Curious, Do Most People Go Gluten Free For The Household, Or Just Themselves?

[MsCurious]

Hi again,

Just wondering how you all adapt the gluten-free lifestyle within the home. Does the family go gluten-free, so it is a completely non-toxic environment at home? I am sure my husband would do that, and of course indulge in a normal diet when away from the house. How do your spouses and family feel about it? This is all new to me, so I'm not sure how difficult it is to not have cross contamination if there are toxic foods in the house. Thanks for your input..much appreciated!

[mushroom]

My hub decided to go gluten free to make it easier (and because he had had some GI issues), and then when he started cheating on the diet broke out in dermatitis herpetiformis, so turned out to be celiac himself.

[eatmeat4good]

I took the whole kitchen gluten free.

Since I am the cook I didn't want to be messing around with gluten poison while I was cooking.

If anyone eats at my house they eat gluten free.

[jeanne-]

We made the entire house gluten free. That keeps the younger kids from being tempted. Our 19 yr old. refuses to go gluten free, but it is still not allowed in our home. He must eat it elsewhere. After I went to the expense of buying new kitchen utensils and cast iron skillets, I didn't want to have to worry about contamination.

[NancyL]

My kids are 13, 6 and 3. I don't think I can take the house completely gluten free at this time (will down the road after I've figured out if this is the right path for me). I am desperately hoping that if I do have a gluten issue, that it is mild and therefore not have to worry so much about cross-contamination and such. I'm going to go with my "gut" (pun intended) to see how I do.

My husband has uncontrollable high blood pressure (isn't overweight and is medicated)with circulation issues as a result so he has to be on a special diet too. I can't cook 3 meals each night so I'm going to try to stay as "normal" as possible and gradually get them used to gluten-free recipes. For now, the kids school sandwiches are still made with wheat bread and they'll still be eating their favorite cookies, graham crackers and pizza. Thankfully our household is already very used to and loves fresh veggies and fruits with no sauces.

When I cooked dinner the other night, no one realized it was gluten-free/low sodium so I'll do that as often as possible. When not, then I'll eat separately.

[kareng]

I'm the only Celiac right now. Lots of our meals are gluten-free just cause they would be anyway. They have regular bread & crackers. They and the toaster for them are on a small counter by itself with the crackers in the cabinet.. I usually make regular pasta for the teens. I have a separate set of pots, toaster, red spoons, & red colander for gluten-free. I use red tape on my pb, butter, etc.

I am lucky because my boys are almost 15 and just turned 18. They are also very self sufficient and try to be careful. I know where the crumbs will be and can deal with them. My hub usually eats what I do except like pb toast for breakfast. My family would eat my gluten-free Canyon Bakehouse bread if I let them but it's expensive so I get them whole wheat.

I think you should make it as easy as possible.

[burdee]

Hi again,

Just wondering how you all adapt the gluten-free lifestyle within the home. Does the family go gluten-free, so it is a completely non-toxic environment at home? I am sure my husband would do that, and of course indulge in a normal diet when away from the house. How do your spouses and family feel about it? This is all new to me, so I'm not sure how difficult it is to not have cross contamination if there are toxic foods in the house. Thanks for your input..much appreciated!

I went gluten free for myself after my celiac disease diagnosis. After I had several cross-contamination incidents, my husband declared our kitchen gluten free. So he went gluten free for me. After he went gluten free, his chronic joint pain disappeared.

[Kelly777]

My kitchen is mixed. I sanitize everything before I prepare my gluten free food. I have the cupboards and frige sectioned off. Nobody wants to make me sick again because they thought I was going to die when I was sick so they respect my space. They bother me to no end though because they will eat my expensive gluten free food and complain about it rather than eat their gluten foods. I am getting a little tired of that and it is getting expensive.

One of the posters posted said that she thought she might just be a little bit celiac. You either are or aren't. There are no degrees with this disease. It isn't something you want to mess around with either because you can get all sorts of underlying diseases if you continue to consume gluten and are celiac. If you aren't sure I would go get checked and if you are use precautions and stick to the diet. That is the only treatment for this disease.

[NancyL]

One of the posters posted said that she thought she might just be a little bit celiac. You either are or aren't. There are no degrees with this disease. It isn't something you want to mess around with either because you can get all sorts of underlying diseases if you continue to consume gluten and are celiac. If you aren't sure I would go get checked and if you are use precautions and stick to the diet. That is the only treatment for this disease.

I think that was me. I didn't articulate clearly what I meant. I hope I can say it better this time. I just know that some people are more sensitive than others (kissing a child or spouse who's eaten gluten, etc). I am following a strict gluten-free diet for myself but for now, since I'm in my infancy of gluten-free, I'm hoping that I won't be as sensitive to having gluten in my environment i.e. cross contamination (such as partitioning off my kitchen and my utensils and such) but if I don't get better without taking those precautions, I WILL do that too. I still HAND my son a cookie, but don't eat one myself. Does that make sense? I'm carefully avoiding consuming gluten but am not "yet" completely separating the two aspects of my life. I know often that people need to, I just don't know yet if I'm one of those people but will take that step if I need to.

eta: I sanitize all surfaces and cooking utensils prior to use whether I'm cooking something gluten free or not. I do still cook some gluten for my family but if I do, I eat separately and make certain it's gluten-free.

[Cypressmyst]

My husband went gluten-free with me to see if our back rashes cleared up. They did and so much more. Then my best friend and her husband went gluten-free and all sorts of issues they were having disappeared and that is the place we hang out the most outside of our house.

