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Hi,

You said:

>I, too am interested in learning from
>other parents how to help our Celiac Kids manage in a WHOLE WHEAT
>world.

>I, too, would like to hear from others in a similar situation and
>learn how they manage.

I just now sent an SOS to the CELKIDS list about peer pressure and not
cheating. Hopefully the answers I get will help a bit with your
question, too.

YOUR problem here, tho, seems a little bit easier to deal with if it's
only your own family that you have to deal with, as opposed to your
child going to a party or somewhere where he sees his friends eating
things he shouldn't have. (That's MY problem that I've posed to the
celkids list.)

In your case and in my experience of 5 years, I would say that the
attitude of you and your husband to this diet, your prior planning for
it on trips and how easy you make your child think it is for you, as
well as the attitude any of your older children (if you have any) bring
into the situation will greatly impact the ease with which your celiac
child lives with his 'condition'. In other words, if you/your
husband/your older children don't continually call attention to the
'different foods' or how much of a hassle it is to make special things,
your celiac child won't grow up believing he's a burden on you.

We bought a pasta maker, a bread maker and a grain mill and thanks to
the celiac list, I have a FAT book of successful recipes to draw on. I
have happily told my child that he will soon be learning to read his
own labels and when he leaves home, all the appliances which have made
his dietary life enjoyable will be HIS. He is looking forward to doing
for himself what I have been doing for him.

As far as restaurants go, yes, we must be careful and I generally bring
bread or rice cakes and some GF cupcakes for a dessert. We generally
play it safe and order grilled  meat without additives, cooked veggies,
etc. No one in our family makes a big deal out of his diet anymore.

When we go out for fast food, I discretely ask the manager about how
the meat is grilled or how the fries are fried. In Israel, where we
live, felafel and shwarma (meat and veggies in a pita) are staple fast
foods, too. Felafel is 'out' for him since it has wheat as a binder, so
he orders shwarma either on a plate, or just picks the meat and salad
out of the pita bread and throws that part away. Even ice cream cones
are OK since he knows to eat the ice cream and not the cone. In other
words, when he's eating out with the family, he has learned by himself
to adapt and it's no big deal. It has taken some time, but we want him
not to feel so self-conscious about his 'problem.'

Hope this helps.

Sharon Marcus
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