Gluten Free

pixie · Gluten Free

My daughter has come back from OZ and is now on a gluten free diet.
She's hoping it will help her tummy pain and bowel problems and I'm hoping it will also have an effect on her mental health.

Any thoughts from anyone who has tried it for older people with ASD?

pixie · Update

Well it has been 2 weeks now and so far the diet is positive.

Her tummy pain has gone and we have noticed her mood has been much better. She's noticed her mood changes too.

It's all looking good so far so keep your fingers crossed that it continues.

shorty

Hi pixie, I have just joined this forum...I saw it had won most meaningful forum on the MFF support forum and came for a look. This topic caught my eye.

My son is coeliac so has to follow a strict gluten free diet. He doesn't have any other problems apart from "dyspraxic tendencies" though I am sure he is dyspraxic.

He is now 14 and was diagnosed when he was 2 so we are very well used to the gluten free diet, please feel free to ask me anything about the diet, recipes, hints and tips etc.

It is classic for coeliac's mood to alter drastically for the better once they are established on a gluten free diet so I cannot help but wonder if your daughter is actually coeliac. Has she been tested?

pixie

Hi Shorty, did I win, wow I didn't know I'd won. Nobody told me but maybe they wait until all the categories are finished with the judging.
Thanks for letting me know Shorty.

Welcome to the forum by the way, please feel free to put a link in a sig to your forum if you like.

My daughter hasn't been tested for Coeliac's but just decided to go on the diet at the suggestion of a lady who works with Autistic kids. My daughter has an Autistic Spectrum Disorder but refused to try the diet when she was younger. She's 21 now so it's her choice.

She loves the Juvela foods which taste very much like "ordinary" bread.

My son was on the gluten free diet for a year or two and it helped him no end. He was tested for Coeliac's which was negative.

You're right about her mood, it has changed so much and we don't find we have to walk on eggshells so much any more. She also has a job now and enjoys every minute of that. She's just a different person altogether and it's a pleasure to see and spend time with her.

You wouldn't think that elliminating something from your diet would make so much difference.

All hints and tips are most welcome and I will pass them onto my daughter. She does live with us but does mostly her own cooking.

shorty

ooh I am so glad the change in diet has had such a positive effect on her. I use the juvela sliced white bread and gluten free mix (sometimes it comes up as bread mix on the prescription but it isn't its straight juvela gluten free mix).

It is the perfect replacement for self raising flour when making cakes and buns, my pals ask me to make them cakes even though they are not coeliac!

The Dove plain flour in the supermarkets is great for pastry as its more like plain flour.

You probably know all this though if your son followed the diet.

Sainsbury's do brilliant frozen GF shepherds pie., chicken kiev, pizza's, yorkshire puds....all sorts. Its expensive but brilliant when you cant be bothered cooking.

Again, apologies if I am teaching my grandmother to suck eggs xxxx

shorty

sorry, I also meant to say, the only proper diagnosis for coeliac disease is the jujenal biopsy, the blood tests can give false negatives but the biopsy is quite traumatic as they have to be sedated rather than fully anaesthetised.

I didn't like to put a link to my forum in my siggy as we dont allow the link in siggy's in our forum, but this is the link

http://holidaychat.myfreeforum.or...=965c18eddf20c70957d4984220381547

If you apply to join our forum I will activate you, you are very welcome to put a link to your forum in our advertising bit (at the bottom of the main index page) I know we do have some members with children that have disabilities. Just introduce yourself in the into forum and point people towards your forum, its fine to do that.

Sorry, also meant to say, the benefit of being diagnosed is to save money, you can pay for a one year prescription thingy and get all the bread, baguettes, crackers, flour, pasta, plain biscuits, pizza bases on prescription which will save you money.

Our prescripts are still free as he is 14.

Again apologies if I am telling you what you already know, and WELL DONE for winning!!

pixie

No need to apologise, it's all very useful info. It was while ago now so I am a bit out of touch with it these days.

We don't get it on prescription and it is expensive but we may well go and have a word with the GP to see if he will prescribe it. He did for our son.

I used to love the cakes we baked when our son was on the diet.

My daughter's also a veggie so her diet is restricted in that way too. She eats loads of fruit and is really trying to eat sensibly now. I have had to take more control which seems alien to me given her age and the need for independence. But needs must.

You can probably tell that I'm so excited about this diet and the changes it has brought about so forgive me if I go on a bit.

shorty

nothing to apologise for! I can still remember the absolutely amazing change in my son once he'd been gluten free for a while...it took 3 weeks in our case but he was a totally different child! His first words were "tummy hurts" and he was a whining, moaning, miserable little boy until he went gluten free, then he just changed into a happy, lively child!

He looked and behaved totally differently and also started sleeping through for the first time in his life.

