My Experience With Food Intolerance & Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free Cookbook Giveaway
Posted by 
January 18, 2013 •
Over the last few years I’ve become increasingly aware of the dangers of many of the foods we eat. It started with discovering how food chemicals including artificial colors, flavours and preservatives impact my children’s behavior and it has continued to grow as I’ve taken a personal interest on the subject.
My experience with food intolerances…
A few months ago I was diagnosed with food intolerances after struggling with frequent headaches. The recommendation was to remove the foods from my diet. So I said goodbye to wheat, gluten, dairy, eggs, potatoes and nuts. I admit I gorged myself (and occasionally still do) on everything-free chocolate mud cake from the health food store as well as copious amounts of ‘treat’ foods I am allowed like corn chips. However, it didn’t take long for me to feel soooo much better, to see my ‘mystery’ symptoms disappear and for the weight to start falling off and this was all the incentive I needed to keep going.
Given the positive results I experienced I plan to eat a mostly grain free / gluten free diet for the rest of my life. It might sound dramatic but I’m convinced not only by experience but the growing body of evidence that suggests that too much wheat and gluten is doing our bodies and our kids great harm.
My knowledge on this subject has evolved over the years as I’ve read books, medical journals and studies. I’ve spoken with doctors, nutritionists, naturopaths, homeopaths and a chiropractor who specialises in nutrition when I’ve been concerned about the health of one of my children. Most recently I found a doctor who has qualifications in nutritional medicine (surprisingly, only basic nutrition is covered in medical school) who has been a great source of wisdom on this subject. He now books a double appointment when I ring because he knows I ask lots of questions!
I encourage you find someone who knows about nutrition if you are concerned for yourself or your children. Don’t be discouraged if the first person you talk to (normally a GP) doesn’t have any answers – when it comes to health we need to persist and look outside the square to get the help we need.
The challenges of being wheat free and gluten free….
One of my son’s who has multiple food allergies also recently developed an intolerance to wheat as indicated by a visibly bloated tummy, headache, tummy pains and weird, um, poo. So, we banned breakfast cereals containing wheat and sandwiches are for lunch every second day not everyday. By making this simple change to his diet the symptoms disappeared. Clearly, wheat doesn’t agree with him but it isn’t always easy finding alternatives especially when you’ve been eating a certain way for a long time.
In my quest for recipes I discovered the “Wheat-free, Gluten-Free Cookbook for kids and busy adults” by Connie Sarros which contains 200 recipes and fun food projects.
If you are also dairy and egg free like we are, you will know these are easy to replace unlike wheat where it is often hard to know what flour or substitute to use. I learnt the hard way that you can’t make pancakes with potato flour or just switch plain flour for coconut flour! We replace dairy in recipes with rice milk, oat milk (tastes the best) or almond milk. We replace eggs with Orgran egg-replacer from the health food aisle.
So… I have one to giveaway valued at $29.95.
See below to enter and add a comment about what concerns you when it comes to kids health these days.
RSS feed
All the colours etc are a worry too.
What timing! DH is on week five of a GF-free diet/challenge – something I thought I’d never see him do of his own volition, but pain is its own motivator.
In the long-term I see the need for all of us to change our diets (to GF) instead of preparing ‘special’ food for one person. We already are (where possible) colour / preservative / additive / msg -free and have been for years, as one DD has sensory processing issues. What concerns me for my children is having to wade through all the processed food in the supermarket that is paraded as normal fare these days; and become experts on deciphering the ingredients lists. It feels like one has to have a PhD to eat.
What concerns me most is kids eating so much food which is not recognisable as a free food source ie lollies, prepackaged foods, chips, biscuits, fish fingers, chicken nuggets etc.
I think everyone needs to get back to eating food which is as close to its original form as possible.
I worry about the packaged food and the preservatives and other additives that are found in it.
Also the amount of sugar found in packaged food children are becoming over active as a result and it brings a craving for more sugar
i have concerns about what it is that’s in foods, that is causing our bodies to react in these ways. I’m also a bit worried that you substitute with ‘oat milk’ being wheat and gluten intolerant for most of my life (recently lactose too) i know oats are never on the safe list and are known to contain some wheat.
Nicole, You’re right. As a general rule we avoid oats but I’ve found I can tolerate small amounts of oat milk and I personally prefer the taste to rice milk so tend to use it in some cooking as it’s much creamier.
What concerns me about children’s health is all the crap that’s in food these days. In the 70s when I was growing up it was ok to say “everything in moderation” – now everything is full of sugar and additives and nonsense, and worst of all so many products are conning us by passing themselves off as healthy, it makes me so mad!! Like all the sugar in yogurts!!! The only way around this is clean eating imo. It takes time and effort but it is so worth it, I want my girls to have the best start in life and I need to be confident about what I am putting in thier little bodies.
Pam @TheMindfulMum recently posted..9am on the East Coast
Great replies! They are all excellent points!
Jenny recently posted..Benefit Of Homeschooling – Part 2 – Natural Socialisation
the foods they eat and wont eat what its doing to them and a balanced diet are they getting what they require daily instead of fatty junk foods
The frustration I have is the focus that is placed on specific allergies and not on other conditions at school. Conditions that are no less serious but because there is often no outwardly visible reaction or symptoms it is not given the attention and focus that an anaphylaxis type condition receives. I am referring to Coeliac Disease in this instance which can have a debilitating effect when gluten is ingested. I am not taking any focus away from any other food allergy or intolerance only to request that Coeliac Disease get the recognition and care that it deserves. This autoimmune disease does not require an epi pen but is no less important and deserves the same respect.
Tara, that is the first time I have heard it called an auto-immune disease! When you look at it that way, it is a wonder that the medical fraternity haven’t done more to support Coeliacs, as they do for other conditions. Is it because we ‘control’ it with diet and not medication? [The old adage "prevention is better than [no] cure” is so very pertinent here.] Is it because doctors can’t unequivocally diagnose it? Is that why doctors still don’t think of it as a valid condition?
Hope, you make some excellent points. I haven’t had much experience with coeliac disease but what you’ve said makes sense. If it can be controlled by diet (which is essentially controlled by us) not by medication then it doesn’t work within a medical paradigm and how they are taught to view and treat illness. It took doctors a while to cotton on to suggesting vitamin C for colds etc…so maybe this is another one that is simply a matter of time before they ‘get it’.
I personally don’t know of any doctors that do not consider CD a valid condition(?) It is more about the lack of knowledge that some have on it which is abhorrent in today’s world. Yes the treatment for Coeliac disease is a lifelong gluten free diet – sadly ‘gluten free’ is viewed all too often as a lifestyle choice rather than a medically diagnosed dietary requirement. Gluten has a damaging effect on the intestine preventing proper absorption of nutrients. Left untreated it can lead to an increased risk of malnutrition, osteoporosis and cancer of the intestine. My gripe is that ‘people in general’ have little or no understanding of this disease and because it is controlled solely by diet it does not receive the degree of recognition it deserves. People have no interest in finding out more because it doesn’t ‘seem’ very serious.
Tara recently posted..LifeStyle Bakery
I worry about how to give children with food intolerances or allergies a balanced diet when even the basic food staple alternatives are so costly. How can you buy a good cut of meat, or supply 5 serves of vegetables when a litre of milk costs over $2.00 or half a kilo of flour cost like $4.00
Well said Tara!
Kara, I agree – groceries are very expensive in Australia compared to the rest of the world!