Teen Newly Diagnosed

[Tgilman]

Can someone please tell me what I can feed her. I have been trying to get her all of the things that I can find but she is 13 and is so miserable. I don' t know what to make her for dinner or lunch. She ate cereal for almost everything. It was her favorite food. Please help me

[BlessedMommy]

What were her favorite proteins and lunches before? Many, if not most, regular menu items can be modified to be made gluten free.

[cyclinglady]

Have you checked the newbie section (see the link below)? It has some helpful tips.

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/91878-newbie-info-101/

I have a non-celiac 13 old daughter who lives in a gluten free household. She loves my gluten free cakes and cookies. Do you bake? Other than those items, she eats gluten-free bread and pasta, but we are big into eating more rice and potatoes. She eats gluten-free cereal, but finds that eggs give her more energy in the morning. She does eat gluten outside the house and that is because she does well on it so far, but she must be tested every three years or so. Odds are that gluten will become an issue for her someday (both parents can not eat gluten!)

Your daughter is probably mourning the loss of gluten and being "different". That is normal and so understandable! She will make the adjustment and so will you!

Give her extra hugs and kisses!

Oh, you might send her off with gluten-free homemade cookies to share with her friends at school or other social events. Then they will know that it is not really different. My daughter shares her gluten-free Lunch with her friends daily. Plus, they have lots of gluten-free goodies to share when they are at our house. No one feels deprived and being gluten-free is not "weird"!

[Cara in Boston]

We had tacos for dinner every night for a week when my son and I were diagnosed.  After a while, we figured out that most of what we normally ate was either naturally gluten-free or could easily be modified.

 

At first I ran out and bought everything that had "gluten free" on the label.  I put on 15 pounds in a month eating so much junk food.  (And lots of it didn't even taste good.)  Don't do that.  Just buy substitute food for things you can't give up (hamburger buns) and tweak family favorites so she doesn't feel like she is deprived.  

 

The only thing I really, really miss is brick oven pizza and fried apple-cider donuts.  Everything else I can almost make exactly as it tasted before.

 

Some good substitutes:

 

Sandwich bread/hamburger buns, hot dog buns:  Udi's or Schar

Pasta:  Barilla Gluten Free

Cereal:  Chex, Barbaras

Pizza Crust (mix) Bob's Red Mill.  (Premade) Schar

Snyders gluten-free pretzels (plain and buffalo)

Glutino pretzel crisps

 

 

Betty Crocker makes a great gluten-free brownie mix . . . I make a batch and freeze them.  Then I can slip them one at a time into my son's lunch box.  We also bring them to picnics and other pot-lucks and no one can tell they are gluten-free.  Same with Rice Krispee Treats (us gluten-free cereal)

 

I found that cookbooks and webpage for eating Paleo were extremely helpful.  You can modify recipes to include dairy/sugar/etc. if you are not following all the restrictions.

 

There is a couple of crockpot cookbooks (Make it fast, cook it slow?)  something like that.  They are easy, good, and all happen to be gluten-free even though it is not advertised as a gluten-free cookbook.  

 

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If you list a couple of your usual dinners, we can probably help you with suggestions for making them gluten-free.

[GFinDC]

Hi,

 

Recovery from celiac disease damage to the gut can take a while.  Months to over a year is not unusual.  During the early months of recovery the gut is still irritated and sensitive.  So many foods may make her sick just because her gut is already irritated.  So it can be helpful to try and eliminate hard to digest foods from her diet for a while.  Simple, natural, whole foods are the best bet.  Lots of ingredients in a food is not good for a still healing gut.  Sticking with foods with 3 or fewer ingredients will make her diet easier to digest and less stressful on her body.

 

Things like meats, veggies, nuts and fruits are naturally gluten-free.  Try to make her diet mainly from those things.  It might help to educate her on the immune process and reaction some.  And get her involved in her diet choices.  The immune reaction is very sensitive.  Think of how small a germ is, yet the immune system will detect and attack them.  The immune reaction doesn't stop an hour or two after eating something with gluten.  It can go on for weeks or months.  So it's important to avoid cc (cross-contamination) as every slip up is weeks long set back.  That another reason to stick with mainly whole foods you cook yourself at home.  That way you know what the ingredients are and can troubleshoot reactions.  It makes things much simpler and safer to avoid most processed foods.  Some people eat them but consider them treats rather than daily fare.  They are (gluten-free processed foods) are expensive so that makes sense.

