New York Between Binghamton and Buffalo and you're not too far North. Wegmans. They have a very good selection of GF products as well as stuff to get you started baking from scratach if you want (I haven't ventured into baking from scratch)

If you're close to Rochester, PM me and I can give you some more ideas locally.