Boston Mamas: Celiac Tips

Today, Mary shares food tips and resource leads for managing Celiac Disease:

“A year ago, my biggest concern when grocery shopping was scanning the aisles for the best sales, but once our daughter was diagnosed with Celiac Disease - the autoimmune disorder caused by a reaction to gluten protein found in wheat, barley, and rye (see basic Celiac facts at the end of this post) - my priority turned towards reading labels and looking for the presence of wheat, barley, or rye in our groceries.

While at first our hearts sank at the news, we quickly put the situation in perspective. Celiac Disease, in and of itself, is not life threatening. And the good thing about Jillian having been diagnosed at such a young age (2 years old) is that she’s malleable and has quickly caught on to learning to ask if she can eat certain foods before popping them in her mouth. As a family, we have made adjustments in our eating habits as well, so, for example, we aren’t eating pre-diagnosis favorites in front of her. Below are some gluten-free foods that we’ve found Jillian absolutely loves and that are now staples in our household.

Breakfast:

Envirokidz Gorilla Munch Crunch

Van’s Wheat Free with Flax Waffles

Stonyfield Farms Yogurt Smoothies

Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon

Raisins

Apple Juice

Lunch:

Applegate Farms Turkey Breast (or any all natural turkey)

Hebrew National All Beef Hot Dogs

Cheese

Eggs

Snacks:

All fruit and vegetables (apples, grapes, and bananas are her favorites)

Welch’s Fruit Snacks (per Welch’s Corp. Headquarters, all Welch’s products are gluten-free)

Blue Diamond Nut Thin Rice Crackers

EnviroKidz Rice Crispy Bars

Trail Mix

Glutino Pretzels

Cape Cod Potato Chips

Baked Cheetos

Frito’s

Dinner:

Bush’s Baked Beans (All Bush’s beans are gluten-free)

Amy’s Rice Crust Cheese Pizza

Food For Life Wheat & Gluten Free Brown Rich Bread

Ian’s Chicken Patties

Jasmine Rice

Organic frozen peas, corn, carrots

Jones Sausages

Desserts:

Friendly’s Black Raspberry Ice Cream

M&M’s

Dum Dums

Additional Resources:

Other great resources on Celiac Disease and products include Gluten-Free Mall, Glutenfree.com, and Celiac.com. Blogs such as Gluten Free Mommy and Delightfully Gluten Free also feature wonderfully creative and easy recipes for those looking to keep their diet interesting. Gluten is even becoming a bit of a “celebrity.” It was recently the topic of an article in USA Today, and Oprah even has “done the gluten-free diet” thing by choice.

Some Facts about Celiac*
Celiac occurs in the population in 1 out of 133 people, and is becoming more commonly diagnosed now that there is a reliable blood-test to check for it. Once diagnosed, Celiac requires a change in diet and the elimination of all wheat, barley, and rye.
Prevalence of Celiac Disease in the United States:

In average healthy people: 1 in 133

In people with related symptoms: 1 in 56

In people with first-degree relatives (parent, child, sibling) who are celiac: 1 in 22

In people with second-degree relatives (aunt, uncle, cousin) who are celiac: 1 in 39

Estimated prevalence for African, Hispanic, and Asian Americans: 1 in 236

*Source: University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center

Image source: NIH Consensus Development Conference on Celiac Disease