In the year 2003, my son was ten years old. Each night, he would curl up on
the bathroom floor, crying. During the day, we would go out, only to have to
stop the car because he felt ill or because he would have to go to the bathroom,
frequently and unexpectedly. His stomach hurt and hurt and hurt. He began losing
weight and was unable to eat much at any time without feeling ill. We tried
elimination diets and took him for ultrasounds and blood tests. Visits to
doctors and medical specialists brought no solution. And we worried and wondered
what to do, in a haze of exhaustion brought on by endless nights of broken
sleep.
It was purely by accident that we found the answer. Our naturopath
had recommended a wheat-free diet and, on that diet, we found our son
felt slightly better. One day, I stood exhausted in a health food store,
perusing a wheat-free cookbook. I was searching for a recipe that would
make tolerable wheat-free bread, after many experiments that ended with
loaves heavy enough to use as door stoppers. I came across something in
that book that would change our lives. It was a small paragraph with one
short description that could have described my son. I rushed home to do
more research on the web, and found information that immediately helped
me decide to put my son on a very specific diet. Within days, he was a
different child. Though it would take time for full recovery, we had
found the cause of our son’s pain, later confirmed by our doctor. The
villain was a protein called gluten. His illness is celiac disease.
So what is celiac disease? In a few words, when people with celiac
disease eat foods containing a protein called gluten, their immune
systems react and cause damage to the part of the small intestine that
helps them absorb the nutrients in their food. Imagine that the small
intestine is lined with finger-like projections. These projections are
called villi, and the surface of the villi capture and absorb the
nutrients our bodies need to grow and thrive. But for some people, when
gluten is consumed, the villi are damaged and can no longer absorb
adequate nutrients. For a child, the body is trying to grow but adequate
nutrients just aren’t available.
When our son was diagnosed, celiac disease was considered a pretty
rare disease. In fact, when we first took him to the doctor and later
the gastrointestinal specialist, I directly asked if he could be celiac.
They both insisted he was not. Today, estimates suggest that one in
every 133 persons in North America and one in every 150 to 200 persons
in Europe is affected by celiac disease. The only way to stop the damage
and heal the intestine is to follow a strict gluten-free diet for life.
Gluten is specifically found in certain grains: wheat, barley, triticale
and rye. It is the miracle that makes bread chewy. When these grains are
removed from the diet, the intestines begin to heal.
So remove those grains and problem solved. Right? If only it were so
simple! Alas, those three ingredients appear in multitudes of foods in
our grocery stores, under all kinds of different names: bulgur, durum,
couscous, malt, semolina, eikhorn, faro, spelt, graham flour, barley
malt, to name a few.
To make things even more confusing, grains that do not contain
gluten are often contaminated during processing with grains that do
contain gluten. So celiacs must also avoid grains like buckwheat and
corn meal unless they are specifically labeled gluten-free.
To further add insult to injury, there are many products on the
grocery store shelf that may contain gluten, sometimes in tiny
amounts: vitamins, toothpaste, sauces, salad dressings, spice mixes,
candies, soya sauce, even prescription drugs.
So, what’s a celiac or the parent of a celiac child to do? There
are two steps to surviving gluten-free in a gluten-filled world. The
first is to learn to find the foods that don’t have gluten and the
second is to learn to love them.
The first step involves learning to read ingredient lists like a
pro and to question, question, question. For months after our son
went gluten-free, shopping was a lengthy process, as I walked up and
down the isles, reading labels and placing familiar products back on
the shelf. You will quickly learn that the less processed the
product, the more likely it will be gluten-free.
Rice is
gluten-free. Packaged rice with spices and flavorings most often is
not. Apples are gluten-free. Apple pie filling may not be. Buy close
to the source and you will find much more to eat, with the
unexpected bonus of creating a healthier diet. One little hint: The
products on the outer circle of the store are often the safest for a
celiac … fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed meats, dairy
products. Don’t get me wrong, though; you still have to read every
label. (Some brands of yogurt, for example, contain wheat starch.)
