Gluten, dairy free

[Guest guest]

Dear Gail, There is a lot of information out there. Unfortunately

what tends to happen is the diet becomes simply restricted.

Even as an adult I find gluten free irritating in the extreme. You

are gluten free but you sure as ... aren't sugar free. Most

commercial gluten free stuff still seems to be in the category of

junk food.

However with lots of fruit, vegatabels, potatoes rice, grains you can

eat there is still plenty of choice if you're prepared to make your

own.

If the child is very sensitive there are some hidden things with

gluten in - malt vinigar is one so chips with vinigar can be a

problem.

Beer- not a problem with a child thank goodness.

The dairy - as a six year old milk free shouldn't really be a problem.

Mum needs to be making meals from scratch to be sure there isn't any

gluten - and check that she's absolutely sure about which grains are

ok and which aren't. Some folk say oats is ok but I find its as bad

as the others.

Millet, quinoa are Ok. If mum has switched to spelt this may still be

a problem.

Tinned and processed foods - labelling has to be carefully checked

for hidden gluten - modified starch etc.

Also if child has been on a restricted diet then vitamins and

minerals may have become depleted so supplement - Salus do gluten

free preperations which are easy for children to take.

It may even be that gluten and/or dairy was the problem initially,

and foods have gradually slipped back in that have them in.

Its very hard with a child this age to keep them totally free- check

school, children's parties. If child had been alright for a good

while mum may have thought everything was resolved and gone back

to " normal " diet in which case careful explanation of need to stay

gluten free etc. if this really is a problem.

I've always thought that children shouldn't really need milk past

weaning - and this was re-inforced recently when I attended one of

Jane Plant's talks and realised how much dairy husbandry has

deteriorated since I kept goats so don't worry too much about the

milk.

Again there's lots of alternatives they may just not be things they

would think of using.

Hope that's a bit of help,

Allshorn