Our school provides a gf lunch option for children that have a diagnosis from the doctor. I was looking over the menu today and I have to say that I am not sure that it is an option that I will be taking advantage of.
I saw that most of the food items are just modified versions of what they feed the other kids which means that the potential for cross contamination is huge. Our school also has a breakfast program, and the options that are available there are things like 2 string cheeses and fruit juice. Yeah, we will for sure being doing breakfast at home and I am really leaning toward packing lunch everyday for him to.
Added note:
I talked to a lunch lady at church today and she said I just need to contact the main lunch lady and go over the menu with her and they will keep him safe. This is a relief!
Sunday, August 18, 2013
We finally ate out!
Friday night after a week or more of being asked if we could eat out and being uber anxious it was going to be a glutening we finally ate out. We went to Five Guys in Layton and they were uber awesome about keeping him safe. I think we were closer to glutening him than the workers at the restaurant came.
I don't know how often I am willing to eat out because home feels much safer, but it was easier than I thought and its a relief to know that if I am too tired to cook or something comes up that we can eat out easily.
I don't know how often I am willing to eat out because home feels much safer, but it was easier than I thought and its a relief to know that if I am too tired to cook or something comes up that we can eat out easily.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Dealing with others feelings
I don't know how many of you have families that are very set in their ways, but I for one do. Well, just one of my 3 families, but still it is something that I am somewhat dreading dealing with for now. As I have learned more about the dangers of cross contamination etc, I am trying to be more and more careful. With that said, we have our first extended family gathering on Sunday and I am just too scared to go. Especially after the soy sauce incident and the hyperactivity that ensued.
I know that I have a hard time expressing myself clearly, but I didn't expect to be hit with such resistance when asking to please just excuse us from dinner because we are not ready for the challenges that come with a potluck dinner. It was taken as me being testy and asking for the meal to be made special, when I was, in fact, asking that we just don't go this time because I don't want him to feel too out of place when he is struggling to want to eat gluten free at this time and with so many little kids running around, cross contamination seems inevitable.
Well, after a lot of back and forth, I am sure that I didn't express my feelings clearly still and I seem more dramatic than anything, but I will take that even if drama wasn't my point. If I just wanted attention, I have a million other things happening in my life that I could point out rather than making my son feel even more like an outsider. I guess the good things that may have come from it are that with each, "surely one crumb wouldn't hurt", "so-and-so eats potlucks all the time just fine" etc, I was able to hopefully provide some education to my family so in the future this won't be such an issue.
This morning I talked to my son in private and asked him if he was okay with the decision that we had made to avoid the dinner and he said that he was fine. He doesn't want to feel different by bringing his own food and having a bunch of questions yet, he isn't ready for that. I don't blame him.
I will keep you posted on how things go because I am sure that all the resistance is from others being overwhelmed with life and a lack of knowledge of what we are going through.. here is to a life of hard dinners!
We have been glutened!!! :(
Today the boy glutened himself! I carefully prepared him a gluten free lunch with the leftovers from dinner last night that he liked and told him that we had some safe barbeque sauce in the fridge for the pot roast and ketchup for the potatoes. All the sudden I hear him in there making mmmmmm kind of noises, tell him to come here, and he asks me to take a bite of his creation. It was COVERED in soy sauce. :(
Lessons of the day: 1. I will be ketchuping all food for him for a while. 2. I will be throwing out that soy sauce and buying some of the gluten free variety from the GF store, and 3. Hyperactivity is a symptom of glutening for him. (I am feeling slightly homicidal actually)
This just goes to show that no matter how careful you are, it is easy to make a mistake and he will need to be constantly safeguarded. :/
Lessons of the day: 1. I will be ketchuping all food for him for a while. 2. I will be throwing out that soy sauce and buying some of the gluten free variety from the GF store, and 3. Hyperactivity is a symptom of glutening for him. (I am feeling slightly homicidal actually)
This just goes to show that no matter how careful you are, it is easy to make a mistake and he will need to be constantly safeguarded. :/
Eating out and family dinners
We haven't yet ventured out to eat, but we have done lots of research. I have a few places that seem to be the most knowledgeable and helpful. I will talk about 2 today.