Fortunately, labels are getting better and gluten-free products
in stores are becoming more varied and much more widely available.
Five years ago, it was hard to find gluten-free bread even in a
health food store, and what there was tasted bland and offered an
unpleasing, gritty texture. Today, there’s a plethora of gluten-free
foods in health food stores and larger grocery store chains often
carry gluten free products in their health food sections and freezer
departments. Though expensive, these products are much improved in
the past few years.
Educating family, friends and teachers about celiac is
imperative. There is a common misconception that eating a little
gluten won’t hurt (“You can have just one cookie, can’t you?”) This
assumption is dead wrong. Even small amounts of gluten can cause
stomach pain, headaches and other uncomfortable symptoms and, worse,
damage to the intestine.
At home, if only one person is celiac and the others still eat
wheat, you will have to take steps to ensure the celiac food is not
contaminated. For instance, the celiac will need a separate toaster
and family members must be careful not to dip their wheat bread
crumb-coated knives into the peanut butter. Many families have
separate cutting boards for the celiacs in their families and
separate shelves in their cupboards and fridges to make sure that
gluten-free products stay that way.
When we discovered that our son needed to eat gluten-free, in a
family with three small children, we found it easier to make our
whole home gluten-free. My husband and I, as well as our second son,
felt much better off gluten and we remain gluten-free six years
later. It’s interesting to note that there is a one in twenty-two
chance that first degree relatives may also be celiac. Doctors often
recommend that if one person in a family is found to be celiac, the
rest of the family should be tested.
For me, though, the most important change came much later, when I
learned to love to eat and bake gluten-free. At first, I despaired
of ever baking or eating a good loaf of bread again. Cookies
crumbled and waffles were mushy and nearly inedible. Muffins had a
spongy texture reminiscent of a floor mop. Yuck! Still, I was highly
motivated to keep trying: Feeding a family of five gluten-free is
outrageously expensive if you have to buy every loaf of bread and
package of cookies!
The good news is that there are wonderful cookbooks out there
with fabulous gluten-free recipes. When we first went gluten-free, I
searched the library files and found three gluten-free books.
Recently, I tried that search again and found over fifty!
Gluten-free flours are readily available in health food stores and
specialty stores, and even in mainstream grocery stores to a limited
extent.
Most importantly, I’ve learned to revel in the variety of flours
available. Oh, those wheat eaters, with their limited palates! There
are many unexplored flours for baking and you can discover them all
when you bake gluten-free: tapioca, potato, soya, sweet rice, brown
rice, teff, white rice, quinoa, millet, corn, pea, garfava. Each has
a distinctive taste and texture that makes gluten-free baking a
delight.
Baking with these flours is different and it takes some time to
learn to handle them. Like all new skills, a little practice and
some trial and error make all the difference.
There are two secrets to help with gluten-free baking. First:
Always use more than one flour in a recipe. Never replace wheat
flour with just rice flour or just amaranth flour. Trust me, you
won’t like it. These flours work best in combination. The secret is
to see the flours in categories of heavy, light and medium and to be
sure to choose at least one flour from each category.
The second
secret is a little ingredient called xanthan gum.** This is a
product often used as a thickener; you can see it listed on
ingredient lists for ice cream, for example. You add xanthan gum in
quantities similar to baking soda. Gluten-free flours don’t have
that stretchy protein, so they tend to crumble and fall flat.
Xanthan gum helps hold the ingredients together and give baked goods
a nicer texture.
Try the recipes listed here or go to your library and take out a
few of the plethora of gluten-free cookbooks. Then butter up a piece
of gluten-free bread. And eat!
Learn More
Kids with Celiac Disease : A Family Guide to Raising Happy,
Healthy, Gluten-Free Children by Danna Korn (Woodbine House, 2001)
125 Best Gluten-Free Recipes by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt
(Robert Rose, 2003)
The Best Gluten-Free Family Cookbook by Donna Washburn and
Heather Butt (Robert Rose, 2005)
Canadian Celiac Association
www.celiac.ca
Celiac Information www.celiac.com
Celiac Disease Foundation
www.celiac.org
