Family Members?

[Guest DaiseeLove]

Hi everybody. I'm new here, and very recently diagnosed. I live with my fiance, and since we've always shared food, I was wondering how your family members/live-ins have reacted to your being gluten-free? Have they joined in, partially or completely? Do they still eat non-gluten-free food? How do you feel about it?

(Obviously right now I'm having a little bit of trouble so I don't even want to SEE non-gluten-free foods, but I'm sure over time I'll adjust.....)

[tarnalberry]

My husband still eats his gluten containing items (bread, cereal, crackers), but most of the foods we regularly eat are naturally gluten free anyway. (Stir-fries, stew, soup, tacos, fajitas, grilled or baked meats, veggies, etc.) He's very picky about food, so giving up bread and cereal just isn't an option. Besides, it's not really fair, assuming he can avoid cross contaminating things, for me to ask him to go gluten-free as well. If he wanted to, that'd be fine, and if we have kids who turn out to be gluten intolerant, I may ask him to do so for a little while (we'll see), but otherwise, I don't have a problem with it. I can stock anything I want to eat (of course, I don't _want_ to eat things that make me sick, not really) so it's not that bad. Of course, I'm a year on the diet, and don't buy a lot of packaged stuff anyway, so it didn't make _that_ big of a change (at least, with respect to what I eat at home) when I went gluten-free.

[jaimek]

I was living with my fiance when I was diagnosed 7 months ago and ever since that day we have eliminated practically anything that is not gluten-free from our kitchen. He eats gluten-free with me whenever we are at home but if we go out to eat then he will eat whatever he wants. I don't mind when he eats regular food that I can't have when we are out. I can't expect him to be completely gluten-free but I do appreciate the fact that our house is all gluten-free. Makes cross contamination a non-issue. At first, I got really upset when I was around any non-gluten-free food but I am getting better with that. It all gets a lot easier with time.

[stargirl]

I am a teenager living with my parents and younger sister. I am the only one who is gluten intolerant (other than my older brother who doesn't live at home). Normally our main dishes and things are gluten free but the rest of the family stocks up on gluten items. I have a separate toaster, butter, peanut butter, jam etc. It works out well for us in general.

[hapi2bgf]

My house is mixed. Some items are gluten-free. Some items are peanut/tree nut free (for peanut allergy without Celiacs). Some items are non-gluten-free.

Most meals are gluten-free except pasta, pizza, pancakes, and waffles.

We share all household appliances and so far, the only problems arise when company comes to visit.

I bring gluten-free foods to supplement safe items in restaurants. I bring full gluten-free meals for me to parties. If the gluten-free foods I bring a great and just as good if not better than the non-gluten-free foods, I offer tasters. But since some of the gluten-free foods have their own unique taste, I don't offer tasters for the gluten-free foods that are just edible. It saves people from making unnecessary comments about the gluten-free food when they don't have a clue.

[kabowman]

Our house is mixed (husband and 3 kids are NON gluten-free). Most main dishes are gluten-free but we usually have a mix of side dishes. The whole family is aware of cross-contaminiation issues and if a serving spoon for the gluten-free food accidentally touches non-gluten-free food, we replace it with a new spoon. The counter top is cleaned A LOT!

My motto is: If I don't cook, I don't eat - meaning no pre-packaged foods (except for like spagetti sauce, pizza sauce--on gluten-free noodles and dough of course). I take my lunch most days because it is just easier.

I have my own gluten-free shelf in the fridge and pantry and a separate cutting board. The skillet/pots/pans are washed frequently. I no longer use the cast iron skillet.

When we eat out, we only go to gluten-free friendly resturaunts (I call in advance) so that everyone can order and mine is safe for me to eat.

-Kate

[MySuicidalTurtle]

I have been glutenfree for about a year and a half and my family didn't do anything but pay for my food and such. . .my brother did eat my food when they were sweets and treats. . .now that my Mom and brother are diagnosed they have cleaned out almost everything and replaced it with glutenfree. My Dad doesn't touch anything glutenfree though.

It pisses me off that they needed to be diagnosed to realize having wheat in the house isn't that good but that's okay since I won't be living here for too much longer.

