[perSue]

so i'm curious if anyone else lives "G-free" (as they like to call it now)... be it thru choice or b/c of celiac.

I'm new to being gluten intolerant & am so far ok with the choices I have... I'm not (currently) interested in baking/cooking w/different flours - as I'd rather just eliminate that from my diet entirely.

I would like to know about challenges, bumps in the road, how your family (if not G-free) supports or deals with your needs.
What advice, recommendations do you have for me, new to this, not having a family who is intolerant, but still expects me to be the main "chef". I'm not celiac, so I don't have severe reactions to being around gluten containing foods.

I'd like to hear your stories... happy, sad, challenging, or easy breezy.

 

[daylily]

DS is allergic to gluten but is not celiac. He is 34 and first got sick at about 16. We found out about the various allergies when he was 19. He really missed bready stuff so I've learned to make various breads for him. His other allergies (dairy, eggs, soy, garbanzos, and much more) hamper the bread-making. Most GF recipes use eggs and soy a lot. Searching the internet for vegan gf recipes turned up some goodies. He doesn't care for sweets so desserts are not an issue. He makes some awesome corn tortillas starting with shelling the corn and making the hominy.

 

[zakity]

I have a friend who is GF. She probably is Celiac's, but she has to go back on gluten to get tested and she isn't willing to do that.

She actually when grain-free other than like chia, millet, or quinoa or that sort of stuff. She only ate corn tortillas once in a blue moon. She dropped a ton of weight when she did that.

 

[mndtrp]

My wife has Celiac, so is gluten free. When we found out, we gave all of our gluteny food to the neighbors, so I am mostly gluten free as well. It seemed easier to make all the food in the house safe for her. The only things in our house that has gluten is flour tortillas, beer, and some sauces that only I use.

It's getting far easier to find gluten free items in grocery stores. Most stores have a gluten free section, while more and more items are going gluten free without being placed in that section. Recipes are generally easy to convert over, as long as you have a passing knowledge of cooking. Baking is a little bit more difficult, since the consistency is quite different.

We order our pasta from Amazon by the case.
Instead of bread crumbs, we grind up Chex cereal in the food processor.
We make our own seasonings from recipes online.
We make and freeze our own refried and chili beans.
We make our own soups from scratch.

Our friends and family are very helpful and accommodating. My mom makes an all gluten free Thanksgiving dinner, complete with homemade mushroom soup for the green bean casserole.

I tend to avoid the Celiac or gluten free forums, since the majority of those people simply want to complain about their lives and families, instead of providing support and ideas about how to handle the situation. Incredibly hostile sites.

 

[sunshine]

We're gluten free here too, because my dd has a gluten intolerance/allergy. We decided it was easier and safer to have the entire household be gluten free.

We've gotten quite creative with zucchini instead of noodles, potatoes instead of pizza crust, cornflake pie crusts, etc. We don't bake much though --

 

[2ndGenGranola]

We were gluten free for a period of time and I even counseled people on going GF (along with the other diet requirements we were on).

IMO the most important thing when starting it to forget the substitutions. Many people have as many issues with the subs as they do the actual gluten items. Give your body a vacation then SLOWLY add in a sub a week (if you must) paying close attention to the ingredients.

Clean out the house of gluten items. The family will get their fill at work, school, friends, other family...they won't die.

Get a routine going. We would suggest a very basic meal at first that is simple to fix -- a green, a color, a protein and a starch. Mix and match how you like. Just get the routine going and relax with it before you start adding in more complex recipes.

mndtrp is right -- use caution if you think you need to go to specialized forums -- they do contain a wealth of good information but the paranoia and hostility can flavor your attitude -- personally, I preferred making up my own recipes than using most of theirs. I would take my old recipes and modify them. That was easier on the family and didn't seem all that "out there".

 

[Nishu]

http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/kitchen-basics/135370-who-gluten-free.html

I brought this up a couple weeks ago. In that thread I put my favorite substitute recipes.

My reasons for being GF change from time to time. At first I thought it was my oldest with the problem, then I realized if anyone did it was my 6 year old, then just by pure accident we realized that my youngest has a pretty dramatic reaction to wheat that prevents her from gaining weight. If the trend continues and I have another kid, kid 4 will be unable to watch commercials for cheeseburgers due to possible reaction since each kid I have has it worse. :laugh:

I really think my husband has celiac disease but our hands are tied at the moment because of work. He's promised to try a GF trial when he gets back from his next deployment.