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Hi Fellow Celiac Moms,

It's been a long time since I've written but in light of the two letters
regarding peer pressure and "cheatin' kids" I thought I would send off a
message.

I have 9 children, all of whom are Celiacs but each has their own level of
sensitivity.  I, am also a Celiac.  Some of my children respond so violently
to gluten that they NEVER cheat (not to say they aren't tempted now and then
by a good-lookin' donut) because they will be vomiting and have diarrhea for
3 days.  My teen age girls let vanity rule because they become so bloated in
their belly when they cheat.  So they don't.

PARTIES:
Most people who know us, don't invite us to parties unless they provide
something gluten-free for us or the children.  We never require this, but
they are wonderful and often do this, however, I will double-check their
food, just in case.  If they don't provide, I always send my child to a
birthday party with a muffin and a Haggen Daz Bar.

CAMPS:
My kids have been attending church camps etc... all summer.  I have taken a
cooler of "our" food with them.  We include salad dressing (with no vinegar),
sour cream (with no mono & diglycerides), butter (with no annatto), GF
cookies, bread and muffins, and other stuff.  The camps usually have fruit
and salads available.  However, my kids always come home a few pounds
lighter.  But at least they were without abdominal pain while they were there.

TRAVELING:
With a family as big as ours traveling is a feat anyway.  We have found that
camping is best because we can cook our own food over a campfire and we are
all healthy.  If I go somewhere in the van with them on the road, we stop at
grocery stores instead of fast food chains so we can buy; potato chips,
string cheese, yogurt, slices ham and cheese from the deli and fresh fruit.
This is "FAST FOOD" to us.

DREAMING:
We all experience dreams about eating wonderful wheat food. My teen age son
dreams of pizza and my daughters dream of pastries.  In one dream I had, I
held a chocolate cake in each hand and just ate and ate.  I then always
experience GUILT in my dream and then wake up feeling relieved that I had not
cheated!

SCHOOL:
This is my remedy and won't work for most of you, but I HOMESCHOOL all my
children.  It has worked great for me, because I can serve them wonderful
lunches and they can't be tempted to cheat.  However, my oldest attended
college (while still living at home) and getting enough to eat at the college
was difficult for her.  She lived on dry salads and fruit unless she brought
her own food from home which was difficult with her fast paced schedule and
she lost quite a bit of weight this year.  She's 5'7'' and 108 lb.

This diet hasn't been easy for me, as I believe I was "McDonald's Queen"
before we found out about this disease 5 years ago.  I grind my own short
grain brown rice into flour and special order 25 lb. bags of tapioca flour to
make my own bread.  I also grind popcorn into flour for corn bread.  I make
my own mayonnaise and salad dressings and make a lot of soups.  My children
are healthy now and we have adapted to this difficult lifestyle.

My only complaint in life: I would like to see food companies include on
their labels ALL gluten ingredients, no matter how small.

I hope all you Moms out there are coping..... ---Lorraine Dowdle