Starting Gluten Free On Thursday

[AJSmom]

So..here we go. We are starting Thursday, Thursday because testing is being done on Wednesday. He will be tested again in 6 months.

My main concern is bread...all I have heard is how hard the bread is because of rice flour making everything very hard.

We do have a very good health food store near where I live, and a grocery store about a 40min drive away that is apparently very good.

Also..this is amazing that day care that my son is at already makes meals for a couple gluten-free kids. The cook is prepared to help me.

[TrillumHunter]

Try not to over think the first day. There are lots of naturally gluten-free meals.

Breakfast- scrambled eggs, bacon and fruit

Lunch-vegetable soup

Dinner- baked chicken, rice and green beans

Just some ideas for you. Don't buy anything in bulk until you make sure he likes it. You know kids

That is fantastic about the daycare!

[AJSmom]

That's the amazing thing that I've found out...there are actually some very easy meals to make without going overboard. I'm also amazed about how much information there is online...some overwhelming some very helpful.

[missy'smom]

My son shunned gluten-free breads for a long time and was happy to live on rice, after trying various ones of mine, but was up to trying a few new things lately. We've discovered that he likes the Pamela's bread mix. I am going to order it in bulk online next time. For muffins and pancakes Pamela's is also very good but I am trying to save money a bit by making homemade. I've been using Carol Fenster's sorghum blend and we've discovered that kiddo likes baked goods with the sorghum blend, whether homemade or storebought. I've been baking from her Quick and Easy cookbook and so far, he loves everything! It has recipes for homemade mixes that you can keep on hand. I've also gotten brave and used her flour blend and directly substituted it in regular muffin recipes with the amount of xanthan gum receommended for muffins on the Xgum package and had them turn out great!

[AJSmom]

My son shunned gluten-free breads for a long time and was happy to live on rice, after trying various ones of mine, but was up to trying a few new things lately. We've discovered that he likes the Pamela's bread mix. I am going to order it in bulk online next time. For muffins and pancakes Pamela's is also very good but I am trying to save money a bit by making homemade. I've been using Carol Fenster's sorghum blend and we've discovered that kiddo likes baked goods with the sorghum blend, whether homemade or storebought. I've been baking from her Quick and Easy cookbook and so far, he loves everything! It has recipes for homemade mixes that you can keep on hand. I've also gotten brave and used her flour blend and directly substituted it in regular muffin recipes with the amount of xanthan gum receommended for muffins on the Xgum package and had them turn out great!

Wonderful!! Thank you so much for the advice.

I just did some looking around it's available in Canada...so happy! Now I just have to hunt it down.

[happygirl]

Gluten Free Pantry also makes wonderful mixes, as well. But in the beginning, best to stick to simple foods, and expand from there.

Betty Crocker just came out with a line of gluten free mixes, too. Good luck!

[Wolicki]

So..here we go. We are starting Thursday, Thursday because testing is being done on Wednesday. He will be tested again in 6 months.

My main concern is bread...all I have heard is how hard the bread is because of rice flour making everything very hard.

We do have a very good health food store near where I live, and a grocery store about a 40min drive away that is apparently very good.

Also..this is amazing that day care that my son is at already makes meals for a couple gluten-free kids. The cook is prepared to help me.

Good luck to you in the transition! the best advice I can give is start very simply to avoid all the digestive issues that come along with going gluten-free. You may want to avoid the gluten-free breads and other products because they have so many additives. I couldn't tolerate them, and still don't do well at 3 months. Stick with lean proteins, fruits and veggies, avoiding grains, legumes and things with too many ingredients. Also get him started on some probiotics and probably enzymes to healp ease the transtion and to help heal.

When he's ready for bread, the best I've found anywhere is Udis' gluten free sandwich bread. It's light and fluffy like Wonder Bread, and dit won't break your foot if you accidentally drop it

[buffettbride]

We pretty much avoided bread for the first 6 months gluten free. It takes a little time to be removed from it. My kiddo was perfectly happy to stick with rice and gluten-free pasta (Tinkyada). It's actually easier when you might think.

Now when we eat bread, it's usually any one of the Chebe varieties (either prepared from the prepackaged frozen or we make it ourselves). We also use the holy grail of gluten-free bread, Kinnickinick pizza crusts from everything from pizza to sammiches to appetizers!

[jmjsmomma]

My son did not like any of the breads. He would occassionally eat the Kinnickinnick white sandwich bread. Last week, we discovered UDI'S brand of frozen sandwich bread. It is SO GOOD. It is actually spongy, like "real" bread. My 6 year old is sooooo happy that he can have gluten-free bread that actually tastes good again!

[AJSmom]

We are a very big bread eating family... My son loves peanut butter and honey sandwiches. But he does like yogurt and bananas..that may have to be breakfasts for awhile.

Thank you everyone for all the advice....sooooo much easier going through this with help

Tracy

[elle's mom]

We are a very big bread eating family... My son loves peanut butter and honey sandwiches. But he does like yogurt and bananas..that may have to be breakfasts for awhile.

Thank you everyone for all the advice....sooooo much easier going through this with help

Tracy

I hate to tell you this but they told us to leave dairy out at least for the first 30 days on the gluten-free diet, so you probably shouldn't do the yogurt. Once his body heals, then you can slowly start to try to add a little dairy here and there. We did hard boiled eggs for breakfast for awhile; the kids like to "peel" them. Fruit is also always a hit-maybe an egg with a fun mixed fruit salad. There are lots of gluten-free Cereals too, but you may also want to wait for awhile to do anything processed.

[elle's mom]

I almost forgot: one of our kids' favorites for breakfast or snack is apple slices and peanut butter to "dip" them in. It's super yummy!

[chiroptera]

Hummus and little strips of vegetables made a nice lunch or snack. Also, our family likes the Glutino pretzels. Not bread, but starchy and good for dipping. We also dip them in peanut butter.

La Tortilla makes some gluten free wraps. We didn't care for them, but I'm sure others do.

[debmom]

Our lives were revolutionized by discovering Bob's REd Mill Hearty Whole grain gluten-free bread mix. It works in a standard, cheap bread machine, and is better than any bread I've eaten, gluten free or not. My whole family loves it! And the whole grain is from seeds and other grains that are tolerated and good for you.

[lizbeth93099]

My daughter (9) has been gluten free for less then a month. She is a bread lover, but won't touch any of the gluten free options. I even made a loaf from the Bette Hagman book, The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread. I thought it was delicious, but she wouldn't touch it. I think part of it was mental-the idea that it was not normal. I just decided at this point that we would not go for her regular things in a non-gluten form, we would just highlight the things that are naturally gluten free. She has slowly adjusted, with some whining. She always has loved quesadillas with flour tortillas, and has now come to really like corn tortillas.

Her school lunch box has been boiled eggs, gluten free lunch meats, slices of cheese, tortilla chips, fruit, etc. You are really blessed that his daycare has experience with this. My daughters teacher had never even heard of gluten before.

Good luck!