Busy Mom of 3 - Tired of This Disease

[Rachel Docksteader]

Anyone else just about fed up with Celiac Disease? The amount of time I spend preventing cross contamination with every single meal and every single snack is… enough to drive someone mad. 
 

Making the rest of the family food while also preparing my gluten-free food - hey, I want spaghetti too! Trying to do it simultaneously on different sides of the kitchen. Wash hands every time I touch something. Did  I use that spoon for the gluten pasta by accident? I better just grab a new one. Wash hands again.

About to sit to eat my gluten-free sandwich - have to help one of the kids with their gluten sandwich. Wash hands. Again.

Every day.
 

All this work and then I accidentally gluten myself because I’m such a mombie (#exhaustedmom) that I slip up in the busyness of it all and gluten myself by an eating a piece of their pan pizza to test if it was ready. Thinking I made it with the gluten-free tortillas. Wrong. These were the full on gluten ones. >face palm< 

Well, there goes my next few days. Send help. 😫 

 

 

[Wheatwacked]

22 minutes ago, Rachel Docksteader said:

I want spaghetti too!

Try the Ronzoni Gluten Free Thin spaghetti. They won't notice the difference. 

I use Against the Grain 3 cheese pizza. brush the bottom with Grapeseed oil, add my own pizza sauce olive oil and sliced mushrooms and mix it in to the cheese. I panfry it in a cast iron frypan covered, but then I only cook one quarter at a time. It would probably do as well in a very hot oven on a tray. The grapeseed oil makes it crisper.

Yeah, the thrill of Celiac disease is over for me too.  Time to wake up. LOL

Edited March 11, 2023 by Wheatwacked

[knitty kitty]

@Rachel Docksteader,

Have your kids been tested for Celiac Disease?  Even if they don't have symptoms yet, they could have inherited Celiac genes from you.  Cutting the kids' exposure to gluten now may help prevent them from developing Celiac later.  

There are many members who have a strict gluten free home, but allow gluten eating outside of the home.  Save your sanity!   

Edited March 11, 2023 by knitty kitty
Typo correction

[Rachel Docksteader]

2 hours ago, Wheatwacked said:

Try the Ronzoni Gluten Free Thin spaghetti. They won't notice the difference. 

I use Against the Grain 3 cheese pizza. brush the bottom with Grapeseed oil, add my own pizza sauce olive oil and sliced mushrooms and mix it in to the cheese. I panfry it in a cast iron frypan covered, but then I only cook one quarter at a time. It would probably do as well in a very hot oven on a tray. The grapeseed oil makes it crisper.

Yeah, the thrill of Celiac disease is over for me too.  Time to wake up. LOL

Okay! I’ll have to see if we sell either of those in our stores here. The options are definitely getting better than what used to be available, thankfully, but we still don’t have as many of the brands/options I’ve seen people talk about! 

[Rachel Docksteader]

2 hours ago, knitty kitty said:

@Rachel Docksteader,

Have your kids been tested for Celiac Disease?  Even if they don't have symptoms yet, they could have inherited Celiac genes from you.  Cutting the kids' exposure to gluten now may help prevent them from developing Celiac later.  

There are many members who have a strict gluten free home, but allow gluten eating outside of the home.  Save your sanity!   

My two oldest have my 5& 3 year olds have been tested and are negative - my (newly) 2  year old still needs to her his. My doctor has been great to screen them young for my peace of mind. I pray they don’t end up with this but will test again if they start to develop symptoms or I’m worried.

I’ve thought about going completely gluten-free in the house. We don’t do any gluten free baking in the house - so I guess that’s a step towards it. Absolutely no gluten flours floating in my air haha!
 

 

[trents]

Yes, it sounds like you may need to declare your house a gluten free zone. Let the other nonceliac members of the family get their gluten elsewhere.

[Scott Adams]

I am in a mixed gluten-free vs. eat gluten house, and it does take everyone following some basic protocols to keep things safe. It's more expensive to take the whole house gluten-free, and some of your family members may revolt against the idea, but hopefully they will understand.

[Rachel Docksteader]

9 minutes ago, Scott Adams said:

I am in a mixed gluten-free vs. eat gluten house, and it does take everyone following some basic protocols to keep things safe. It's more expensive to take the whole house gluten-free, and some of your family members may revolt against the idea, but hopefully they will understand.