[debimashni]

Even though only two of us have celiac, we have very few gluten containing foods in our household. Anything that is baked here is gluten-free, and everybody here seems to enjoy the gluten free sweets. We didn't plan it that way, it just happened. Everyone just feels that they are helping us out by keeping gluten out of our household. Now when we go out to eat....it is a different story. The non celiacs make gluttons of themselve on gluten!

[Guest DaiseeLove]

Even though only two of us have celiac, we have very few gluten containing foods in our household. Anything that is baked here is gluten-free, and everybody here seems to enjoy the gluten free sweets. We didn't plan it that way, it just happened. Everyone just feels that they are helping us out by keeping gluten out of our household. Now when we go out to eat....it is a different story. The non celiacs make gluttons of themselve on gluten!

I haven't yet gone out to eat since I was diagnosed. I don't really want to, and I'm terrified that something horrible is going to happen and somehow I'll get something with gluten in it....

Oh well, I suppose it just takes time. Thanks for your reply. :-)

[celiac3270]

I'm the only celiac in my family and I'm the only one who eats consistently gluten-free. My mom will sometimes have a homemade gluten-free chocolate chip cookie, or something, but doesn't eat completely gluten-free. My brother eats whatever he wants, as does my father. So, I'm the only one who eats gluten-free, though my mother is going to try going gluten-free for a month or two since, despite negative tests, we all think she has celiac (a lot of bloating and cramping...the bloating is REALLY bad and the cramping isn't too bad).

[pixiegirl]

Hi I'm new here to (I'll introduce myself soon) and I'm not even officially diagnosed as celiac disease but I'm certainly really gluten sensitive. Anyhow, this is all new to me but... I wouldn't ask my boyfriend to be gluten-free, if he decided to go that way fine but I can't imagine why he would.

I personally need his emotional support and he gives me that in spades but I don't need him to do what I do. Just like if I was diabetic he wouldn't be taking insulin because I do. We both love to eat and breads were a favorite of ours I'd never want him to give them up. I have a disease and he doesn't need to pretend to have it too, it's no fun having it. Again I'm not saying anything about those of you that have spouses that also gave up gluten, that was there choice. I'm really big on running my own life and not running the lives of others.

My daughter has a life threatening peanut nut and tree nut allergy and I still eat peanut butter (but only on toast when she is at school, but its in the house). She is 13 and I can't stress how careful we are. When she was 1 she had her initial reaction to peanuts and since then we have never had a single reaction when she was with me or my ex husband, not one, so again we are careful. She has had them at school (a whole nother issue all together!) but that seems behind us now as well.

I guess each person and each family does what works best for them.

Best, susan

[Guest PastorDave]

Pastor Dave's wife here,

David is totally gluten-free and I try to be supportive so I still eat gluten but I cook gluten-free at home. I just bought my first bag of wheat flour in 9 mo to make bran muffins for a ladies retreat! I have noticed a phenomenon that others have described though. I am not gluten intolerant but after I have been gluten-free at home for several days, I end up with a lot of gas and some bloating if I have it at a restaurant or somewhere! (No pain, so I do it anyway, but if this keeps up I will probably eventually just go gluten-free totally.)

[FreyaUSA]

When I first found out I was gluten intolerant, I didn't worry about changing much of the way the rest of my family ate. I still bought regular pasta, bread, cereals, etc. But once one of my three kids was diagnosed, I slowly began changing the food choices and meals. A month or so later, my other two children were diagnosed and I changed the entire household to gluten-free. My husband wasn't at all worried about it (he's an easy eater, happily eats what I give him, besides he and I had given up eating most highly processed foods prior to this anyway.) Since then, my husband has actually picked up our ordering habits at restaurants, "no croutons, dressing on the side, no bread basket, bunless burgers," etc. He laughed about it because he didn't even notice he was doing it until a friend of his on Atkins made a comment that he should also be passing up the potatoes and rice!

When my mother comes to visit (she stays for as long as we can convince her) she has no problem eating like we eat. She even likes it. She says it's so fresh tasting and she never gets that "heavy bloated feeling..." hmmm... But, basically, I try very hard to make what everyone has always liked, but in gluten-free variations.