Steps to a Gluten-Free Diet for Improved Mental Health

For people with gluten intolerance, good physical and mental health requires a complete diet change. At first it can seem impossible because so many foods contain gluten.

But the popularity of the gluten-free diet is now making life just a little simpler for people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivities.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness website includes a plethora of information about gluten-free foods. They even have some recipes for people who can’t consume gluten, ranging from coconut chicken soup to spinach pesto, to chicken and asparagus pizza.

The website celiac.com also has a “safe gluten-free food list,” which includes items like corn, eggs, fruit and milk. Some oats are acceptable to eat, but it depends on whether or not they’ve been contaminated with gluten in processing.

For people who don’t know if they’re gluten intolerant or not, it might be time to try a trial gluten-elimination diet.

“Eliminate it from your diet for no less than four weeks and then reintroduce it,” said Heather Schrock, a nutritional therapy practitioner.

“If your symptoms return, you are sensitive. It is very important that you completely eliminate it though and that is where the difficulty may lie. Gluten is hidden in thousands of food and personal care products. That's right, even gluten in your lotion can affect someone with gluten sensitivity.”

Marie-Nathalie Beaudoin, a training director at Bay Area Family Therapy & Training Associates, said in an email that there are numerous gluten-free grains that people can consume as part of a healthy diet.

For example, in order to bake bread, cookies, cakes and pizzas, people can use gluten-free flour such as tapioca, coconut, rice and corn. She added that people can now choose from some gluten-free noodles now as well.

“Changing diet may seem like a daunting task, but really, everything is out there ready to be used as substitute,” Beaudoin said.

“The main challenge is the first step: figuring out what you’ll eat at every meal. Once that transition is accomplished, the dietary change can be completely enjoyable and easy to follow.”
By Rheyanne Weaver

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Gluten and Dairy Free Diet: Planning Meals for Home and School

Living without dairy and wheat is a challenge. When you first start to work with this diet you spend most of your time just trying to find substitutes for the foods you normally ate. However, after you get the hang of working with wheat alternatives and dairy alternatives, your next step is to make sure that you are not only adhering to the diet, but that you are also serving yourself and your family a healthy and well balanced diet. This is where many people get into trouble.

Calories

The first dietary issue that you need to take into consideration when working with the gluten and dairy free diet, is caloric intake. At first your child may lose weight as they will not eat as much of the new foods that you are serving them because they are unfamiliar with the taste and texture of these foods. However, as they become familiar with the taste and texture of non-dairy and non-wheat recipes, the volume of food they eat will increase. This is when you need to closely monitor how many calories each member of your family is consuming to keep their weight under control.

The age, height and activity level of each person is going to impact how many calories they need. To help you monitor the caloric intake of each member of your family, or at least the people on thegluten free dairy free diet, keep a chart of calories for the ingredients that you use to cook with. Then chart the food amounts and calories on a dry erase board.

Fat Content

Another element of the gluten free and dairy free diet that you will need to chart is fat content. While you will be using lower fat ingredients like soy milk and soy cheese, these products still contain fat. You will especially want to monitor how much hydrogenated fats are in your recipes. This is an unhealthy fat. When possible avoid using products with this type of fat.

Planning School Lunches

One challenge of putting your Autistic child on a gluten free and dairy free diet is dealing with school breakfasts and lunches. The school is not going to be able to cater to this diet so you will need to pack meals for your child to have at school. You will want to include breakfast, a snack and lunch. Variety is going to keep your child from getting bored with the foods you send. Celery sticks with Smart Balance peanut butter and raisins, carrot sticks or baby carrots, fruit snacks, dried fruits and sugar free Jello®, all make great snacks. For breakfast, eggs, turkey sausage or vegan yogurt all work well. For lunch you can include vegetable soup, chicken and rice soup, rice dumplings, turkey hot dogs without the bun, mashed potatoes, and beef stew all make great meals.

Planning Dinners

At home you can be more creative with what you make. You can try your luck working with gluten free breads, however, you're life will be much easier if you just forego bread and switch to rice and potatoes as your primary starches. Homemade stews and soups are going to be the easiest to keep gluten and dairy free. You can transform just about any recipe into a gluten and dairy free recipe by removing noodles and wheat thickeners. You can replace the noodles with rice and/or potatoes and replace wheat thickeners with arrowroot or corn starch.

Asian cuisine also will provide you with a lot of great gluten free and dairy free recipes to work with. However, because of soy sauce and other prepackaged sauces. Many of these pre-bottled sauces have wheat in them.

Again, variety is going to help you keep your kids satisfied with this diet. Try planning a different type of cuisine for each day of the week. For example, you can have Thai on Monday, Mexican on Tuesday, American on Wednesday, etc.

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The challenge of eating gluten-free

For people with celiac disease, gluten-free is not a fad. It's how they must eat for the rest of their lives. The Celiac Disease Foundation reports one out of 133 people in the United St"The message for celiac patients is that this is a diet they must strictly follow," said Alyssa Lavoie, a registered dietician at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. "Even if they are feeling good, cheating is not an option when a person has this disease."

