New to Gluten free

[Kelly K]

My 18 yo dd developed HORRIFIC eczema, like you wouldn't believe. Being GF made it go away in less than a week. Pretty miraculous. She also has nut allergies.

So we're trying to figure out what she can eat. She went to a party, ate some gf stuff and had an allergic reaction because of nut flour.

What can you recommend? Is there a good gf frozen pizza? Pizza seems like something people eat in social situations. What do you do about that?

Any advice?

[Sally in Oz]

I don't mean to be obtuse, but now that you have her eczema under control do you feel like trying to work out her tolerance level? I say that because we originally went gluten free for my son & daughter (eczema & emotional issues) but once they were under control discovered that actually it was wheat that was the culprit. That meant a whole range of options opened up that are eliminated with wholesale 'gluten free' (e.g oats, spelt, barley, rye etc are ok).

Our difficulty is that a lot of gluten free products use a lot of egg as a binder and of course there are all the nut flours. My daughter is anaphylactic to nuts & egg!

I have no amazing advice, we have tended to deal with it by having the kids pack their own food. If we know what is on the menu we try and come up with something similar so they don't feel too left out. If possible we also try and influence what is on the menu in those situations... Mexican with corn tortillas are a great option!

[Kelly K]

Thanks, Sally. Right. I don't know which it is she's allergic to. It might just as likely be "just" wheat. ;/

[Rebecca M]

Did anything change before she developed the allergy? Just wondering if there was a trigger.
For my 13 year old DS, he had horrible eczema when he was a baby - weeping, bleeding eczema. It was awful! He was allergic to 13 foods. We ended up doing a yeast cleanse diet and it healed a lot of his allergies esp the gluten ones. Maybe there is something like that going on?
We used to use the cookbook The Gluten Free Gourmet. They had lots of ideas in there that were really good. Unfortunately, many gluten free foods use nut flours but you can find some that don't. Rice and tapioca flours should be safe. You can also get gluten free oats.

Wish I knew a brand to give you for gluten free pizza. It is so nice to have foods that are similar when eating with others. You may try asking at the health food stores. A lot of the employees seem to eat allergy free foods so they would probably have some ideas for you.

We used to use rice to make a really easy cereal or pancakes. Here's the recipe:
Soak 1 C brown rice overnight in 1 C water.
The next morning, blend for 3 minutes until a thin batter results.
For cereal, put batter in medium size saucepan over medium. Stir frequently until it starts to thinken. The bottom begins to get really thick so you must add water slowly. Keep stirring and adding water until the consistency of muffin batter. Add pinch of salt, turn to low heat, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Eat like oatmeal.
For pancakes: add pinch of salt, 1 tsp oil, 2 tsp baking powder and 1 egg (egg is optional - we couldn't use it do to egg allergies and it was fine). Pour by 1/4 C onto heated skillet (we used nonstick spray to keep it from sticking).

[TonyaP]

Enjoy Life brand was my go to for gluten free.

[Kendra AU]

My go to GF pizza crust is nut-free, but I make everything from scratch & rarely purchase things. 2 of us can't have gluten, but we also can't have dairy. To top that off I can't have egg, corn, or rice which means it's a rare day that we can purchase something. Here's the thing though, my 12 year old could care less that he has to take things with him. He's MORE scared of eating something with unknown contents then he is worried about being embaressed about carrying something with him.

There's another catch though.. if you go from wheat to gluten free overnight you're going to FEEL great if the gluten is an issue, but you may find that GF products are so-so. THIS is what we use for GF pizza dough. It's pretty versatile & we've used it for a variety of other things too.

[Mary FL]

Udi's brand pizza

[Amy Joy]

We've used Udi's , Amy's, and Daiya. Daiya because my son is now dairy free which is way more his issue than the gluten. He can have some gluten. Sometimes we end up with gluten free for him because its the only alternative that doesn't have other stuff he's allergic too!

[Elizabeth SC]

Hi. This is my first reply or post on this forum. We are dairy, egg and beef free due to my daughter's food allergies. We are not gluten free, but her "safe" pizza is gluten free. It's a frozen pizza called Daiya pizza. She really likes it. I think it is so-so, but she likes it so that is what matters.

Social situations are tricky for us because food is involved a lot. We tend to avoid unsafe outings (because she's contact allergic) or only go to things that have her "safe" foods. Now my daughter is just 6, so I think eventually we will try more outings like you mentioned. As far as recommendations, unless I can read the label, I don't let my daughter eat the food. I hope that helps.

I see it's been over a year since you posted. How's it going with being/cooking gluten free?

[Leslie Nelsen]

Kelly - I hope things are going well with your dd. I cook GF due to my daughter's celiac dx 6 years ago. I feel better eating that way. There are options, but it does take more work and you are right that social situations can be tricky. Thankfully there are more options and its more common than ever before.

Elizabeth - I wanted to say welcome to the FIAR boards!!! Where in SC do you live? I grew up in Clemson but also lived in Charleston and Columbia for a time.