Gluten Free Help » celiac child

Gluten-Free Pizza for Your Celiac Child

Tina Turbin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 06:46:01 +0000

One of the essentials every parent needs to know is how to provide your celiac child with delicious gluten-free pizza.

There are many ways to enjoy gluten-free pizza. You can buy it pre-made, make it from scratch at home, or order it in a restaurant. You can find recipes for pizza dough and various combinations of toppings in gluten-free cookbooks and gluten-free websites. American restaurants such as Uno Chicago Grill, with 200 locations, serve gluten-free pizza. You can look up restaurants that accommodate gluten-free patrons with gluten-free pizza online through gluten-free restaurant websites.

An easy way to make gluten-free pizza is by buying already-prepared gluten-free pizza crusts which your child can top with his favorite toppings. Whole Foods Gluten Free Pizza Crusts come two to a package. They are thick, almost like a deep-dish crust, chewy, and tasty. You can also make your own pizza crust from pre-made mixes or by making your own mix from gluten-free pizza dough recipes. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix makes two 12-inch gluten-free pizza pie crusts. It tastes delicious, and you can even fold the crust over easily. If necessary, you can make the crust egg-free. Some pizza crust recipes, which you can find online or in gluten-free cookbooks, can be rolled out, just like traditional wheat dough, and can be made thin (new York style) or thick (Chicago style), versatility that your celiac child will enjoy. Then you and your child just need to load it with his favorite toppings and stick it in the oven.

Tina Turbin

Stop Your Celiac Child from “Cheating” on His Gluten-Free Diet

Tina Turbin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 06:26:06 +0000

Studies have shown that one of the main reasons why some celiac patients can’t stay gluten-free is that they don’t have a support group to encourage and help them. Being a part of support group can provide emotional and practical advantages to help you and your child succeed in the gluten-free lifestyle. This especially applies to children, as they face many temptations to “cheat” on their gluten-free diet, especially around non-celiac friends. I highly recommend to parents that they get their children to connect to others in the celiac community through celiac support groups and celiac forums.

Tina Turbin

Tips for Packing a Healthy Gluten-Free Lunch Box

Tina Turbin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 06:00:46 +0000

There are lots of ways to pack a healthy gluten-free school lunch. First of all, it’s important to include your child in the planning the week’s lunches ahead of time. Let him pick out a fun lunchbox with a thermos and ice pack to protect foods at safe temperatures. Using a thermos and icepacks help to keep your child’s lunch at a safe temperature, particularly if you live in a warmer climate or during warmer seasons. This way, he’ll be much more likely to eat and enjoy them, and he’s less likely to feel left out watching his non-celiac friends eat lunch.

You can make whole grain gluten-free breads, crackers, and muffins at home with delicious gluten-free recipes. I recommend making double at home and freezing the rest to conveniently add them to your child’s lunches to reduce preparation time. As “dessert,” you can make fruit kabobs or make gluten-free muffins and cookies at home with your celiac child. Avoid filling your child’s lunch box with packaged, processed sweets and refined carbohydrates.

It’s important to make sure your child understands the importance of avoiding foods with gluten. He needs to understand that he never trade foods with his friends. You can let his teacher and cafeteria staff know about his diet needs so they can keep an eye on him. If possible, explain to your child’s friends (and their parents) how important it is that your child eat his own special foods, explaining that he might become quite ill from eating their lunches.

Finally, change things up so your child doesn’t get bored and can get the nutrients he needs in a well-balanced diet. I recommend leftovers such as homemade soups, macaroni and cheese, and lasagna, which have high nutritional value and can add variety to sandwiches and other lunch staples. Using leftovers also saves lunch preparation time and can be cost-efficient as well.

Tina Turbin

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

Your Celiac Child’s Road to Recovery

Tina Turbin — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:00:44 +0000

The amount of time it takes to feel better on a gluten-free diet is different for every person. The average length of time before people begin to experience relief of their symptoms is six to eight weeks. In adults, it can take the intestines several months or even years to heal. Since your child has been diagnosed with celiac disease early in life, their intestines will most likely not need a recovery period of such length.

One of the reasons why the length of time can be prolonged before relief is experienced is that mastering a gluten-free diet takes time. It’s not unusual to make some mistakes as you change your child’s diet to gluten-free. Also, avoiding cross-contamination of gluten can be a challenge at first.

Other food intolerances can influence the celiac child’s recovery period. It is common for celiac patients to have other food intolerances and food allergies beside a gluten allergy. Lactose intolerance is a common side effect of celiac disease. Luckily, as the intestines heal on your child’s gluten-free diet, these intolerances should improve, but this too can take several months.

Celiac disease can also cause deficiencies in vitamins and minerals due to intestinal damage, which prevents proper absorption of nutrients. As a result, untreated celiac disease has also been linked with depression, thyroid disease, and diabetes. Many celiac patients will not feel totally better until these illnesses have been treated.

If your child has been diagnosed with celiac disease, it’s important that he sticks to the gluten-free diet even if he doesn’t feel results right away. Learning that the recovery time varies can be encouraging for you and your celiac child. Before you know it, your child will begin to see and feel relief and will be well-grooved into his new gluten-free way of life.