Have you joined the coeliac society? Its well worth it, their website is an absolute mine of information and the gluten free food and drink directory is our bible!

Speeds

Wow this thread is amazing. Thanks to you both for sharing this.

Good luck Pixie - it all sounds really promising.

I will also recommend this to a friend of mine who has 3 kids on a gluten free diet.

pixie

I used to be a member and the gluten free directory was a real godsend.

We also had lists from Tesco and Safeway as the ingredients often change so they always provided us with their lists.

I think my daughter is doing all the looking up on the net and on the Coeliacs Society website because she tells me what to buy for her once she's checked it out. She really is being very good and not cheating at all.

Thanks for all the great info Shorty, keep it coming as it may be helpful to others too.

pixie

It looks like it may already be very useful info for others too.

Here's a link to the Coeliacs Socity website
http://www.coeliac.co.uk/

shorty

Again, you may already know this but McDonald's is fine, just avoid the bun and extras. My son has 3 pieces of burger meat with large fries...they put it through as a double cheeseburger.....and the ketchup there is fine too.

Also if you take a gluten free pizza base into Pizza Hut (we use the schar ones) they can put their tomato sauce on it and toppings and its almost all gluten free. My son has triple cheese on his. They usually dont charge at all, and on the odd occasion they do its only for the toppings. I just remind them to cook it on the paper that comes with the schar ones and to cut it with a clean cutter.

pixie

I guess I'm lucky that my kids hate McD's. I think it's because they are older maybe and also veggie.
She does sometimes go to Pizza Hut though so I'll tell her about that, thank you.

My daughter got some Juvela pizza bases which she's cut into quarters and frozen for when she want's to make her own. She's bought a pizza topping (GF) and some garlic butter to put on them.

The Juvela bread we freeze after removing it from it's wrapper and putting the bread into a freezer bag.
If you don't remove it from the wrapper it comes in it will explode in the freezer as it's a long life product.

shorty

Are you using the "fresh" juvela bread that is relatively new, or the long life stuff?

We are not too impressed with the "new" fresh stuff, its great the first three days but then you have to freeze it and its not very good.

We use the long life, we never freeze it as he goes through a loaf in a maximum of four days and its fine for that length of time. It doesn't "last" though, we have found. You can microwave it, let it cool then make lovely sandwiches but if you dont eat them within about an hour they go manky.....a big problem for packed lunches for school and we have never found a solution other than what we do now, he takes basically a load of crap - fruit, baby bel, crisps, choc and a biscuit.

shorty

also meant to say we make garlic bread....order on prescription the GF scar baguettes.they are long life.cut a few slices off, make garlic butter by mixing sunflower spread with very lazy garlic, spread both sides and bung them in the oven for about 15 to 20 mins...my son and all his non coeliac frinds love it!

make spaggy bol with the Dolmio Original sauce, pound of mince, chopped onions, garlic and mushrooms, with GF schar spaghetti

I have just realised I may be coming across as an advert for schar products, sorry dont mean it like that, just telling you the ones we have liked then best, juvela are brilliant too!

pixie

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this thread but I've had internet connection problems so I'm busy catching up.

I use the long life bread. It's the fibre loaf and it's lovely. We thought about the fresh bread but it is only white and my daughter needs fibre due to her bowels probs.

We do freeze it once it's been repackaged. We defrost what she needs overnight in the fridge and then she micro's it in the morning and eats it at lunchtime. She's not said it tastes horrid or anythng. In fact just the opposite, she loves it.

We still have the pizza bases that Juvela sent us as a sample and my daughters cut them into quarters and frozen them. She's not tried them yet so I can't report what she thinks of them.

I am very grateful for all and any tips to pass onto my daughter. She does seem to be managing the diet very well though which has surprised me as she has many problems with food.
Mostly that she eats anything and lots of it. I was going to look into Prada Willi to see if she may have a form of the disorder but as she's doing so well with this diet it may well be that she just had to eat because her body was craving gluten. I know when you have an intolerance your body craves the foods it is intolerant to.
We will see how this goes and take it from there.

shorty

ooh maybe we should try the fibre loaves for sandwiches, maybe the bread "lasts" better - will give it a go. If I can think of any more tips etc I'll post them here, but you do seem to be very well up on it.

My son is well miffed that he can't eat ordinary pizza's, he knows he'd love them...he also absolutely adores the smell in Greggs bakery, and there's nothing in there he can have

pixie · Another update

Just a quick post to say that my daughter went to the GP today and he very readily agreed to supply the gluten free foods on prescription.

The GP could see the difference in her behaviour/eye contact/the fact that she spoke to him, etc. and he is made up that she's now in full time employment.

shorty

brilliant news, pixie!!

Gluten Free

Update

Another update