<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
On 3/5 Michele Kratzmeier wrote:
 
<My 2 1/2 year old son just got diagnosed with celiac disease.
<I have been trying to read everything but still have a lot to
<learn.  I also have some questions that I can't find the
<answers:
 
My 7 year old was diagnosed at 16 months.  She has never had a problem
following the diet.  I had myself tested because I had some concern that I
might be genetically predisposed, and because I had an autoimmune
irregularity on an ANA blood test.  My husband has not been tested.  My
Celiac panel came back negative, although I had a very slightly elevated IgG.
 I put myself on a gluten free diet about a year ago because of some symptoms
(not gastro-intestinal) that I thought might benefit from a GF diet, and I've
never felt better...whatever that means!  There are plenty of people who
practically have seperate kitchens to accomodate the diet.  I have never done
that.  Obviously I wouldn't cook something in a pan that hadn't been washed
out after cooking something with gluten in it, but I don't have seperate
pans...and we do use the same toaster (although it's a toaster oven, so
crumbs sort of fall to the bottom anyway).  She's been eating McDonald's
french fries for years...she eats McDonald's hamburgers also.  Infact
sometimes it is so hard for them to understand that I want just the hamburger
patty that I order a hamburger and take the bun off myself, and am just
careful to scrape off any tiny bits of the bun that might stick to the meat.
 There are many people who you will find to be much more militant then we are
in their approach to dealing with the diet, however the healthiest Celiac
kids I've seen (at meetings of the Celiac Disease Foundation here in Los
Angeles), have parents who deal with it the same way we do.  Infact, my
daughter is now eating oats after 5 years (which is another controversial
area) and is doing just fine.  Use common sense, and in particular, read Don
Kasarda's postings (he is a food chemist with the USDA).  He will dispel alot
of misinformation that many Celiacs have come to regard as articles of faith
when there is no scientific evidence for it...in particular questions about
distilled alcohol and vinegar made from it, extracts, aswell as information
about the gliadin content of various grains you might question, such as
millet, buckwheat (really from the grass family), etc.  I do believe you can
write to the list owners directly and they will tell you how do access his
findings from the archives.  Get Bette Hagman's cookbooks...The Gluten Free
Gourmet and More From the Gluten Free Gourmet.  Make a batch of Arab Pocket
Bread (Pita Bread), and discover how great this diet is...I've just made my
third batch in two weeks, because everybody is eating them!  You have to read
ingredient labels on everything, but once you know what you're looking for,
and once you get used to calling a food manufacturer's 800# to check for the
source of the modified food starch in their product every once in awhile,
you'll find the diet extremely easy to live with, and if you like to cook the
way I do...you'll even enjoy it!
Hope this helps!
-Jane Oswaks