Tina Turbin

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

Flying with Your Celiac Child

Tina Turbin — Mon, 30 May 2011 06:00:51 +0000

First of all, how you’ll manage your trip depends on your travel arrangements—will you be flying or driving? Nowadays, airlines allow its travelers to bring food onto airplanes with them. Each airline has its own set of guidelines which you can usually find online or ask a customer service representative about over the phone. For instance, one airline will require that you store your gluten-free foods in zip-loc baggies. Bring extra gluten-free foods, at least twice as much as you’ll think you’ll require, just in case there are layovers. Oftentimes airplane attendants will be happy to store your gluten-free food for you upon request.

Tina Turbin

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

Throw Your Own Gluten-Free Baking Parties

Tina Turbin — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:22:31 +0000

How do you increase gluten-free awareness and make your gluten-sensitive child feel special among his non-gluten-sensitive friends and relatives? Invite company over for baking gluten-free cookies. His friends will enjoy the gluten-free cookies and can bring some home for their own families. The praise his friends will give over the cookies and the baking experience will make your child feel just like non-gluten-sensitive children. As part of my gluten-free advocacy activities, I host regular monthly cupcake parties, inviting gluten-free families from the community, usually mothers and their celiac or gluten-intolerant children. You can also host a gluten-free party and invite other families, allowing your gluten-sensitive child to meet and bond with other gluten-sensitive children.

Tina Turbin

Encourage Your Celiac Child to Share his Gluten-Free Cookies

Tina Turbin — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:00:26 +0000

How do you increase gluten-free awareness and make your gluten-sensitive child feel special among his non-gluten-sensitive friends and relatives? Bake for occasions for which your child can share his gluten-free cookies with others. This will give children the pleasure of not only baking their gluten-free cookies but also of giving to others. You should encourage your celiac child to share his gluten-free treats with his classmates and teachers. Contact teachers at the beginning of the holidays, and let them know your child’s dietary needs and ask if there will be any class parties that you and your child could prepare gluten-free goodies for. This way, your child can bring in cookies or other baked goods for the class and focus on sharing his own treats rather than on being excluded from others’ goodies. With the recipes that are available these days, there is no doubt that your child will impress his classmates with his gluten-free cookies. When going to relatives’ houses for dinner, bring along a plate full of your child’s gluten-free cookies that he baked for everyone to enjoy.

Tina Turbin

Finding Great Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes to Bake with Your Celiac Child

Tina Turbin — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 07:00:38 +0000

Baking cookies goes back a long way in my family, and I was quick to establish it as a Turbin family tradition with my own kids. When I was diagnosed with celiac disease and adopted a gluten-free diet, I began accumulating gluten-free recipes for cookies and other baked goods so the tradition could carry on.

I now publish a wealth of gluten-free recipes online, on my gluten-free website as well as on my gluten-free blog. There are plenty of straightforward, delicious gluten-free cookie recipes for everyone’s favorite cookies. Gluten-free doesn’t mean sugar-free, so the kids will enjoy the gluten-free alternatives as much as gluten-containing cookies. I recommend certain brands for gluten-free flour mixes as a substitute for gluten-containing flour: Bob’s Red Mill, Glutino, and Pamela’s Products. These brands have received rave reviews in the celiac community.

Tina Turbin

Help Your Celiac Child Get Enough Fiber in His Gluten-Free Diet

Tina Turbin — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:56:32 +0000

It’s important to realize and meet the challenge of getting enough fiber in your child’s new diet, and it’s easy, too.

Why is that it’s more difficult to get enough fiber in a gluten-free diet? Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, grains which are high in fiber. Rice flours and the starches commonly used in gluten-free diets are lower in fiber than many gluten-containing grains. Luckily, you can still get plenty of fiber from other sources than whole wheat.

One grain I highly recommend is quinoa. It is a great source of fiber and can be used in many tasty dishes your child will be sure to enjoy. Not only is quinoa high in fiber, yielding seven grams of fiber per serving, as an added bonus, it’s also high in protein with a whopping fourteen grams per serving. Check out quinoa flour which is great for making pizza dough and bread.

Brown rice is also a great alternative to gluten-containing alternatives with three grams of fiber per serving. Brown rice retains the most nutrients of any variety of rice; whereas white rice loses some of the nutrients while it’s processed, brown rice holds onto its nutrients and fiber. This high-fiber substitute can be enjoyed in soups, puddings, and stir-fries, as well as on the side.

An important way to provide enough fiber in your child’s diet is by feeding him lots of fruits and vegetables, which are thankfully gluten-free. A simple salad, containing spinach leaves, broccoli, carrots, and tomatoes, adds seven grams of fiber to your family’s dinner. Apples make a great, high-fiber snack for your celiac child at school. For dessert or along with a meal, a fruit salad can add three to five grams of fiber. I also recommend dates, which have around four grams of fiber per serving.

So how much fiber is recommended for your child? Your child needs daily the number of his age in years plus 5 to 10 grams. For example, a 5-year-old would need between 10 and 15 grams of fiber (5 years plus 5 to 10 grams).

Tina Turbin

Road Trips with Your Celiac Child

Tina Turbin — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:06:26 +0000

For car trips, bring along a cooler or two with already-prepared gluten-free foods and snacks for your celiac child. Luckily for your child, there are more and more gluten-free snacks available which are perfect for road trips. For instance, you can order online various snacks such as gluten-free jerky, gluten-free potato puffs, and gluten-free popcorn. If you’ll be stopping at restaurants along the way, you can visit a gluten-free restaurant site such as glutenfreerestaurants.org before your trip and plan ahead to eat at restaurants which offer gluten-free foods to its gluten-intolerant patrons. As with flying, I recommend bringing extra gluten-free food just in case there are any delays in your travel such as traffic or car problems.

Tina Turbin