Celiac disease occurs in 5-15 percent of offspring and siblings of a person with the disease. In 70 percent of identical twin pairs, both twins have the disease. Family members should be tested, even if asymptomatic. Family members who have an autoimmune disease are at a 25 percent increased risk of having celiac disease.

Gluten is a protein that celiac patients cannot tolerate and which causes intestinal damage if ingested. Main sources of gluten are wheat, barley and rye, grains included in many foods, making a gluten-free diet an everyday challenge.

The cause of celiac disease, also known as celiac sprue or gluten sensitive enteropathy, is still a mystery. It is not a food allergy, but an autoimmune disease, meaning the body attacks itself. While people with food allergies can sometimes grow out of them, those with celiac disease have it for life.

When individuals with celiac disease eat gluten, the tiny hair-like projections in the small intestine that absorb nutrients from food known as villi are damaged. Damaged villi do not effectively absorb basic nutrients and, in some cases, water and bile salts. Left untreated, damage to the small bowel can be chronic and life threatening.

Celiac disease can appear at any time in a person's life. In adults, the disease can be triggered after surgery, viral infection, severe emotional stress, pregnancy or childbirth. Symptoms vary and are not always gastrointestinal. Symptoms can mimic other bowel disorders.

Infants, toddlers and young children with celiac disease may exhibit growth failure, vomiting, bloated abdomen, behavioral changes and a failure to thrive. Some long-term conditions from untreated celiac disease are iron deficiency anemia, early onset osteoporosis or osteopenia, Vitamin K deficiency associated with risk for hemorrhaging, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, central and peripheral nervous system disorders, pancreatic insufficiency, intestinal lymphomas and other gastrointestinal cancers and gall bladder malfunction.

The only treatment of celiac disease is a lifelong gluten-free diet. When gluten is removed, the small intestine will heal and overall health improves. Adapting to a gluten-free diet requires lifestyle changes. It is essential to read labels and to learn how to identify ingredients that may contain hidden gluten. Even small amounts of ingested gluten can cause health problems.

Fresh fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, fish, lamb, pork and dairy products are naturally gluten-free. But, Lavoie said even products labeled wheat-free might not be gluten-free. She said there are terms such as kamut, wheat flour, malt extracts, starch and uncertified oats that are red flags.

"Unless it is certified gluten-free, it can be cross contaminated," Lavoie said. "There are recognized companies, Bob's Red Mill, Udi's and Bisquick, to name a few that sell gluten-free products.

Allowed grains and flours are rice, corn, soy, potato, tapioca, beans, garfava, sorghum, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, arrowroot, amaranth, teff, flax, and nut flours. A physician or dietician should be consulted before including oats in the diet.

Wines and distilled alcoholic beverages and vinegars are gluten-free. Beers and malt vinegars made from gluten-containing grains are not distilled and thus not gluten-free, though gluten-free beers are available in the United States.

Eileen Behan, a registered dietician at Exeter Hospital, through the Core Physician Group, has written several books on family nutrition. She said following a gluten-free diet has gotten easier.

"In the early 2000s, the Centers for Disease Control took a look at the prevalence of celiac disease," Behan said. "They found it was much higher than previously believed. As a result, in 2004, labeling laws were passed that require gluten to be listed if it's not obvious."

Most retailers now offer clearly marked gluten-free products, including granola bars, cereals and breads.

"They are more expensive," Behan said. "And eating out can still pose problems. There are some restaurants now, like the Common Man and Flatbread in Portsmouth that offer gluten-free choices. Mexican restaurants can be a good choice as they are more often corn-based."

Breads are the hardest products to find, Behan said, adding Philbrick's Fresh Market in Portsmouth offers a variety of gluten-free breads and other foods.

"Celiac patients must also be aware that gluten can be used as filler in some prescription and over the counter drugs," she said. "Ask your pharmacist. Also, for Catholics, the host bread is an issue. Some churches are offering a gluten-free version, but you need to ask for it."

Even restaurants with gluten-free menu items raise concerns due to the risk of cross-contamination, said Lee Appel of Rye. Food must be stored separately and prepared away from other meals. Appel is a member of the Seacoast Celiac Sprue Disease Support Group. She became involved when her son, Mark Stanchfield, was diagnosed. He was born with Down syndrome and celiac disease is a fairly common ailment associated with Downs.

"Mark passed away four years ago but I stay involved as a legacy to him," she said. "I act as an advocate for people who have questions or are newly diagnosed. It is a great place to make friends with people who have something in common."

The Seacoast Celiac Sprue Support Group meets bi-monthly, on the third Thursday. It also holds periodic Celiac Awareness Day at Philbrick's Fresh Market.ates are affected. Recognizing this, the food industry is stepping up to the plate.