One Day A Week Gluten?

[azedazobollis]

My six year old daughter has been gluten free for 5 weeks now. We see tremendous changes in her. We have been allowing her one day a week to eat anything. This is the night we go out to dinner- usually we go out for pizza.

She tested a high positive on the gliadinAb IGg test. Our doctor recommended w try a gluten free diet.

Thank you

Christine

[FreyaUSA]

Imo, all the good work you do by restricting her diet the rest of the week is destroyed by the one day a week. My son doesn't get over the obvious signs from an "accidental" glutening for anywhere from 1-2 weeks. I would think the invisible ones are even worse. Again, just my opinion.

[flagbabyds]

defenitly don't do that, even if she isn't getting symptoms and your doctor said she needed to do the diet then you should follow the strick gluten free diet

[lovegrov]

Christine,

This is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very bad idea. You're teaching your child it's OK to cheat and that's just not true. You could be setting her up for future autoimmune diseases and other problems. She MUST go completely gluten-free. Period.

richard

[dkmb]

You can still have a pizza night out and remain gluten-free if you bring your own gluten-free pizza and some aluminum foil for the restaurant to heat it on. My granddaughter has gone to pizza places, where she has brought her own with no problem and extra care by the staff to make sure it remains gluten free.

DK

[azedazobollis]

This is all so new to me. It took me 3 weeks to realize that wheat free does not mean gluten free. Im learning.

It really burns me up that stores overprice some of the gluten free products. My child hardly eats anything. It's such a challenge and Im thankful to have this site for information.

Thank you.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

The prices of food really is bad. When I move out on my own I will have to do that whole tax them with compairing between how I would live in not having Celiacs. Part of the reason while I still live at home is because of food. It drives me crazy.

The learning about which foods are safe and which aren't will take an awful long time. Good luck and I am glad she;s feeling better. You'll soon see that there are lots of options on food!

[rgeelan]

I would never let my kid cheat... It's just not worth the price to us... Especially not once a week. Then I spend the next 2 or 3 days (depending on how much gluten he got) dealing with a total grouch and cleaning up vomit...

I have found that food is much more expensive but it's not bad tasting and if you can make some stuff it really is easier... Pizza is still an option we just make his special and we can still go out to eat we just have to be very careful...

[3boyzmom]

Christine,

Welcome! It can be so overwhelming at first... everything I was used to feeding my son seemed to have gluten in it. I've been on this gluten-free journey for only 10 months and I still learn new things everyday.

I am not a scientist or a doctor... and my understanding of the whole process is very basic...

What I understand now that I didn't in the beginning is how the gluten ends up affecting the gluten intolerant person's body. The body of a gluten intolerant person sees gliadin (the protein found in wheat, barley and rye) as an invading toxin/virus/bacteria. When it encounters it, it begins to create 'tons' of anti-bodies to gliadin to help attack and rid the body of this invader. Gliadin, unlike a virus or bacteria, does not replicate but the bpdy doesn't know that and therefore creates 'tons' of antibodies for each gliadin culprit it meets. These antibodies then begin to try to rid the body of the gliadin. This is where my understanding is lacking... I am not sure if the gliadin proteins deposit thmselves or are embedded in certain areas of the body, therefore causing the autoimmune reaction of the body attack itself. In person's with Celiac disease, the villi of the small intestines are attacked... in other diseases, which I believe are gluten intolerant realted, it could be the pancreas (diabetes) the brain (autism, bipolar, schitzophrenia, epilepsy..), the thyroid, (hyper/hypo thyroid), ...

When someone who has elevated ani-gliadin anti-bodies eats gluten, they are telling their body to launch an attack... the key in being healthy and not to develop any of these serious disease or even cancer... is to not feed the body gluten. To a gluten intolerant person, gluten = poison.

If you can think of it in these terms... you would understand why so many people responded so vehemently against the practice of a once a week indulgence. It is the equivalent of someone injesting a poison only once a week, instead of daily. Once a week won't kill you as fast, but the damage is still the same.

What we need to realize is that eating a gluten filled diet is not healthy.. not even for the non-gluten-intolerant folks. At least this is what I've come to realize.

Granted these are my humble opinions and I am still elarning everyday!

Priscilla

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." --Phyllis Diller

(I am NOT a doctor, nor do I play one on t.v.! I am just a mother of a gluten intolerant child who has read and chatted with others in the same boat. Please feel free to challenge me or point me towards any research and information, I'm always searching!)

[tarnalberry]

Definitely not a good idea. Not strictly adhereing to the gluten-free is what increases the risk of complications later in life for celiacs. The continuing intestinal damage, which isn't given the opportunity to heal, can lead to increased chances of lymphoma.

[azedazobollis]

Priscilla, and everyone, Thank you for explaining. I understand. Or, I should say, Im learning .

I never thought about about asking a chef to cook chicken/ beef on aluminum foil. That's a great idea!

I went to the store tonight and bought so many packages of "The Gluten Free Pantry" mixes. Zobey lives on the brownies for treats. They are soooo yummy!!!! Im nervous about making the breads. I hope they come out well. lol. Im not the "chef" in the family.

[tarnalberry]

You can keep costs down by making foods that are naturally gluten-free. Fruits, vegetables, meats (not injected with broth), rice, beans, corn, dairy, etc... are all gluten free. There are plenty of italian (it's not just pasta on their table!), mexican, thai, chinese, and american foods that you can make naturally gluten-free - more, I'm sure, but those are the ones I'm most familiar with. ;-). It takes some time and practice - it's skill to learn just like riding a bike - but it can help save on costs.

[lovegrov]

Turtle,

Don't want to be too discouraging about the tax deduction but you need to remember a few things:

1. You have to be able to itemize to do it. Most people have to buy a house before they have enough deductions to itemize. Until you buy a house, you usually pay less by taking the standard deduction.

2. Medical expenses have to be 7.5 percent of your gross income to take it. Even in my sickest year when it seemed like I was always seeing the doctor, I didn't even come close (I have insurance).

3. Nobody is really sure if this actually an allowable deduction because it's never been specifically ruled on. Some think it would be disallowed because gluten-free specialty food is not necessary to sustain life. That was the reasoning when the IRS ruled on diet food. Because people don't need diet food to lose weight, it's not deductable.

The way to cut your food bill is to avoid the overpriced gluten-free specialty items. I buy some gluten-free crackers, pasta and cereal and that's about it. I don't eat bread. The crackers and cereal are actually close to the price for regular stuff. I figure I actually spend less on food than before going gluten-free because I don't eat out as much.

[DawnI]

NO Cheating please........I lost my husband to this terrible disease.....I make my kids pizza at home - buy the gluten-free pizza dough at whole foods, roll it out put sauce and cheese on it...bake done....it is even easier than driving out to pick up pizza.

One cheat leads to another cheat. and now is the time to stress to your kids the importance of staying gluten-free means Staying healthy in the gut. just b/c you can see the harm or have symptoms doesnt mean it isnt happening.

Dawn

[Carriefaith]

Gluten free pizza is actually pretty good! You can usually find frozen or non-frozen pre-made crusts in the the specialty sections of BIG grocery stores. Also Amy's makes a gluten free frozen Rice Crust Cheese Pizza:

Open Original Shared Link

If you try it just make sure that the pizza sauce and the meat (pepperoni/salomi) are gluten free.

I use Ragu sauce. Even though it's meant for pasta it tastes good on pizza too!