1. Costa Vida. I went to the location in Layton and ordered my food gluten free to do a trial run.
As a precursor, the only food that they have containing gluten is the flour and whole wheat tortillas. If you order any tortilla item, you will be given a corn tortilla including the cinnamon tortilla. I was told that at the Layton location they make fresh cinnamon/sugar to avoid cross contamination, so if they were busy they may not be able to do it. That is the only part of the experience I am not okay with. That being said, when I let them know that my food would be gluten free, they changed their gloves and were very careful while making my food. I have been told that at other locations, the same person handles your food all the way through which would be even better.
2. Buffalo Wild Wings. When we asked for the allergy menu at BWW it was explained to me, then I was given plenty of time to look over it before I ordered. I let the waitress know why I was looking at it and she was very helpful, letting me know that they use separate fryers and containers for each menu item/sauce etc to avoid cross contamination with any allergen. They are very serious about being a safe place for everyone to eat.
Now to family dinners: this is something I am very afraid of. We have eaten at my mom's house 2 times since finding out, at Trevor's mom's once, and with my dad, but at the ball park once. Each time I had some anxiety over cross contamination and everything, but was able to keep him safe. One thing that goes along with this is learning to cope with dealing with others feelings on gf. Some of them don't feel like they need to know about being truly gf (but they aren't thinking that in the future they may be preparing food for him or taking him somewhere and will need to know exactly what is safe), others feel that eating GF is a fad, or that a little gluten can't hurt him. I have already been told "Well, after 10+ years of eating gluten, surely one more thing wouldn't hurt him." I can't specifically say what it feels like to be glutened, but I am pretty sure that it is like the worst flu ever. If you have the choice to chance getting the worst flu ever to eat a table full of food you don't really care for, would you? I know that I wouldn't, and I most definitely won't be making my son.
1. Costa Vida. I went to the location in Layton and ordered my food gluten free to do a trial run.
As a precursor, the only food that they have containing gluten is the flour and whole wheat tortillas. If you order any tortilla item, you will be given a corn tortilla including the cinnamon tortilla. I was told that at the Layton location they make fresh cinnamon/sugar to avoid cross contamination, so if they were busy they may not be able to do it. That is the only part of the experience I am not okay with. That being said, when I let them know that my food would be gluten free, they changed their gloves and were very careful while making my food. I have been told that at other locations, the same person handles your food all the way through which would be even better.
2. Buffalo Wild Wings. When we asked for the allergy menu at BWW it was explained to me, then I was given plenty of time to look over it before I ordered. I let the waitress know why I was looking at it and she was very helpful, letting me know that they use separate fryers and containers for each menu item/sauce etc to avoid cross contamination with any allergen. They are very serious about being a safe place for everyone to eat.
Now to family dinners: this is something I am very afraid of. We have eaten at my mom's house 2 times since finding out, at Trevor's mom's once, and with my dad, but at the ball park once. Each time I had some anxiety over cross contamination and everything, but was able to keep him safe. One thing that goes along with this is learning to cope with dealing with others feelings on gf. Some of them don't feel like they need to know about being truly gf (but they aren't thinking that in the future they may be preparing food for him or taking him somewhere and will need to know exactly what is safe), others feel that eating GF is a fad, or that a little gluten can't hurt him. I have already been told "Well, after 10+ years of eating gluten, surely one more thing wouldn't hurt him." I can't specifically say what it feels like to be glutened, but I am pretty sure that it is like the worst flu ever. If you have the choice to chance getting the worst flu ever to eat a table full of food you don't really care for, would you? I know that I wouldn't, and I most definitely won't be making my son.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Well, I know a few things I can buy, now what?
I am having a really hard time with menu planning because the one meal that I tried to make modified for Andruw while keeping ours the same, spaghetti, was a scary cross contamination waiting to happen. Separate pans, spatulas, tons of hand washing.. I am way too lazy for all that.
So far, I have read many recipes that will work and have tried a couple things. The first night I cooked we had grilled chicken (in a stainless pan), green beans, and pan fried potatoes. It was awesome, and honestly, it was a meal that we would usually have. Then there was last night. I thought that I would make some rice and gravy for dinner. Well, rice isn't as flavorful as some other things, and then when you use turkey rather than beef and cornstarch rather than flour, everything is just so different. It was fine with me, the kids loved it, and Trevor didn't even eat all his plate full. This isn't very normal for him.. he is usually an eater.
