<p>For a variety of health reasons, I think my son and I should give up gluten. I’ve read “The Gluten Free Lifestyle for Dummies” (or some similar title). I think it would be great if the smart CC folks had a gluten free support thread. </p>
<p>I’m stuck on what to eat for breakfast (I hate eggs) and how to get enough fiber.</p>
<p>My grade-school daughter has Celiacs, and she usually eats oatmeal or other cold cereal for breakfast. Vans makes frozen gluten-free waffles.</p>
<p>The best advice we received upon receiving the diagnosis was to avoid the gluten-free versions of regular foods for a while. The gf macaroni and cheese, sandwich bread, cakes just don’t taste as good as the originals. Venture into that territory when you’ve forgotten what their counterparts taste like.</p>
<p>I’ve been GF for 8+ years after self-diagnosing that gluten was the cause of my GI issues(this after tests that went up, down & through [camera] were inconclusive). After listening to D1 complain of similar issues, she finally listened to me and did a gluten challenge late last year - went GF for a week, then baked a batch of brownies. Within an hour she agreed to go GF. (I forgot to mention she’s been a vegetarian since she was 11, so this is a big deal).</p>
<p>I found in the past year, the availability of GF food in regular grocery stores has increased dramaticly mostly thanks to General Mills. </p>
<p>I have a range of breakfast foods: GF Chex cereal (love the Cinnamon; D1 likes chocolate; honey nut OK); yougurt; fruit; pancakes w GF Bisquick; Trader Joes GF waffles; GF bread from TJ; eggs</p>
<p>D1 loves the TJ GF Mac & cheese - I think it is horrific. If you are fortunate to have a Trader Joe’s near you, it will make your life wonderful and save you lots of $ vs Whole Foods. </p>
<p>Just ask for other ideas - I’ve been living like this for nearly a decade and find it easy. The hardest thing is I now need reading glasses to check all ingredient labels in the store!</p>
<p>I made the GF brownies last night and could have eaten them all myself. Of course, if we pig out on all the boxed stuff and gluten free pasta, we’ll gain weight. I like the idea of eating the “cave man diet” but don’t know if we can. </p>
<p>Is there something inherently wrong with legumes including beans and peanuts? I know that hunter/gatherers didn’t have them.</p>
<p>nj2011mom, I guess my question to you is, did it help? I assume the answer is yes since you’ve stuck with it. What happened with your weight? (don’t answer if too personal.)</p>
<p>I’m interested in this topic, because I’ve read that a grain-free (not only gluten-free) diet might be better for those with autoimmune disorders, even if tests for celiac disease are negative.</p>
<p>[How</a> To Lose Weight With Spelt Bread | LIVESTRONG.COM](<a href=“http://www.livestrong.com/article/400113-how-to-lose-weight-with-spelt-bread/]How”>How to Lose Weight With Spelt Bread | Healthfully)</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“Dfwceliac.org”>http://www.dfwceliac.org/]DFWCeliac.org[/url</a>]</p>
<p>YMMV, as there is a fine line between fads and medical evidence.</p>
<p>I’m negative on all tests (blood & invasive ones) for celiac and I wasn’t losing weight because of it. My diagnosis was IBS. My symptoms cleared up as soon as I eliminated it and when I unknowningly consumed some (who knew soy sauce was gluten-based? spelt bagels: wheat-free, yes…gluten-free, NO!), they came roaring back. I also have Reynald’s which is a type of auto-imune disorder, however when you look at who in the population is gluten-intolerant, it’s typically people of Northern European decent, as wheat was not part of our ancestors’ diet. 3 of my 4 grandparents were from Northern Europe, so that link makes alot of sense. </p>
<p>PS - the betty crocker Gluten Free brownies are amazing! They’re like eating flowerless chocolate cake from a high-end restaurant! </p>
