Febe's Foods

As you know or have heard, the gluten free diet is very difficult and expensive to follow.  I know first hand because my 7 year old, 40 lb, daughter who eats like a bird, has celiac.  Since she was diagnosed 5 years ago, our food bill has more than doubled! 

I am not complaining because within the first 5 months of her embarking on this diet, she gained 5 pounds and grew 5 inches.  This was after a year and half of no growth in height and a loss of a few ounces.  She has no more intestinal distress and is extremely well-adjusted.  To counteract any vitamin deficiences that the gluten free diet can cause, I give her a multi-vitamin and try to give her more food that is made from brown rice than white rice. 

But I know there is a contraversy out there about whether or not non-celiacs who may have a sensitivity to gluten should go on the diet.  If you truly have a sensitivity to gluten, and are not celiac, then try it out.  See if you feel better.  See if you can stand the constraints of being extremely limited in restaurants, on vacations, and at other people's homes.  See if you can afford it. See if all these difficulties are worth the improvment in physical well-being. If it works for you, then great.  Perhaps in the future, your stomach will calm down and you can try to add gluten back slowly. 

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When getting started on a gluten free diet, it is difficult to figure out what has gluten in it.  Unlike other allergens like peanuts which are readily labeled, gluten is often used in the processing of other ingredients, like soy sauce and seasonings.   Sometimes people do not physically improve right away because they are inadvertently consuming a product with gluten.

 Check out an article in examiner.com to see a list of products and ingredients where gluten is sometimes hidden.  This is not a complete list by any means, however.

Remember, always call the manufacturer for clarification.

Posted by margie at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1951) | TrackBacks (0)

Even though it is tedious and time consuming, there really is no substitute for calling food manufacturers.  However, there is a caveat.

Many times I have talked to customer service reps who were so vague or just didn’t exude confidence in their statement that a particular product is gluten free.  When that happens, I follow my first line of advice – “when in doubt, leave it out.” 

Over the last 5 years, however, more and more companies are coming on board with the gluten free thing—whether they have made their product gluten free or just are more self-assured in their statements, one way or the other.  In general, I have found bigger companies to have policies that make sense, whereas smaller companies, change so much that they have a harder time committing to gluten free.

Before my daughter was diagnosed, I had been trying to eat more organic food, but afterwards, I found companies like Kraft to be my friend.  I have called Kraft many times, and they always assure me that they never hide gluten in their ingredients lists.  So if a Kraft product lists natural flavor in its ingredient list, I feel confident that it doesn’t contain gluten.

So keep calling, but beware.

Posted by margie at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1343) | TrackBacks (0)

Gluten free eating is challenging.  We all know that.  I’ve been managing my daughter’s diet for 5 years now.  And although I am generally not one to brag about my talents, I do have an expertise in the gluten free world.  I’m a researcher by nature, so when she was diagnosed, I sat down at the computer and googled and googled and googled.  I checked out every site I could find on celiac disease.  I read gluten free associations’s websites (celiac sprue association, national foundation for celiac disease), chat room chatter, specific food company websites, and anything I could find on gluten free diets.

It didn’t take me long to find out that chat room info was very unreliable, so I spent whole days on end calling food companies.  I compiled my own lists, mostly in my head.  It’s amazing how much trivial information a person can fit inside one’s brain.  I don’t know everything that is or isn’t gluten free, but I know certain brands that my family consumes are ok.  For instance, I know that Classico tomato sauce is gf, but I have no idea if Ragu is.  I know that Trident gum is fine, but I have no idea if Orbit is.  I basically just called the companies for the brands that I generally used.  If those brands were gf, they stayed on the list, if those brands were not gf, I had to find another one that was gf. 

There are several steps to becoming entirely gf.  You can’t just decide one day, “ok, today, I’ll go gf.”  A lot of research and understanding of the ingredients’ names is necessary.  This blog will start by giving some general advice as to how to start a gluten free diet.

Today’s advice is, “when in doubt, leave it out,” or call the food manufacturer.

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