Gluten/Casein Free Cooking Advise

[JW in Indianapolis]

My 5 year old has been diagnosed with food allergies so I need to come up w/ gluten/casein/dairy/wheat/oat free diet (is this possible?!) Does it get easier? !!

I'm sure I'l get guidance when we go for our consultation appt. but thought I'd throw out the question here since I've received so much help in the past.

Appreciate any feedback.

[AD]

You might find some products and advise at www.glutenfree.com

[wallycat]

gluten is part of protein in wheat (but sounds like she doesn't have gliaden allergy--the other half of the protein in wheat??) and casein is the protein in dairy...am not positive what protein she would be allergic to in oats.
I will dig out the website that has all the commonalities of allergens if I can find it. It sounds like corn is OK. Rice is always the least allergenic...what about rye? or kamut or spelt?

They now make corn elbow noodles; you can use corn tortillas. Several breads are now made with rice (though I think they taste horrid)...be careful with any soy cheeses as many of them actually ADD casein to their product. Soy milks and soy yogurts would be safe to use.

You said she was small; children can often outgrow food allergies, but proteins are difficult...best of luck

[cookingmonkey]

Yes, it is possible. I live with the same allergies, along with a few others. The gluten free pantry is a good site, glutenfree.com
as well as Miss Roben's, missrobens.com. Actually I prefer Miss Roben's. They have allergy alerts that will tell you what foods they carry specific to your needs. They also carry books on food allergies and links to helpful pages.

As far as trying other grains, such as rye, spelt, etc...talk to your doctor. If she is allergic to oats as well as gluten, she cannot have anything but rice or corn. Living Without is a good magazine to check out, it deals with all kinds of restricted diets.

Hang in there, it is hard at first, but it gets easier. I was diagnosed about a year and a half ago. I am still learning. I hope some of this info helps you out. Any other questions, just ask.

jennifer

[KimKelly]

My daughter had a milk/dairy allergy for the first 2 years of her life. I thought I had it bad! Goodness. I don't know much about the gluten/wheat part to help you, but as for casein be careful. I first wrongly assumed that "dairy free" meant casein free (and the casein is what really seemed to bother her.) Some of the soy cheeses and products have casein added. Also in crackers, etc. I did find a soy yogurt, I believe it was the Silk brand that was really good, and we also use rice milk. We found the Rice Dream to be our favorite. I'll have to check back in my files to see what other info I can find for you. Good luck.

Kim

[JKS]

My daughter has just egg and peanut allergies, but in the search for her issues, we did a six week trial with a gluten/casein/dairy/wheat/oat/egg free diet. It was not fun, but I was saved by the natural foods section. There, they had rice bread, corn pasta (all shapes), gluten-free everything. I second wallycat's warning about soy cheese and other soy products, don't assume they're casein free. They're expensive and non-returnable. Also, I have found good resources by typing in searches for 'vegan (fill in food desired)' on google. I highly recommend making a batch of cupcakes with rice flour and freezing them. Make them HERS, no one else can touch them, then you can grab one to take to bday parties, etc. Also, are you in touch with the 'food allergy network'?

http://www.foodallergy.org/

They have good resources, and will email you with warnings about products with unlabeled allergens. I've taken to writing to thank companies who label their allergens clearly. It makes shopping much easier. Finally, I just did simple meals: meat, rice/potato, vegetable--my family actually prefers that anyway!

Any hope she'll outgrow her allergies?

Good luck!!

[wallycat]

here's another resource:
http://www.celiac.com/
It's the celiac/sprue organization. They offer recipes, updates, etc. on gluten type of allergies.

[SusanMac]

There have been a few discussions on this BB, so if you do a search you'll probably find some good recipe recommendations, tips, etc. Also, I have a great gluten-free cookbook. I can't rememeber the name of the author. Found it on Amazon, which had several to choose from. Also, when I was at Whole Foods recently, they had published a list of all the gluten-free items in their store. Great find, even if you don't shop there regularly.

[Vanessa]

It seems hard at first but I think the best advice is to get a few good cookbooks mostly dealing with gluten free cooking. The gluten free cooking baking will take care of the gluten, wheat and oat allergies. The dairy allergies you can use a substitute for dairy.
You will be mostly using rice, potato starch, soy, tapioca and corn . You can either try places like gluten free pantry or go to your health store. You can even purchase ice cream cones gluten free nowdays. You will be able to get rice products, pastas made with rice, potato, quinoa. Be careful with SPELT. I am very allergic to wheat and spelt in some health stores is offered as an alternative but it gives me allergies. There are yummy frozen waffles in the freezer dept (dairy/wheat/gluten free) SAme with breads, pancake mixes, brownie mixes etc. You can buy mixes (cake etc) you can get great cookies even fig newton cookies without gluten, dairy and wheat. Its really amazing the variety out there. Yrs ago I was stuck with hard breads and tasteless things but not anymore! :)
The Bette Hagman cookbooks have been great although I must say DH has more patience in gluten/wheat free baking than I.
I understand that TRader Joe might have some products for you too.
My only advice is read ALL labels carefully. If baking xantham gum does wonders preventing heavy baked goodies and lots of reading and experimenting.

[Lionceuse]

What GREAT info!! Thanks everyone for posting. Makes me feel right at home. :)

Lionceuse