lbsteenwyk

cleveland bob-

Boost does give you complete nutrition, but keep in mind that you have to drink about 4 cans a day to get 100% of the RDI's. If you have been malabsorping due to long term undiagnosed celiac disease, you may want to take a chewable multivitamin/mineral supplement. Chewable multi's are usually better absorbed. You may want to take double the recommended dose if you are currently malnourished. As far as "energy" goes - energy basically comes from calories, especially Carbohydrate. There is nothing special in Boost that will give you energy, other than it may help you obtain adequate nutrition if you are unable to eat a balanced diet. Boost is certainly a convenient way to get balanced nutrition, but you can probably accomplish the same thing by eating a healthy, balanced diet. Good Luck!

Welcome back, celiac3270. I'm so glad your surgery went well. You've been in my thoughts these past few days. As someone else said, it does take time to recover from surgery, so take it easy!

I also have separate concerns about my daughter (she is nearly 3, and has had very infrequent bowel movements since she was a baby (she's now on Miralax, an Rx laxative) and is often very, very bloated) that I want to explore as well, but she's older.  Accustoming her to a gluten free diet, if that becomes necessary, will be a lot easier if she can continue to have dairy.  You mentioned that your children are gluten free.  Did you put any of them on a gluten-free diet when they were already preschoolers?  How did you explain it, particularly if they are not diagnosed "celiac" due to the lack of an endoscopy?  I feel like I'd have to give my daughter a definitive label, if it became necessary. 

My daughter is 3 and has been gluten free since since 26 months. I put her on the gluten free diet to see if her symptoms improved, and when they did I opted not to put her back on gluten to have her tested. I have been surprised at how easily she has accepted being gluten free. At 2 and a half I began explaining to her in very simple terms that gluten made her sick. I took her to the grocery store with me and pointed out items that had gluten. I explained that we had to look at labels carefully to be sure the food did not have gluten. At this age, they really do not need a fancy explanation, just that gluten makes them sick. My daughter also had very bad constipation, so I told her not having gluten would help her poop easier. Again, use very simple explanations. I have been amazed at how well she has accepted being gluten free. She always asks me if foods have gluten and she understands that we have 2 different kind of pastas, etc. I think it is better not to try to hide the gluten containing foods from them, just keep reinforcing that they have special versions of some foods. My daughter loves her "special" bread, etc. I think the trick is to help your child feel she is getting something extra and special rather than being deprived of something.

If you suspect your daughter has celiac disease, why not have her tested now, before you put her on the diet? Just having the blood work done is not very invasive and it would give you more ammunition with your son's diagnosis.

Bob

The main benefit of Boost is to provide calories and balanced nutrition for people who are nutritionally compromised. So, if you need to gain weight or are unable to take in adequate calories the supplement may help you. Be sure to get the Boost Plus if you need calories. Boost and other similar supplements are expensive though, and you may be able to increase your calories in other ways that are less expensive. What results do you want to see?

If you buy yeast in a jar, you should keep in in the refrigerator once you have opened it. If you are using individual packets, it is okay to store them at room temperature.

Is this a child's cookbook with recipes that kids can make themselves. or is it a cookbook for adults with kid-friendly recipes?

How can maltodextrin contain MSG? Wouldn't the MSG have to be listed as an ingredient? Also, I was unaware that MSG contained gluten. Does anyone have more information on this.

Thanks

Sorry to take so long to get back to you. Here is the information I have on Wellbilt. I did order a paddle from them several years ago and used this contact, but I recall they were difficult to get in touch with. Good luck.

Director of Customer Relations

Parts and Service Dept.

Wellbilt Appliance

25 Rose Place

Garden City, NY 11040

Phone: 516-747-9595

My 3 yo daughter has had a rash on her bottom that sounds similar to your child's. The Ped said it was eczema and gave her elidel (sp?) cream. My understanding is that celiac kids are also more prone to eczema. She also had a dry bumpy itchy rash all over her body (really I couldn't see it, but could feel it). The elidel did seem to help; but what I found to be most helpful was to slather her with Eucerin every night before bed. She's really improved and rarely scratches anymore. I don't know if her rash was related to her celiac disease or not.