<p>I have also found I have eaten more potato chips since my diagnosis than in the rest of my life. Lots of other options too, corn tortillas are great substitute for bread. Once you focus on what you CAN eat, not what you can’t eat, you will be happier and healthier. (it makes cooking for a family a PITA when all your teenage son wants is chicken tenders, mac & cheese and pizza…)</p>
<p>D entering college this fall has Celiac Disease (I have posted elsewhere about our college visits)…she is the only one in the family who has tested positive so no idea where it came from; we all need to have genetic testing at some point (for the next generation)…she was diagnosed in 2005 and it has gotten SO much easier to find products over the last year or so…</p>
<p>Will be subscribing to this thread…</p>
<p>Just came home from Shop-Rite here in NJ; they are making a HUGE effort to get more GF stuff in their stores…</p>
<p>and fwiw, thank goodness for General Mills…and Bell and Evans…</p>
<p>Breakfast ideas: Van Frozen GF waffles, omelettes, Udi GF muffins (the lemon struesel flavor is amazing), Honey Nut Chex, Bakery on Main granola, Glutino bagels, english muffins…</p>
<p>btw, Kelloggs Rice Crispies will be GF starting this summer…just got an email last week…</p>
<p>Husband has it. </p>
<p>Look for Red Barn Products. They make some good bread mixes. For desserts, try Pamela’s Mixes. Her brownie mix blows Betty Crocker right out of the water! Chocolate chip cookies are good too…esp. if you add a few extra chips. Bisquick has a gluten-free mix now which is quite good but it comes in a small box and is expensive. Worth it, though, if you don’t want to give up biscuits and pancakes. </p>
<p>For soy sauce, buy La Choy. No wheat. </p>
<p>If you like beer, try Redbridge from Bud. My DH is a true beer guy (he used to make his own) and he says it’s pretty good indeed. There are other gluten-free beers but they are harder to find (Harris Teeter’s carries Redbridge) but they are high in alcohol. </p>
<p>It’s a hard road but worthwhile not to watch him suffer.</p>
<p>^^Bard’s has really good GF beer; most large liquor stores have…</p>
<p>btw, do all Harris Teeter supermarkets carry alcohol?</p>
<p>One of my favorite new snacks is Mary’s Crackers. Love them so it is easy to over eat. Yum…
[Mary's</a> Gone Crackers, Original, 6.5-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12): Amazon.com: Grocery & Gourmet Food](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Marys-Gone-Crackers-Original-6-5-Ounce/dp/tags-on-product/B000K8UL4C]Mary’s”>http://www.amazon.com/Marys-Gone-Crackers-Original-6-5-Ounce/dp/tags-on-product/B000K8UL4C)</p>
<p>There are some local pizza places that sell gluten-free crusts so you can make your own pizza. You might want to check in to that.</p>
<p>I just discovered French Meadows bakery products. Cookie doughs, brownies, and cupcakes. I’m not doing GFCF but I buy a LOT of GFCF products because of my dairy allergy, they often don’t use dairy in the gluten free designated foods to avoid using casein. Nameste foods does a really good pancake and waffle mix. Betty crocker does good stuff, too. I just got a biscuit mix but I don’t know the brand and haven’t tried them yet, will report back when I have.</p>
<p>Those are all brands we found at our local Meijer, which is a Midwestern sort of cross between walmart and target… so stuff you could probably find at a normal grocery store. That’s a major bonus for me because shopping at whole foods to find these kind of speciality things was breaking the bank.</p>
<p>The cottage in here also makes a gluten free pizza, not sure if that is nationwide or just at ours-- ours is supposedly THE original cottage inn so maybe it’s just special. Worth looking into, when you have special dietary needs for the most part the days of ordering take out are over.</p>
<p>definitely sign me up for a support thread…</p>
<p>G-free here…but it’s more experimental than celiacs related. D2 has many autoimmune issues that cluster with celiacs. She also showed as high risk on a genetic test, and has another immune deficiency that would prevent a blood test from showing celiacs. So, for now, we are g-free until we might do a challenge to see if an endoscopy truly shows she has celiacs. I am doing this with her to support her and look at the world through her eyes - it’s been interesting.</p>