 

There are some gluten-free wraps that can be used instead of bread.  Udi's makes wraps and Food for Life makes wraps.  They are usually made from rice flour.  Mission corn tortillas chips are gluten-free and make a nice snack and so do Planter peanuts.

 

 

Some starting the gluten-free diet tips for the first 6 months:

Get tested before starting the gluten-free diet.
Get your vitamin/mineral levels tested also.
Don't eat in restaurants
Eat only whole foods not processed foods.
Eat only food you cook yourself, think simple foods, not gourmet meals.
Take probiotics.
Take gluten-free vitamins.
Take digestive enzymes.
Avoid dairy if it causes symptoms.
Avoid sugars and starchy foods. They can cause bloating.
Avoid alcohol.
Watch out for cross contamination.

Helpful threads:

FAQ Celiac com
https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/forum-7/announcement-3-frequently-asked-questions-about-celiac-disease/

Newbie Info 101
https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/91878-newbie-info-101/

 

Some threads on stuff ta eat.

*********************************************************************************

Easy yummy bread in minutes
https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/56641-easy-yummy-bread-in-minutes/

 

Thread For gluten-free, Dairy, Soy, Corn And Nightshade Free Recipes
https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/97786-thread-for-gluten-free-dairy-soy-corn-and-nightshade-free-recipes/

Super Easy Meal Ideas Anyone?
https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/97027-super-easy-meal-ideas-anyone/

Good Gluten Free Meals Prepared Using A Microwave?
https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/102685-good-gluten-free-meals-prepared-using-a-microwave/#entry885634

[nvsmom]

I actually did go out and buy a bunch of gluten-free treats. It helped me feel like I wasn't being deprived in any way...and I actually lost weight at first.  LOL

 

It helped me to have a gluten-free household too.  I didn't have to watch my family members eat foods that I wanted to eat but couldn't - that made it much easier for me. My children are all gluten-free and my husband gets his gluten fix when he is out of the house.  Is that something you would consider doing for her?  

 

You might want to host get togethers for her at your home too. That way you have control over her food and all of her friends will be eating the same thing as her.  It's a good idea to have gluten-free treats on hand and snacks that she can take out and share with friends too. It's important for her to have safe foods but if she is the only one eating it, it could seem weird - sharing would solve that problem.

 

Good luck.  

[kareng]

Can someone please tell me what I can feed her. I have been trying to get her all of the things that I can find but she is 13 and is so miserable. I don' t know what to make her for dinner or lunch. She ate cereal for almost everything. It was her favorite food. Please help me

  

 

Chex cereals are almost all gluten-free.  I think Pebbles cereals say gluten-free, too?  Maybe that would help a little.

 

Yep -Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles are gluten-free.

[shermhugh]

I feel for you -- I have a 13 year old daughter with celiac, too, and I know how overwhelming it was at the beginning to figure out what to eat.  Hang in there - it does get better once you get into a new routine with meals.

 

* Real food tastes best.  My celiac daughter likes chicken breast with mashed potatoes, gravy (thicken with corn starch, not flour) and vegetables.  A stir fry.  Chicken caesar salad or any hearty salad.  Tacos.  Chicken fried rice (using gluten-free soy sauce/tamari).  Double what you make and she'll have the leftovers for lunch the next day.  For parties, instead of ordering pizza we have a taco bar or fondue.

 

* It might take a month or so for the gluten-free products to taste good to her.  When my daughter was first diagnosed, it all tasted awful.  After about a month or so, she tried them again and her taste buds had changed.  Start with UDI's bread, Barilla gluten-free pasta and Annie's gluten-free mac and cheese.  Pamela's pancakes have an almond flavor to them that we really like but the Betty Crocker gluten-free pancakes are more like the gluten-version.  The Betty Crocker gluten-free chocolate cake tastes good to my non-celiac children as well.

 

* Breakfast for us has shifted to more fruits and eggs.  Chex has gluten free cereals.  Bob's Red Mill has gluten free oats if she likes oatmeal.  Udi's bread makes good toast.

 

Good luck - you've got this!

[Cara in Boston]

Buy a couple of GoPicnic meals (several varieties are gluten free) to have on hand.  Keep one in her school locker, one in the car, etc.  These are easy to grab if she is going to be out of the house for a day.  I send them with my son if he is going over to someone's house . . . just in case.  I buy them at Target when they are on sale.

 

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