JennyC

Purely Decadent and So Delicious brands are both gluten free and dairy free. They are made by the Turtle Mountain company and they batch test for gluten, dairy, and certain nuts. We have tried vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavors, and all were good. We buy them at Fred Meyer/Kroger, so hopefully you can find them in your area.

Happy Eating!

Here is a great way to convert recipes in general: 3 parts white rice flour, 2 parts potato starch, 1 part tapioca flour/starch. *Unless otherwise noted add 1 tsp xanthan gum per 1.5 cups flour mixture. This has worked for every recipe that I have tried so far. Good luck!

Thank you for posting! The Triple Moisture shampoos and conditioners work great.

Here's a link to a recipe that many people seem to like:

Open Original Shared Link

I wish the list was healthier, but here are some of our standbys.

Popcorn

Lay's Stax

marshmallows/fruit snacks for a treat

Cheetos's

yogurt

string cheese

fruit

cheese quesadillas

Thai Kitchen noodles (like Top Ramen)

cereal

Huh. I would have never guessed.

Taco Bell brand is made by Kraft. They will list their gluten. I think you will have to chop your own veggies, because any premade deli mix would have a high risk of cross contamination.

Thanks for posting! That is one of the many reasons that I refused to put my son through the gluten challenge.

It sounds like you introduced to your son some of my son's favorites! I'm sorry you're having a tough transition with your son. It will just take time. My son likes Kinnikinnick pizza crust (soft, chewy & a little sweet), doughnuts, bagels, K-Too's, and cinnamon rolls. It sounds like you need to give him some time, and maybe let him tell you when he's ready for some of the more "different" tasting foods like crackers. He's old enough that he probably has to grieve for his old foods.

Just a thought.

I got an email from World's Kitchens, and all of their jerky, except for teriyaki flavors, are gluten free!

Yesterday I got Kroger's gluten free list in the mail. The list is less than two pages long and very vague. It is also surprisingly scary how little is on it. For example, only plain potato chips are on the list under potato chips and plain popcorn kernels is the only thing mentioned in the popcorn category. There are also categories left out all together. I have been using the really big container of garlic powder from Kroger, so I freaked when none of their spices were on the list. I called them and had to give them the UPC, which is their standard policy, and it was gluten free.

I'm glad that they are making a step to accommodate the gluten free community, but it is clear that many other companies are doing much more to help us out. I hope they continue to catch up. I prefer them over Safeway!

Guar gum is supposed to be a soluble fiber, and it doubles as a dough enhancer. You can add it to smoothies.

The Glutino crackers that look like Ritz. They even kind of taste like a saltine.

My son spit up until I put him on a gluten free formula at 10 months. I breastfed him for 9 months, but the gas and spitting up would not stop. When I switched to formula it got worse. As soon as I switched to soy formula, which also happened to be gluten free, his symptoms got much better. (Although I was still giving him gluten in cereals and other foods.)

Sounds like a real jerk. I'm glad that your sister is strong enough to get out now. It seems like you guys are a great supportive family, and she will likely need much of your support in the near future.

I hope that everything works out well for your family.

We're still pretty new at this, and I can't say for sure if he's ever been glutened since going gluten free. There has been days when he's had a bit of diarrhea, but it is usually accompanied by normal bowl movements and never with a fever. I just don't know what's going on! I just know that his "problem" is still going strong and it's day 4 now.

If you are buying from reliable companies then you don't have to worry about hidden gluten. Nestle, General Mills and Kraft to name a few will not hide their gluten. I suggest going to their websites are printing off a list of their brands. You usually do not need to worry about caramel coloring, but I will not feed my son anything with natural flavoring from an unknown brand without calling them first. Many people say that modified food starch is fine unless it says that it is made from wheat, but I follow the same policy as I use with natural flavoring. The best thing to do besides finding the safe brands is to just start calling companies. Each company usually produces many products so you can sometimes get lots of information from one company. If you send me a private message with your email I will send you an email attachment of some gluten free food lists to give you a head start.

We went camping last weekend and I was extremely careful not to give my son gluten, but of course their is always the question of cross contamination from mainstream foods. Sunday morning my son started to have diarrhea. Nasty, cloudy, explosive diarrhea. Sunday night and all day Monday he had a fever, and on Monday he also vomited. Today the vomiting and fever has subsided, but the diarrhea is still really bad. I took him to the doctor tonight and they ordered a stool culture and blood work (electrolytes and blood chemistry). I would like to make sure that this does not sound like he got glutened before I put him through blood work. I am concerned because he is loosing a lot of liquid, and we are nearing the end on day three and his diarrhea is getting worse. Please help!

Thank you!

Guar gum is a soluable fiber, and can also be used in exchange for xanthan gum as a dough enhancer. I'm not sure what it is made of though.

I also give my son food made in shared facilities. The way that I look at is that nearly all non-specialty foods are made in shared facilities and likely on shared lines, and some companies are upfront and honest about it. If I only gave my son foods made in gluten-free facilities that would severely limit his diet and life style. If my son has a reaction to a food then I will throw away that item, but I may buy it again in the future because cross contamination seems to be a hit and miss process (mostly miss thankfully). It's just my point of view. I want my son to be happy and healthy, but I cannot keep him in a bubble.

I have recently called both Coppertone and Banana Boat, and both their sunblocks are gluten free. Some of their tanning lotions, including sunless/indoor, are not gluten free. As long as you are using a sunblock it is safe.

Gushers is a General Mills company, and they will list their gluten.

I'm not sure which ones are gluten free, but they won't hide their gluten.

Maltodextrin is safe if it is a US product. I don't know about non-food products?

I'm so happy that you have have accepted this disease and moved on with your life. Celiac disease should not define you or anyone else. My son is the one with Celiac disease and I also plan on getting tested. I am getting really used to cooking gluten free, avoiding cross-contamination, and so on. However I am still obsessed with his disease. I spend tons of time on this message board, I think about it a lot, I read about it quite a bit, and I am totally obsessed with food shopping and cooking. I spend tons of money on food, and visit many stores both online and actual stores. I spend hours each week surfing the web for recipes. I call a few companies each week to find out about products. I hope to be where you are soon. I think that it's a process. The first day my son was diagnosed I thought that his diagnosis was the end of good food. I gave away garbage bags full of food and went to Wild Oats and bought everything with the label gluten free or wheat free. The next day I found you wonderful people and began to get a real picture about what the diet and gluten free life is really like. The third day cross contamination dawned on me. A week later I tried gluten free baking recipes. A couple more weeks later I started converting gluten-containing recipes to gluten free recipes. Today I am emailing my friend a recipe for gluten-free brownies so that she can convert them to gluten brownies! Sorry for rambling. My point is that it is a journey with many small steps and stages throughout the way.