I have a wellbuilt and some time ago I ordered a paddle from them. I think they are in New York. I am not at home right now, but I will try to find the information on how to order a new paddle later on today or maybe tomorrow.

I made these last week. The FIRST time I made them, my daughter would not even touch them, but the SECOND time, after much coaxing, she ate them and loved them! Just goes to show you, sometimes it takes more than one exposure to a new food to know whether it will be a success! By the way, my husband, who does not have celiac disease, thought they were great. I will definitely make these again. Thanks!

I am looking for vegetarian burgers, sausages, etc that are also gluten free. All of the mainstream brands that I'm familiar with - Boca, Gardenburger, etc contain gluten. Does anyone know of specific products that are gluten-free? I know Amy's has a lot of gluten-free vegetarian foods, but I didn't see any burger type products. I did a search, but didn't come up with the info I'm looking for. I've noticed a lot of people who post are also vegetarian, so I'm hoping you can help.

Thanks

I would pursue testing. I think that testing can be done at this age. I put my daughter on the gluten free diet without being tested. She improved dramatically, but I wish now I had a definitive diagnosis. I am unwilling to put her through a gluten challenge now because I don't want to see her sick again. My advice is to get tested before you try the gluten-free diet. I think I have read somewhere that testing in infants can be less conclusive than in older children. Someone else on the board will probably be able to advise you on that.

Joan:

Sorry not to get back to you sooner. I don't get a chance to get on the board every day.

My daughter was in diapers when we were going through the pale stool things, so I'm not sure if her stools floated. My feeling is that they would not have.

The testing question has a long story behind it:

When I first noticed problems with my daughter, I had a difficult time getting our pediatrician to listen to me. She was only familiar with the classic signs of celiac dz, and my daughter did not have failure to thrive, although she had decreased on the growth charts from above the 75th to the 25th percentile. At any rate, she did not encourage the celiac disease testing. We were broke at the time, b/c my husband was out of work and we had no medical insurance, so I decided to try my daughter on the gluten free diet just to see if she would improve. I had some doubts myself as to whether she had celiac disease. Well, she improved dramatically - much more energy, her stools changed to normal within a week, her distended belly disappeared (that took a little longer), she stopped throwing up and her appetite began to improve. I wish now I had insisted on having her tested at that time.

We ended up moving across the state and now we have a new pediatrician who is from Europe and has a little better knowlege of celiac disease. I did have her tested, but she had been on a strict gluten-free diet for 7 months at that point, so of course the tests can back negative - except for her reticulin IgA antibody which was 1:40 - but I know that is not specific for celiac disease. I should mention that my father has Dermatitis Herpetifomis (DH) - which is another reason I suspected celiac disease. There are 2 other relatives on my father's side of the family with celiac disease as well.

As this point, I am unwilling to do a gluten challenge in order to have my daughter tested properly. She is doing so well and the 2 times I know she has gotten into gluten, I've seen some mild symptoms return. I want to have her tested for the celiac gene soon.

I have not found the gluten-free diet to be terribly difficult to follow ( but I'm a registered dietitian and was already familiar with the basics). The hardest thing has been missing some of the things we used to eat - bread at each meal, pizza, etc. The expense of the gluten free products has been hard, too. I make most of our foods from scratch, because it is cheaper to buy the special flour and make it yourself than to buy prepackaged foods. As far as going out to eat, we rarely do - I feel that the contamination risk is too high. We have occasionally gotten McDonald's french fries. Once we went to a Ryan's, which is buffet style, and I was able to select enough appropriate foods for my daughter.

Good luck in finding some answers for your daughter.

celiac3270,

Thanks for all your great links. As I am fairly new to this forum, it will be a great help to me.

I'd like to add that I really enjoy reading your posts. I was completely blown away when you mentioned in a recent post that you are only 14 years old. I had just assumed you were much older. You are very well spoken in your posts and obviously have devoted a lot of time to researching celiac disease.

