She Ate Fruit Loops Today

[April in KC]

Juliebove, the Trix I saw tonight at Minimus.biz contains "wheat starch" (last ingredient). Hope I'm wrong about that...but I wanted to let you know. - April

P.S. Thanks for the minimus tip, though...I have been wanting a source like this for convenience sized travel kits.

[Kat'sMommy]

Hello there, I really relate! My daugter is now 7. She has been gluten free for about 15 months and WOW what a difference. During the first few months (seriously months) there were days that I thought I would never figure this thing out! Let me tell you just a few encouraging things.

First, my daughter loves her "diet". It took awhile but we have substitutes and safe options for nearly everything.

No more stomach aches or asthma.

So much energy, seriously this child could go and go and go.

When she was gluten free her focus became so much better that within 6 weeks she could read. We

homeschool and she could tell you everysound that every letter made, but stringing them together came and went. It was a focus issue it seems. One year later she reads 2 years above grade level.

Over the course of the year the families we meet together with for a one day a week co-op have learned so much and are so willing to help. Several are even taking this road now to see if it will help with ADD so they can avoid the meds.

No more body pain (which we did not even know she was having until it went away.)

Also, she has grown over 6 inches in the last year. We never realized she was short because she was at the 50%, ofcourse Daddy is 6 foot 5. So, 50% was short for her. She is tall and thinner (she was very inflamed - infact she lost a shirt size in the first 6 weeks!)

She has been glutened, one time she ate an entire piece of cake that we thought was gluten free. That was a horrible experience. An adult Celiac that I became aquainted with told me. Things will happen don't beat yourself up you are doing everything you can to make her healthy and happy. He said he glutens himself.

There are days when I wish I could call Pizza hut instead of making a pizza from scratch, though I must say with experimentation they are becoming pretty good. I get tired of taking everything with us to birthday parties and such. I have cried. But, it is so worth it.

I also rejoice! Yesterday I pulled in the driveway to see my 7 year old moving branches with her father from a newly trimmed tree. She was grinning and dripping in sweat! We live in Florida. She went on to climb trees and play outside for several hours. She looked and sounded so healthy.

We came in the door to pork roast from the crock pot, rice and veggie - pretty normal.

Life can be better gluten free than you would ever imagine. And when I start to think...wow I would really like a donut, I go to the health food store and buy a pack of gluten-free donuts.

We can do it day by day, but we don't learn anything overnight. Give yourself grace and forgiveness and know that over the days and weeks it becomes easier.

This forum is invaluable. I don't write often, but I search and read. Knowing I am not alone is wonderful.

I have gone on long enough. I hope this helps.

PS. Gluten every couple of months would not be a good idea - sorry.

[mymagicalchild]

My son AND all his gluten-eating friends love the pizzas I make on corn tortillas.

The trick is to heat them for 1-2 minutes per side in a preheated pan sprayed with PAM before topping and broiling. This makes them nice and crispy (they'll look a little "blistered").

After you heat them, stick them on a coolie sheet (sprayed with PAM), top with your favorite sauce, cheese, and toppings, and stick under a broiler for 1-2 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and just starting to brown.

It's faster and cheaper than Domino's, and I can't make'em fast enough for the boys!

If you want a thicker crust, sandwich a piece of provolone (comes in a round shape like the tortillas) between 2 tortillas, then heat the "sandwich" on both sides, and top and broil like above.

I CANNOT wait to try this. I use tortillas all the time and never thought of using them for the one dish missing from my diet.

The other day I read on another topic that Trader Joe's has gluten free fresh french rolls. I literally floated out to the car on a French Dip Anticipation Cloud, arrived at our Trader Joe's in downtown San Diego, and found no French Rolls there. Went to another Trader Joe's at Liberty Station. Those nice folks checked their computer. Only available in the mid-West and East Coast from the distributor that services that area. DARNNN! (I did buy their brown rice tortillas. They might make a nice pizza crust, too!)

We then went to a newly opened pizza restaurant that charged over $20 for a medium-sized gluten-free pizza that tasted like tomato and cheese on compacted sand. Yuck!

[dilettantesteph]

My son was 10 when diagnosed and threw up and felt awful for months before being diagnosed, so he understands the diet better. Nevertheless, let me suggest that you take kids shopping and let them pick out all the gluten free treats you can: Kininikinnick donuts are really good. Also ice cream, cookies, candy, pizza, soda. When you have something else to substitute it really helps. It was also nice at first to see my totally skinny son get a little fat. I guess I need to cut out some of those treats now!