What will tonight bring? I don't know because it is going to have to be fast and easy. :)
So far, I have read many recipes that will work and have tried a couple things. The first night I cooked we had grilled chicken (in a stainless pan), green beans, and pan fried potatoes. It was awesome, and honestly, it was a meal that we would usually have. Then there was last night. I thought that I would make some rice and gravy for dinner. Well, rice isn't as flavorful as some other things, and then when you use turkey rather than beef and cornstarch rather than flour, everything is just so different. It was fine with me, the kids loved it, and Trevor didn't even eat all his plate full. This isn't very normal for him.. he is usually an eater.
What will tonight bring? I don't know because it is going to have to be fast and easy. :)
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Where to even Start????
Last week, our 10 year old son, Andruw, was placed on a gluten free diet. I didn't really research the facts too much before hand because I didn't want to make myself crazy for nothing and I thought that maybe, just maybe, I was wrong and having him tested for nothing.
Well, I was right! *GASP* What CAN he eat? There is so much that he can't. Well, thanks to Pinterest, some good friends, and Google, we have had a gluten free week. Andruw is still having some symptoms, but they can last up to 3 weeks after first beginning a gluten free diet, so we just have to be patient. He says that he feels much better than he did even if his stomach does still hurt and he does still have headaches.
So far I have learned that Kraft (includes all brands Kraft has), Mars candy, and McCormick are very friendly to the food sensitive and if there is even a possibility of cross contamination, the product will be labeled as such. Other brands, like Mission tortillas, say that specific products are gluten free, produced on separate lines, but that since they are in the same factory have the slight possibility of cross contamination. These products are ones that we have to try at our own risk.
Yes, I know what you are thinking. There IS a gluten free section in the store, but the food isn't always delicious, and it is usually a lot more expensive than if you can purchase a mainstream brand (with the exception of gluten free Rice Crispies from Kelloggs, I nearly died. $3 more a box, really? You removed ingredients and made them less tasty. But in order to save money, we will be trying to stick to stuff as mainstream as possible, and avoiding processed foods where possible.
What about eating out, you ask. Well to begin I was like "Hey, Papa Johns has a gluten free crust" and then I heard.. yeah cross contamination.. don't do it. BOOOO! Domino's? Same. The ones that really are okay, Costa Vida, Pizza Pie Café (a local pizza buffet), and Bellas (a local Mexican restaurant). All are good options... but to only have found 3 so far isn't too fun. I will keep searching and keep you posted.
Well, I was right! *GASP* What CAN he eat? There is so much that he can't. Well, thanks to Pinterest, some good friends, and Google, we have had a gluten free week. Andruw is still having some symptoms, but they can last up to 3 weeks after first beginning a gluten free diet, so we just have to be patient. He says that he feels much better than he did even if his stomach does still hurt and he does still have headaches.
So far I have learned that Kraft (includes all brands Kraft has), Mars candy, and McCormick are very friendly to the food sensitive and if there is even a possibility of cross contamination, the product will be labeled as such. Other brands, like Mission tortillas, say that specific products are gluten free, produced on separate lines, but that since they are in the same factory have the slight possibility of cross contamination. These products are ones that we have to try at our own risk.
Yes, I know what you are thinking. There IS a gluten free section in the store, but the food isn't always delicious, and it is usually a lot more expensive than if you can purchase a mainstream brand (with the exception of gluten free Rice Crispies from Kelloggs, I nearly died. $3 more a box, really? You removed ingredients and made them less tasty. But in order to save money, we will be trying to stick to stuff as mainstream as possible, and avoiding processed foods where possible.
What about eating out, you ask. Well to begin I was like "Hey, Papa Johns has a gluten free crust" and then I heard.. yeah cross contamination.. don't do it. BOOOO! Domino's? Same. The ones that really are okay, Costa Vida, Pizza Pie Café (a local pizza buffet), and Bellas (a local Mexican restaurant). All are good options... but to only have found 3 so far isn't too fun. I will keep searching and keep you posted.
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