To get more whole grain in your diet, brown rice and buckwheat flour are two options. We also use a lot of ground flax seed for extra fiber and nutrition. You can add it to baked goods - muffins, pancakes etc. I don't know how much cooking you're doing; it sounds like you are in school.

Was the organic PB you tried without salt? Don't give up on natural peanut butter! I think it's the best, it's the only kind I will eat. We use Smuckers Natural. I know alot of people prefer the processed peanut butters, but I thought I'd just throw my opinion in.

My daughter, who is now 3, had pale stools as one of her symptoms. She never had diarrhea, but her stools were very pale, like the color of sand and she had terrible constipation. Pale stools are usually a sign of fat malabsorption, so this was one of the reasons I though there was something really wrong with her. When I put her on a gluten free diet, her stools were normal colored within a week. Every time she is exposed to gluten, I notice that her stools get pale again. I feel that I caught my daughters celiac disease early, before she had major failure to thrive. Your daughter's pale colored stools may be an initial sign of celiac disease, even though she doesn't have other symptoms.

Ensure Plus is both Gluten free and Lactose Free. The same is true for Boost Plus. A lot of my patients like Boost Plus better than Ensure Plus. They are comparable in calories, protein and nutritional values for vitamins/minerals.

My daughter has celiac disease and when our household went gluten free, my husband lost 15 lbs, even though he was not strictly gluten-free. My father has DH and lost about 10 lbs when he went gluten-free. I suspect most people lose weight on the gluten-free diet simply because it cuts out so many of the high fat, high calorie foods we Americans are used to eating. Try adding more mono and poly unsaturated fats to your diet if you can tolerate them: nuts, peanut butter or other nut butters, olive oil or canola oil. Use the oils (especially olive) to season your vegetables and to saute chicken or fish. You could also add extra oil to muffins, pancakes etc, it you make these from scratch. Oil adds 120 calories/Tbs and is the most calorically dense food there is!

Remember, it takes an additional 500 calories per day above your usual energy needs to gain weight, so weight gain can be a slow process.

Good Luck!

I would like to share my gluten-free waffle recipe. I have experimented quite a bit and come up with this recipe. You must have a well-seasoned waffle maker to make these. I actually use a Mickey Mouse waffle maker that we got at Disney World.

1/2 cup gluten-free Flour (2 parts brown or white rice flour, 2/3 parts potato starch flour, 1/3 part tapioca flour)

1/4 cup Sorghum flour

1/4 cup garbanzo flour

2 Tbs ground flax seed

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 cup gluten-free buttermilk

1 egg

2 Tbs oil

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients right on top of dry, then mix thoroughly together. Cook on high heat for approx 3-4 minutes. These freeze well and reheat best if you spread them with butter first.

I have a Welbilt too; it works great every time. Even though it makes a 1.5 lb loaf, when I make gluten-free bread, I only make a 1 lb loaf. I think the smaller loaf works better because gluten-free breads do not rise like conventional breads. Here is the recipe I use (adapted from another recipe I found on a different website):

2 cups gluten-free flour (I use B. Hagman's - 2 parts brown rice flour, 2/3 part potato starch, 1/3 part tapioca flour)

1/3 cup ground flax seed

3 Tbs Sugar

2 tsp Xanthan gum

1 tsp salt

1.5 tsp yeast

2 Tbs Oil

2 Eggs

1 cup gluten-free buttermilk

This bread turns out great every time. It is great for grilled cheese sandwiches. My daughter loves it.

DawterAod:

You are probably already avoiding caffeine, but I just thought I would mention it in case you aren't. Coffee itself (both regular AND decaf) as well as caffeine are gastric stimulants and can irritate your stomach lining further when you have gastritis. Be sure your are avoiding all sources of caffeine, coffee, alcohol, black pepper, cloves, garlic, and peppermints.

