Gluten-Free and Loving It

So here’s the thing: I’ve never claimed to be an expert at anything. Many days I’ve wished I could be a subject matter expert (SME—that sounds so professional, doesn’t it?) but it’s taking too long to find the subject.

I do know I’m good at being an advocate for my kids. When I get all the moons aligned and all the experiments over and all the diagnoses nailed, I will call myself an SME at MOK (My Own Kid). Until then, take this as my disclaimer that I am not going to cure you with this blog post or any of my blog postings for that matter. I’ll give you some really cool resources I’ve found, but don’t consider me an SME of you. K?

My little intro is this. My son and I started our GF diet in March of 2009. We went at it slowly and followed this excellent plan of attack found at TACA. If you’re new to a GF diet, or any special dietary restriction, don’t go cold turkey. Grandma went cold turkey off the heaters, but you should not try that. Grandma’s been through a lot. She’s a tough old bird (please oh please don’t tell her I called her old).

I’ve read it takes a long time to completely rid your body of gluten, especially if you have a gluten intolerance or celiac disease. If your body doesn’t like it, it has a harder time getting rid of it. If you have celiac disease the tiny little hairs on your colon are smashed and can’t absorb the nutrients from foods you eat and become coated with that gluten. That said, don’t expect overnight changes with this diet.

Always watching what we spend, my goal has always been to find foods that are “mainstream” foods that we can continue to eat without spending a fortune on special food. Here are some links to sites or statements I have that are for mainstream foods (aka Baked Lays potato chips are GF and anyone can buy them anywhere).

This is by far the most comprehensive list I’ve found of mainstream foods that are GF. Start here!

Hunts brand

Nestle candies

General list of candy

Another good list...

Hormel brand

Chex cereals

Restaurant lists
Biaggis has been incredible and their GF pizza is awesome.

Other cool blogs that have details and tips and tricks on GF :
http://moreglutenfreeoptions.blogspot.com/
http://newfaceofautism.blogspot.com/
http://killthegluten.blogspot.com/
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/ (She also has amazing photos on her site)

Watch out! Hidden sources of gluten

Our pediatrician recommended this book for finding mainstream foods. He’s got a son with celiac so I believe him.

Very cool grocery store in Woodbury, MN.

Very good supply of GF and organic foods.

The pretzels my son inhales as if the world will run out of them if he stopped eating, by Glutino.

The crackers I cannot put down until I eat the whole box, by Blue Diamond.

Do you have some resources to share? Let’s post them here.