Living Gluten Free

A diagnosis of Celiac Disease, gluten intolerance, or really any other food allergy can be a mixture of the relief of having a solution and the fear of realizing that your life has drastically changed. Food is a central element of our lives and suddenly finding out that we've been poisoning ourselves with our food choices can make our head spin. Our daughter has celiac disease and those first days and weeks following her diagnosis consisted of a crash course in where gluten exists, what alternatives are out there, and some VERY long, expensive trips to specialty grocery stores. OH, let's not forget the guilt that comes with realizing the very things we gave her to make her feel better (crackers and pasta) were exactly what she shouldn't have been giving her. Since we have lived with this condition for the last six years, we are well versed in what works for our family and have been able to transfer that to Adventure Kids by carrying gluten free options for the children in our care that have similar dietary restrictions. Lately, we've had a number of families find out that they have celiac disease or are gluten intolerant. How a family adjusts to gluten free living is really a matter of preference. In our family, Nicole and Ed prefer to stay gluten free (GF) as a matter of choosing a healthy diet. We try to limit ourselves to lean meats, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats (with some GF carbs like brown rice or oatmeal). Our kids aren't quite on board with this set of restrictions though. They want to be kids & enjoy treats! For bread, we make gluten free bread at home. (We haven't found a bread in the stores that tastes decent.) Our bread of choice is called My Favorite Bread from Gluten Free Pantry . We buy it in bulk from amazon.com. Another staple in our kitchen is Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix. We use this mix for everything from pancakes and waffles to cookies and other baked goods. We buy a lot of things in bulk from amazon.com. All things made by Glutino are well made and popular with our family. Gluten Free Pantry is also a great brand, as is Bob's Red Mill. But what about NORMAL foods??? There are a LOT of foods in the grocery store that are gluten free. Doritos & Cheetos, Fruity or Chocolate Pebbles cereal, corn tortillas, and yogurts are easy & yummy. Hershey's chocolate, M&M's, chocolate chips, fruit snacks & even Fruit by the Foot are great treats & make life more normal for children with celiac. We've found gluten free options at some local restaurants as well. Red Robin now has gluten free buns, Pho soup noodles are gluten free, Extreme Pizza has a great GF crust, we've been to Jak's for brunch & they are great at GF food prep. McDonald's french fries are also gluten free - depending on the person we get, we can order a happy meal with two fries instead of a cheese burger. (I still won't let them play in the McDonald's playground though - it's just gross!) Grocery stores vary in their supply of GF foods as well. Safeway has some, QFC is better, & has some sections labeled as GF (don't waste time in the 'natural' section) and Fred Meyer has really stepped up their efforts to serve this sector of the population. Of course PCC and Trader Joe's are better resources, but do tend to be more expensive. There are many resources online dedicated to helping people acclimate to a gluten free lifestyle. Celiac.org is one of my favorites. But ultimately, I enjoy having a great conversation with people in our center about what they've learned along the way. Personal references and ideas tend to be the best way to learn new things available to the GF community. We hope the information provided here is helpful to our GF friends.