Gluten-free question

[Anonymous]

Question for those of you with gluten-free experience or knowledge:

I have been trying a gluten-free diet with my kids since the beginning of this summer. One child has ADHD, the other ADHD and GAD. I really don't think it is making a difference. For what it is worth, my kids already have a pretty good clean diet. They eat veggies, fruit, protein, mostly organic, etc. The one with ADHD and GAD is already dairy-free due to very bad gastro issues, which have been pretty much resolved at this point. I figured I might as well try GF to see if it could help. My child's anxiety tends to go down in the summer when we are out of school and it has, though I would say less so than in previous summers. His inattentiveness, though, seems worse than ever. My other son seems exactly the same as always.

We are about to go on a week vacation with extended family when it will be extremely hard to keep up the diet. My family are big snackers and have junk food around all the time. The only way for me to enforce the GF diet would be to watch my kids like a hawk which would a) make them feel very excluded/punished (which one can handle relatively speaking but the one with GAD already has a hard enough time on vacations as it is) and b) very likely make them turn against the GF endeavor altogether and create a compliance issue I have never had before.

So my question is: is it worth doing as much as I can but letting them cheat?? I ask this question for the vacation and also for when they go back to school. Is it at all valuable to go partially gluten-free? Or should I say, I gave it to months, it is time to give up. I wanted to make the point that it doesn't seem to be helping but also allow for someone more knowledgeable to say that they might still be better off without gluten. Any advice??? Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I think that is a tough call. Some people say is can take many months (I've heard up to 8) to see improvement on the GF diet, and that it needs to be strict (i.e. if there are infractions, you are basically starting over). In my own case, I can tell that I can handle a little gluten (i.e. small infractions don't bother me) but a few gluten-containing meals in a row, and I feel awful. I think it varies so much by person, that there's really no way to know until you experiment and find out. I saw benefits for myself after being GF for about a month, and it seemed subtle, because it happened very gradually.

If you do choose to keep up the diet, one way I've found to avoid the issue of other people's snacking is to very proactively provide my kids with favored GFCF snacks - give them fruit and chips, for example, and then they are less likely to wander over to the Goldfish.

[Anonymous]

It takes 6 months for gluten to leave your system. And many things contain gluten that you may not be aware of (ie: many soy sauces, candy, even some brands of ice cream) so they may still be eating it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It takes 6 months for gluten to leave your system. And many things contain gluten that you may not be aware of (ie: many soy sauces, candy, even some brands of ice cream) so they may still be eating it.

Should have added I agree with PP - provide plenty if snack alternatives. We like Smartpuffs and Popchips. Some brands have kettle corn, popcorn, etc that are gluten free. King Arthur and Wegmans brands have good brownie and cake mixes. We like Better Batter flour and Gluten Free Pantry flour for baking. Udi's muffin tops are really good, and so are their muffins (and breads, bagels, frozen pizzas).

[Anonymous]

It works well for my son, and even if he cheats here and there it seem worse if it builds up in his system.
However, this may not be typical, we notice a difference within a week usually if he goes without it completely but maybe your kids are different.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the answers. Re: hidden gluten, yes I became a pretty good label reader when we went dairy-free. I have close friends with Celiac Disease so I knew what to look for with gluten. But I appreciate the comment.

As for snacks, great tips, thanks. If we decide to stick with the diet, I will definitely go this route. Better to do extra sugar for a week if it keeps the whole plan from falling apart! There is no way I'll be able to prevent all infractions without my making it a huge focus of the trip. I have already been down that road with the dairy and I know I can't expect my family to participate or make it really easy.

I guess the question comes down to, at what point does one conclude that a diet does not seem to help?? This is not a particularly hard one for me. I make most of their food anyway and haven't really had trouble up to now.