<p>Her symptoms have been: auto immune thyroid disorder, alopecia, severe psoriasis, mild vitiligo, very slow growth, some ADD, gasto intestinal issues, and always catching whatever is going around. She also had what we think was peripheral neuropathy.</p>
<p>All of these things have calmed or disappeared entirely. We haven’t checked thyroid recently - betting that is still with us. She’s been very healthy this entire school year and she grew a lot. So we are sticking with this for now - her choice.</p>
<p>Here are the products we have found are pretty good for breakfast:
Chex - the new flavors…LOVE cinnamon
King Arthur GF pancake mix - we can’t distinguish between this and our other old fave
VANs waffles - not bad
Grits
banana, yogurt, strawberries
we have hard boiled eggs always on hand (when cooking an omelette or scrambling eggs is not an option)
fruity or cocoa pebbles
Nature Valley almond crunch or peanut crunch bars (these are not granola - granola bars have wheat)
you have to be cautious of oatmeal…it’s not all free from gluten, apparently it’s cross contaminated alot. Bob’s Red Mill is apparently a good brand.</p>
<p>She does get weepy every now and then about the situation. It’s hard when pizza, cookies and cakes come out at school. There is little or nothing for her in the cafeteria. However, at home, we have found a substitute for almost everything, and if we know pizza is being served, we’ve even found an extremely good carry out pizza that is GF (still riding pizza - when cooked properly is excellent)</p>
<p>God sends have been: Heartland pasta - available at walmart
Jason’s Deli, which is a chain - has great sandwich bread and gf meats, etc. They have loaded baked potatoes that are the size of small infants. free frozen yogurt
Most everything by King Arthur…flourless chocolate cake! nom nom nom
Outback Steakhouse - if you order correctly
PF Changs - if you order correctly
Whole foods pie crust…all others we have tried are HORRIBLE
Amy’s GF burritos
quite a few progresso soups
McCormick taco seasoning, and tex mex chili, some others as well
Many frito products
Rice chips - who knew??? awesome. have gotten addicted to these. good brand is lundberg
lentil crackers
lots of potato chips
caesars frozen pasta dinners (manicotti, etc)
glutino pretzels
various candies
many ice creams
fruity and cocoa pebbles ‘rice krispie’ treats. regular RK treats are not gf
perdue rotisserie chix, our sam’s club chix are now gf also, i heard costco is too
fruit by the foot
boar’s head deli meats
corn bread made correctly</p>
<p>We’ve learned to make various things, and keep tons of food in the house - we try to encourage ‘whole foods’ but we need our convenience products. We’ve definitely become bigger chip eaters since losing the bread.</p>
<p>It’s been an adventure.</p>
<p>^^try Udi’s bread at Whole foods if you haven’t found one that you like yet; excellent…</p>
<p>Where do you find he van’s frozen waffles? I’ve never come across those, it’d be nice to put the waffle iron away for a while.</p>
<p>^^ most supermarkets; where do you live? is there a WHole Foods nearby? I imagine if you go on the Van’s website they should have a retail locator…</p>
<p>try their store locator and see if that works</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to Van’s Natural Foods](<a href=“http://www.vansfoods.com/]Welcome”>http://www.vansfoods.com/)</p>
<p>will give the udi’s bread a try</p>
<p>Red Mill – Not Red Barn. Sorry. </p>
<p>All the Harris Teeters around here (NC) have a beer/wine section. They will order Redbridge if you ask nicely.</p>
<p>One of the grocery stores in our town has each gluten free item marked on the shelf.</p>
<p>I just had enjoy life soft baked chocolate chip cookies, which are great and gluten free and safe for tons of different allergies.</p>