My sister and I are gluten free by default because we both started out
with only Neocate! Gluten Free means that you can't eat anything with
gluten in it. Gluten is a protien that is found in some grains,
particularly wheat, that causes a bad reaction inside when we eat it.
Mommy and Cosette are both gluten free now - only Daddy and Brianna can
eat stuff with wheat, barley, rye - and even oats - in it.
Gluten Free isn't as easy as it just not eating regular store bread
anymore.
You just don't know how many things have gluten in them until you can't
eat it! Mommy reads the labels on everything
and it really takes a really long time to shop at the store - I like to
push
the shopping cart! It is even harder to find stuff when you can't eat
soy or dairy either. Daddy says it is like trying to find something in
the supermarket that doesn't have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it!
Another thing with Gluten Free, just like with our diet, is that you
have to worry about cross contamination. That means that Mommy and
Daddy have to make sure everything is cooked separately and doesn't get
mixed together when they are making it. It also means no food sharing!
Sometimes I want to finish what is on Aja's plate, but Mommy says no
because she can have some things that I cannot eat so they could be
cross contaminated. It also means that going to a resturant that we
have to ask if they cooked or prepared anything else in the same
container.
Even where they make the food! If they make the cereal we can eat on
the same machines as other cereal we can't eat - Mommy says that is a
bad thing and could be cross contamination. And so much stuff is
hidden, you have to be really careful. Like "Whole Grain" actually
means "we sprayed Barley malt over this before packaging so now we can
sell it as Whole Grain and you will think it is good for you".
Now if it labeled with "Gluten Free" on the package, and Gluten is your
only restriction, you should be OK. Mommy always calls the
place that makes it first, just to be sure, and checks in her "groups"
to see what they have to say about it. After a while you just get to
know what you can and what you can't eat - but alwaysalways read the
label because they can change stuff inside, or the way they make it
real fast and they do not have to tell you ahead of time.
My sister, Cosette, is on the autism spectrum, and since she has
started her Gluten Free diet, she is doing a lot better with her tummy
and her behaviors. My little sister and I have both been Gluten Free
(and pretty much everything else!) since we were babies. If you have to
be on a Gluten Free diet, take it from me, Anielei Rose, you can do it!
