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ast week we learnt that our youngest Barbarian, Jeckle, has a wheat allergy. This means everything with wheat is now off the menu – and it’s amazing how many things contain wheat. Luckily he’s not coeliac, so if he does accidentally eat wheat the consequences aren’t as dire. Even so, it’s been many years of slowly worsening health to finally have an answer.
The battle is now cleaning out the pantry and re-thinking our diet. Turns out school lunch boxes are much harder to plan for.
If you have any suggestions or wheat-free recipes I’d love to hear them.
May 2, 2018 at 11:38 pm
Oh, what a shame! My nephew David has recently been keeping wheat out of his diet, a pity because he just loves making bread! I’ll ask him if he has any suggestions, although as a grown man he may be willing to do salads and such that a child won’t enjoy as much.
May 4, 2018 at 2:21 pm
I think that’s the hardest thing, Sue – offering him food he’ll be happy to eat so he doesn’t feel the sudden change so drastically. If your nephew has any suggestions I’d love to hear them.
May 4, 2018 at 2:42 pm
I will ask, but as I said, grown man, teenager, difference! David does salads. He chops up celery and carrots to put into dips. That sort of stuff, definitely not something for a young man’s school lunchbox. If you’re able to consider making your own, there are heaps of easy recipes for grain-free bread online. I even spotted one you can make in a bread machine! At Passover I have made cake with almond meal instead of flour and if you can do cake, you can do bread. Have a Google!
May 4, 2018 at 3:24 pm
Oooh, I have a bread machine! I will have to hunt that one down. Thanks!
May 2, 2018 at 11:40 pm
PS My blog address is wrong, just noticed as I was posting. It’s suebursztynski.blogspot.com
May 3, 2018 at 1:05 am
I did try wheat free, in an ongoing battle with my headaches. Really, I think if I stopped eating they’d go away!
May 4, 2018 at 2:23 pm
Oh, sorry to hear about your headaches, Jacqui. I sometimes wish I was allergic to chocolate…
May 3, 2018 at 4:45 am
It’s great you now know what it is. That makes things much easier.
There are all sorts of resources online nowadays. One of the ladies in my writing group is also wheat free (along with dairy and a couple other things), so she might know something. It’s much easier today than it was a decade or so ago to find things that are wheat free. Good luck.
May 4, 2018 at 2:25 pm
It is a relief to finally have an answer as to why he’s had the problems he’s had. I have been googling, but a lot of the recipes seem geared to adults more than kids. This is day 3 and he’s been a champion about it so far, although I’m finding the thought of meal preparation a bit of a headache.
May 4, 2018 at 9:18 am
Hi AJ. Sorry to hear about Jeckle’s diagnosis, but I imagine it’s a big relief to have one and to know that it’s not life-threatening. I’m a huge fan of breads so can’t help you with any suggestions, but you’re great at research and there is so much available now about wheat-free diets. I predict that you will soon be an expert in this subject matter and will be the go-to person for everyone else.
I hope you’re feeling better after last week’s illness. Best to Jeckle.
May 4, 2018 at 2:28 pm
Karen, I’m a huge fan of bread (and pastry!) but no more. Turns out he’s got his allergy from me (and we suspect I got it from my Mum) so I’m also on the no wheat thing as well. Much easier for me though because I don’t have a lunch box that my peers are judging me on.
I’m feeling much better, now, thank you (and will be back to normal once the I-got-behind-and-my-to-do-list-has-a-to-do-list is caught up). Thanks for your wishes =)