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Frequently Asked Questions about the Gluten-Free Diet

Category: Food Allergy Facts For Kids

Here are Some Gluten Free Diet Facts to share with friends to explain what gluten free means and which food is safe

Do you know someone who is allergic to gluten? I bet you are here because you or someone you love has been just told by their doctor that they have to stop eating gluten.

Does one of your friends have celiac? Maybe they don't and they only need to stop eating gluten because they are allergic to it. Or maybe they have another health problem and their doctor thinks that a gluten free diet will help them.

Have you ever wondered what it means to be gluten-free?

If you haven't already gotten my book: Cilie Yack is Under Attack that tells my story, then you might find this handy report a bit helpful. I wrote it myself for a class project. It is a bit different than my official celiac report I did and showed everybody in my book. This doesn't really talk about the science of celiac and how it affects the body. This is just a handy list that explains how celiac kids eat.

Why are Kids Put on Cilie's Gluten-free Diet?

Gluten can cause problems for kids with Celiac, Autism, Learning Disabilities, Allergies, and Crohn’s Disease. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. It is not naturally found in oats but most oat farmers also grow wheat on the same fields. So that is why doctors also recommend no oats for kids needing to avoid gluten. The gluten gets all over the oats when they are harvested and stored so when you eat them you get bits of gluten in them.

What's on Cilie's List?

Cilie often eats (and loves to eat) vegetables like carrots, potatoes, cabbage, peas, onions, asparagus, broccoli, and lettuce. His favorite fruits are blueberries, strawberries, bananas, oranges, and tomatoes. Cilie can eat all kinds of meats. He likes beef, chicken, fish and eggs. There are special flours that are gluten-free some of them include corn, soy, rice, quinoa, tapioca, potato, bean, and nut flours. Many kids on gluten free diets also avoid other allergies too. Dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt are also gluten-free. Some kids with Celiac and gluten intolerance can’t eat dairy products or drink milk because it gives them a sore tummy. They sometimes drink rice milk and soy milk. They may eat coconut yogurt and coconut ice cream (by the way it is really good!).

What's Not on Cilie's List?

All Celiac kids and kids with gluten intolerance have to avoid labels that say: wheat, barley, bran, breading, bulgar, couscous, durum, farina, graham flour, kamut, matzoh, malt, soy sauce, rye, semolina, spelt, wheat starch, and wheat gluten. Luckily, most companies put a gluten-free label on the package so kids can easily find products that they can eat.??Ingredients that might hurt you if you eat it are: modified food starch, hydrolyzed vegetable and plant protein, artificial color and flavoring, natural flavoring, maltodextrins, dextrins, MSG and mono and diglycerides. Cilie avoids all these. He also avoids High Fructose Corn Syrup too, even though it doesn’t have gluten in it.

How Do Kids Find Foods on Cilie's List?

Kids on special diets can find a lot of tasty foods at local health food stores and specialty shops. Some places may even have their own store just for Celiacs. There are also a lot of stores on the internet that will ship gluten-free foods right to your house. Amazon.com does just that. Many grocery stores now also have gluten-free sections. If you go to the front desk and ask, sometimes they even give you a sheet with all their gluten free stuff written on it. Trader Joe’s does that and they also put yellow signs on all their gluten free foods on their shelves, making it really easy to shop there if you are not quite old enough to read labels yet.

What are Some of Cilie's Favorite Foods?

Breakfast:

Cilie loves scrambled eggs, gluten-free waffles topped with strawberries, pancakes, cream of rice bran cereal (made by Bob’s Red Mill), special gluten-free oats, gluten-free granola (Udi’s is his favorite brand), homemade yogurts, gluten free sausages (Jone’s is one brand he eats), orange juice, and milk.

Lunch:

Cilie is always creating new lunch ideas. Some of his favorites are gluten-free prepackaged lunch meats (Hormel all natural is his favorite), carrot sticks, fresh apple, apple sauce, banana, leftover dinner in a thermos, frozen blueberries (nice and chilly by lunchtime), homemade trail mix, homemade yogurt parfait.

Dinner:

Cilie likes mashed potatoes, boiled vegetables, fresh made salads, homemade salad dressings, barbecued meats, grilled burgers on gluten-free buns, gluten-free noodles and sauces.

Snacks:

 When Cilie is hungry after school he likes to munch on rice cakes covered in nut butter, gluten-free salami rolled in cream cheese and a pickle, fresh raspberries, and fruit chews. Sometimes he will bring gluten-free chips to a football game and he often uses a thermos to carry his juices when he travels. Enjoy Life brand makes several gluten-free snack bars that he loves.

Sweet treats:

Cilie likes to bake gluten-free cookies during the holidays but you can also buy them at the store too. There are many companies that sell cookies and cakes. Sometimes he will eat a plain Hershey bar. He eats Pure Fun gummy bears and jelly beans. He also loves Enjoy Life chocolate bars as well.