Living with Celiac

Yesterday afternoon, the leaders of my church's women's organization stopped by to see how we were doing and to offer any assistance they (and all the women of the church) could.  This is one of the wonderful things about being plugged in to a Christian community... reaching out to each other and serving one another in times of need.  For the women in the community, it often means fixing meals and delivering them for a family when tragedy or trials strike.  It is a give and take.  I have often helped out with meals for new mothers, invalids, and for funerals.

However, when the ladies offered, I politely declined.

It is not a matter of being 'too proud' or 'too independent'.

It is a matter of dietary restrictions.

 http://www.csaceliacs.org/

Bill has Celiac Disease.  Click on the words for a full explanation of what that means, but essentially, he cannot eat anything that has gluten in it.  Gluten is a binding agent found naturally in wheat.  So he can't eat any kind of bread or pasta.  Unfortunately, because gluten is such a good binder, it is often included as an ingredient in many other pre-packaged foods.  For instance, most cream based soups have gluten in them.  Some meats have been treated with gluten before being flash frozen.  No beer or anything basted in beer.  Nothing 'breaded'.  Anything with malt flavoring added is out.  In fact, if maltodextrin is an ingredient, then it is iffy.  Maltodextrin in the US is usually made from corn, but if it came from another country, then all bets are off.  Having maltodextrin in it is usually enough for us to return the item to the store shelf unless we can find a specific 'gluten free' mark on it. When shopping, we have to read EVERY label to make sure each item is safe for Bill to eat.  Even if we knew it was safe last month, we still check because companies change their recipes and something that used to be safe may no longer be 'clean'.  We were excited when Chex changed their formula, making the Corn Chex and Rice Chex gluten free!  Eating out can be challenging unless the restaurant is in the know and has a gluten free menu from which to order.  That is why we have a very select number of favorite local haunts.

So, when the ladies asked if they could bring meals in?

No.

There is just no way to know if each person cooking a meal for us was fully educated in how to avoid poisoning Bill on accident.

Many people have asked me over the years how we manage to keep Bill's diet gluten free.  They seem to think it is some kind of hardship.  I will admit that I thought the same thing when he was first diagnosed four or five years ago.

It turns out that bread is NOT the staff of life.  You don't need it.  We tried in that first year to find replacement flours so we could continue cooking and baking our same menu items.  That was a dismal failure.  Not only are alternative flours massively expensive, they also taste TERRIBLE!

We have discovered that if you just eat fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables, you really don't need the bread products.  What about carbs?  You can find them in beans and rice.  There are a few products in the gluten free aisle of the store that are worth the price... like one particular brand of pancake mix, or a certain iced sugar cookie as an occasional treat.  But, really, when well meaning friends and family members give us gluten free flours and other products, they usually just go to waste due to the fact that they just taste horrible!

Also, Mexican cuisine is really well suited to a gluten free diet.  I'd say that about 75% of our menu is Mexican, now.

Of course, the house is not entirely gluten free.  There is bread for the kids to make sandwiches, and I have some single serving frozen dinners ready for sudden lasagna cravings.  But, no, there is no flour and we do not bake.

And I am okay with that!