Grandson's wheat intolerance

[Mimi]

After weeks of doing food eliminating DD has discovered that our GS 14 months) has a wheat intolerance. When wheat is included in his diet he experiences chronic painful constipation. As far as we can tell he is ok with gluten.
Trouble is finding very little information to help her with food suggestions/ health tips
Has anyone dealt with issues like this and if so any tips ?

Also so do we have a health/ diet tread as I wasn't sure what thread topic to post this on

[Oma]

Not come across this Mimi , but I'm sure some clever grans will know xx

[Plantaholic]

Quite a lot of information on line Mimi, just googled it.

[Qwerty]

Poor little boy but at least they know now, there is a lot of products in my supermarket saying wheat free on a section by itself but there is so much with wheat in it that we wouldn't think off , it's a whole new way of food shopping I guess although I know nothing about it really

[Gemini]

Poor thing Mimi

I will move this post to Body, Mind and Spirit, as that includes health and diet issues.

[Nanto2girls]

Sorry Mimi, but i don't have any experiemce of wheat intolerance.

[Daisy]

Mimi - no experience of wheat intolerance as such, but I have one son and some of my GCs who have gluten intolerance. A lot of the 'Free From ...' products in the supermarkets are wheat and gluten free. Most products list their ingredients with the possible 'no-nos' in bold text. Odd things to look out for are things like stock cubes, ice cream, (Swedish Glace is a life-saver here!) things like Lemon Curd, baked beans, cooked ham, sausages, sprinkles and other cake decorations etc. There are things designed to trip you up - for example, McCain's frozen chips - the ordinary ones are fine - the so-called 'home style' ones aren't! Some brands of certain items are fine, others aren't - oh and manufacturers change their recipes so you have to check every time.

Once you get used to it, it's not too bad, and the choices are getting better all the time. Xanthan Gum is useful for things like pastry where the absence of wheat makes it hard to get the elasticity in without gluten. I use GF self-raising flour for baking, but obviously that won't do for you - rice flour is a good alternative, and for some recipes almond flour. They do need extra liquid in them, though.

I find bread is the worst thing to find really good substitutes for.

Eliminating wheat will massively reduce his gluten intake as well.

It's great that you've got such an early diagnosis - I'm sure he will feel so much better for it.

[Mimi]

Thanks Daisy I will pass this on .
Dd has food allergies and she has to be careful what she eats so this is only going to add to her complicated weekly grocery shopping!

[Daisy]

Mimi - at least your DD is used to having to check labels etc for her own food allergies, but as you say having to take into account your GS's as well is another restriction.

If I'm feeding the whole family everything is gluten- and dairy-free so we all eat the same, which makes it much easier. I have a friend who is allergic to garlic and that is really difficult when she eats out because restaurants use garlic such a lot for flavouring.

One thing I find useful is to keep suitable gravy in the freezer - it's often the part of a meal I rush to make at the last minute and having some GF gravy ready made is really good. I also keep a small sliced loaf of GF bread in the freezer so I can take out just one or 2 slices at a time.

[Mimi]

When DD was little is was a battle trying to find food with clear labelling on , I was looked on as a bit of a health freak , not letting my DD eat a lot of food other children were happy to eat. Partys were a nightmare as she had to bring her own food with her . If she ate the tiniest amount of a nut her life was in danger, food colouring would result in hives and breathing difficulties, bananas would bring on vomiting and tomatoes would make her lips swell and that was just for starters .
Food labelling is much clearer now with, as you as certain ingredients are now in bold text which is easier to scan . I became an expert in spotting the word 'nuts' in ingredient lists , it had become second nature to flip things over and read the back of products so much that one day I found myself reading the print on the back of a birthday card I was holding whilst stood in a queue waiting to pay for it.

[Daisy]

Mimi - reading the back of a birthday card made me smile, but I totally understand. The habit becomes ingrained! Thank goodness it's easier to check not. Your DD has a lot to cope with though and it must have made it almost impossible to eat out when she was little. Probably not that much easier now.

[Oma]

I hate when manufacturers change the recipe , Did you know some Baked beans HAVE FISH STOCK IN ? I had no idea till I was told to look out for it at the hospital , I now look if the tin says new improved recipe , you just never know ,

[Gemini]

OMG, don't tell vegan OH that - although as he reads Vegan magazine etc, I guess he will know.

[Mimi]

I hate when manufacturers change the recipe , Did you know some Baked beans HAVE FISH STOCK IN ? I had no idea till I was told to look out for it at the hospital , I now look if the tin says new improved recipe , you just never know ,

I never knew that also

[Daisy]

Generally I find branded goods have fewer surprise ingredients, but it's not always the case. I certainly have never see baked beans with fish stock in them!