Yes, at this point I don't see our house going completely gluten free...the prices where I am are insanely high for gluten free foods. I think it's like that most places from what I've heard. I want my kids and husband to be able to eat as normally as possible. As much as it would be nice to not have the extra worry when I'm preparing food, it simply doesn't make since for our family.

Thanks for your message - it helps to have this community. Have been celiac for years but just found this forum yesterday!

[Hypo]

10 hours ago, Rachel Docksteader said:

Yes, at this point I don't see our house going completely gluten free...the prices where I am are insanely high for gluten free foods. I think it's like that most places from what I've heard. I want my kids and husband to be able to eat as normally as possible. As much as it would be nice to not have the extra worry when I'm preparing food, it simply doesn't make since for our family.

Thanks for your message - it helps to have this community. Have been celiac for years but just found this forum yesterday!

I am sorry but I can't understand this. We have a person WITH a disease, who already has a hard time because of it, who has to accomodate people WITHOUT the disease. Instead of the other way around. On top of it all, the person with the disease is the one doing all the work, food wise (if I understood correctly), making multiple meals, etc..

I suspect it has to do with women and mothers always willing to sacrifice more than they should.

This is your health we are talking about, that can be endangered with cross contamination, and your mental peace that is affected by constant worry and fear of CC. Gluten free is not neccessarily more expensive. You can still get 95 percent of the same food (meat, fish, veggies, fruit, rice, eggs, dairy, nuts, you name it)! The only investment I made was a bread maker to make gluten free bread. gluten-free flour is more expensive, that is true, but a) bread is not that healthy to eat so much of anyway, b) it is not that much more expensive if we consider all the junk we buy and eat all the time that is really not necessary.

And if your family needs a gluten fix, they can go into any cheap fast food chain and get a burger, eat a bag of cookies somewhere or even bring that home and eat it and clean after themselves. But there is ABSOLUTELY no need for you to prepare gluten meals at home and constantly contaminate your kitchen, and give yourself more work and worry (and with 3 kids you already have plenty of that).

My whole houeshold is gluten free, because of me. And I will not make any accommodations regarding this. My health and well being is more important than my family's petty wish to have a "real" pasta or bread instead of its gluten free version (and which they can get outside anyway - they are not permanently barred from it.) Period. Anything else would just be really selfish, inconsiderate and disrespectful from their side. I value myself more than that and so should you.

[trents]

14 hours ago, Rachel Docksteader said:

Yes, at this point I don't see our house going completely gluten free...the prices where I am are insanely high for gluten free foods. I think it's like that most places from what I've heard. I want my kids and husband to be able to eat as normally as possible. As much as it would be nice to not have the extra worry when I'm preparing food, it simply doesn't make since for our family.

Thanks for your message - it helps to have this community. Have been celiac for years but just found this forum yesterday!

I largely agree with what Hypo said and would like to emphasize that eating gluten-free need not be expensive if you focus on eating fresh foods like meat, veggies and fruit. It's the processed, ready made gluten-free stuff that is costly.  Actually, converting to a gluten-free household can be healthier in that sense for everyone because it eliminates a lot of junk carbs that most household eat too much of.

[KHL]

On 3/10/2023 at 7:42 PM, Rachel Docksteader said:

Okay! I’ll have to see if we sell either of those in our stores here. The options are definitely getting better than what used to be available, thankfully, but we still don’t have as many of the brands/options I’ve seen people talk about! 

If you live in a smaller town, you can look to online shops that deliver better quality gluten free items. A few options (for Canadians): 

https://naturamarket.ca/values/gluten-free.html

https://www.healthyplanetcanada.com/grocery/gluten-free.html

https://well.ca/categories/gluten-free_967.html

[GlutenbusterMama]

My oldest son and my husband are celiac and me and my youngest son are not. I find that making one gluten free meal for all of us makes life easier. There are so many gluten-free dinner options that taste as good as the regular version, we hardly notice the difference. gluten-free pasta, gluten-free tortillas, gluten-free nuggets are all staples in my house and they make easy dinners. It makes life easier and it's so much safer for the celiac's in the house. It was overwhelming at first to switch everything but now that we have been doing it awhile, no one notices or complains.