In truth gluten is poison for everyone. No one can digest it and it causes all sorts of problems. I know seven people who have recently gone gluten-free and all seven have seen major life improvements upon doing so.

Gluten/Grains are such bad news. You name the ailment and there is very likely a direct link. Boggles my mind.

[mcc0523]

I would like my whole kitchen to be gluten-free, but as I live with my parents, and they still eat gluten, I wash dishes now at least two or three times as I wash everything after I use it, and then before I use it again, as I don't trust my parents to yet not cc me, and they use the same dishes. I am feeling better and my gastric symptoms have pretty much disappeared, although I still want to get a whole set of new dishes to be declared gluten-free, and separated out from the rest of the kitchen.

I have been talking to my dad and several of his symptoms he's had his whole life that I'm sure are related to him eating gluten... just bringing it up here and there. I've heard a few mumbled "maybe you're right" and a quick change of subject. He is addicted to crackers and bread most of all, and I don't think he is mentally ready to go gluten-free. I keep talking about how great I feel, and I mention I think he'd also feel better if he would just try it, and how I didn't think that it would help when I went on it, but as my other option before going gluten-free was surgery, I hoped that going gluten-free would relieve the neurological symptoms that could also be attributed to my chiari malformation (it's a borderline one, but those also cause terrible symptoms) I've been plagued with for the better part of 5 years. I might still have to have surgery, but I have no doubt just with how much better I feel already that gluten is a bad thing for my body, and if I have to have it then, well I'll be much healthier and more able to withstand having the back of my head cut open by the time I make that decision (I'm giving a good year to see how much reverses).

[T.H.]

We started out as a mixed household, with an 8 and 12 year old, and it was SO hard to keep contamination down. Then one got diagnosed as a celiac, too, and the other had symptoms resolve on the diet, so we ended up ALL gluten-free.

I think if we HAD to have a mixed household, I would have had a separate shelf/cupboard for the gluten. And keep it on the bottom. It was SO easy for crumbs to fall from the gluten items on to the gluten-free ones. And if they were on the same shelf? Oy - SO hard.

We'd always have this happen: They'd get out a loaf of bread, open it up, and take out a piece of bread. So now the hand that touched the bread is contaminated. But that contaminated hand would then close the bag back up, pick it up, and open the cupboard to put it back on the shelf. So the outside the the bag and the cupboard door and the shelf itself are now potentially contaminated.

We had lots of glutening moments from things like that before we all went gluten free. It was hard enough for adults to remember to wash hands and such. For kids...it was so stressful for them to try and remember that sort of thing that it was emotionally easier to just chuck the stuff.

[MsCurious]

Thanks for all the replies, and good advice, everybody! I was curious how difficult it would be to do both, but I think I know what we will do. Put all the gluten toxins on a lower shelf as suggested, and once those things are gone, go completely gluten free. My husband is supportive.. he said we'll do "what ever it takes" to make it easy for me. I do most of the cooking, and with all the wonderful recipes out there, I think we'll be fine. We do eat a lot of natural foods anyway (not processed) and that's half the battle, I think. The only stumbling blocks I really see are breads, crackers, pasta, pizza, and I'm sure there are alternatives out there that I just have to find. I've seen different gluten-free Flours for baking, etc. Hopefully, I'll get the hang of baking with those. Thanks everybody for your thoughts! They help a bunch!

[zebaldwin]

It's cool to read how through just being their for their spouse, etc...other symptoms in "non-celiac" people went away...that is very interesting and very promising for someone like me! (negative blood work, still trying to get some tests before going gluten free) Almost seems like gluten could affect most people in some way...hmm

[tarnalberry]

My husband has kept a few of his items - Cheerios, granola bars, regular oatmeal, bread on occasion - but everything else in the house is gluten free. I'm never going to cook a bunch of special meals when one can satisfy everyone, so he eats gluten free with me when we're home and eating together. If we go out, he generally gets whatever he wants, but he'll join in gluten free with me at a place like PF Changs where we share a couple of dishes.

With a 9 month old, I'm continuing the same trend. Everything that we share is gluten free. Since, right now, ANYTHING that Daphne eats gets shared with me (either on my hands, or my shirt, or whatever), she eats gluten free. Some year, perhaps when she's 7 or 8, IF she doesn't have a problem with gluten AND can be responsible about policing her food the way my husband is, she can have the same provisions as he does. In this house, though, it's a privilege, not a right, to get evil (gluten) food.

[MsCurious]

My husband has kept a few of his items - Cheerios, granola bars, regular oatmeal, bread on occasion - but everything else in the house is gluten free. I'm never going to cook a bunch of special meals when one can satisfy everyone, so he eats gluten free with me when we're home and eating together. If we go out, he generally gets whatever he wants, but he'll join in gluten free with me at a place like PF Changs where we share a couple of dishes.

With a 9 month old, I'm continuing the same trend. Everything that we share is gluten free. Since, right now, ANYTHING that Daphne eats gets shared with me (either on my hands, or my shirt, or whatever), she eats gluten free. Some year, perhaps when she's 7 or 8, IF she doesn't have a problem with gluten AND can be responsible about policing her food the way my husband is, she can have the same provisions as he does. In this house, though, it's a privilege, not a right, to get evil (gluten) food.

ADORABLE BABY!

[SaraKat]

It is just me and my husband, but he is not gluten free. He eats a lot of bread and cereals. We only cook gluten-free pasta though and all of our cookware is only for gluten-free items.