Day 1

Breakfast

Scrambled Eggs and Laura Linn (Ingles Brand) Hash Browns w/ Heinz Ketchup

Fresh Pear Slices (my daughter never eats fruit, but I'm including what my son eats to make the meals more balanced)

"Coffee-Milk" --1 oz of decaf coffee mixed with 2 oz of van boost plus and 4 oz of milk. (my little one wants to drink coffee like the grown-ups!)

Lunch

Cheese and Black Bean Quesadilla

Corn on the Cob

Canned Peaches

Dinner

Salmon Patties w/ Yogurt Sauce

** 15 oz canned pink salmon, diced onion, 2 eggs, leftover homemade cornbread or other gluten-free bread, crumbled, dill) Form into patties and fry in olive oil. Serve topped with yogurt sauce - it's very good

Yogurt Sauce - 1 cup Dannon Plain whole milk yogurt, 2 tbs mayo, 2 tbs mustard, dill - heat just until warm

Steamed Yukon Gold Potatoes with butter (they are also good with the Yogurt sauce)

Fresh Asparagus Spears

Snacks

Envirokids chocolate or peanut butter Krispy Rice Bar

Natural Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwich on B. Hagman's Bread

Day 2

Breakfast

Homemade Banana Muffins with Natural Peanut Butter

Pineapple Tidbits

Milk mixed with Vanilla Boost Plus

Lunch

Curried Chickpeas & Rice (usually leftover from the night before)

1 cup brown rice (if you're in a hurry you can use 2 cups of Kraft Minute Brown Rice)

1 can Garbanzo Beans

1 Can Petite diced tomatoes

1 TBS cumin, 1 heaping tsp Penzey's Sweet Curry Seasoning, dash cinnamon, dash grd cloves

Mix all ingredients in 2qt saucepan, bring to boil, simmer for 1 hour (15 minutes if using quick rice)

Serve with Sour Cream and Cheese

(my daughter ate 3 servings of this the other day; I nearly fainted!)

Green Beans

Red Grapes

Dinner

Seasoned Chicken Strips - sliced boneless chix breast seasoned with Galena Street Chicken and Rib Rub (Penzeys) and sauted in olive oil.

Mustard for dipping

Steamed Diced Sweet Potatoes topped with brown sugar and cinnamon

Steamed Broccoli

Snacks

Homemade Pumpkin Custard (pie filling without the crust) and Bryers Vanilla Ice Cream

Raisins, Plain Potato Chips

Note: If you haven't experienced Penzey's Herbs and Spices you should check them out at Open Original Shared Link. They have a huge variety of very high quality seasonings that are reasonably priced. Their herb and spice blends are delicious and do not have any added anti-caking agents. All the ones I use are gluten-free, so I'm sure most of them are. They list their ingredients very clearly. My favorites are: Parisiennes, Galena Street, Old World, Northwoods, Sweet Curry, and Bavarian. They sell all kinds of individual herbs/spices as well.

  My biggest challenge is to create is positive eating atmosphere.  These past several years, Eating has been the source of pain for my little one.  I try to make eating a family event in a happy atmosphere.

Christine:

I totally agree with you that eating should be a pleasant experience for our kids. That's sometimes quite a challenge! It sounds like you are doing a great job, though! My daughter was very uninterested in food for a long time. Now, after 9 months gluten-free, she is finally starting to ask for food and even say she is hungry! It can be so stressful to see your child eat only bites of food day after day. You wonder what on earth they are living on. Even now, my 17 month old son eats 3-4 times the amount that my daughter does. But, I'm seeing improvement everyday, and am thankful! I found it very difficult not to just hang over my child to encourage her to eat; but I've actually found she does better when she sits by herself at the table. I think she must feel stressed always having someone bug her about eating.

This is a great idea. I am copying all of these for my kids. All of you have been very creative. It's great to get some fresh ideas. I feel like we eat the same things all the time!

My husband stays home with our children, so I leave him menus everyday for breakfast and lunch. I fix a lot of things ahead and freeze them. Here's a sample menu, I'll try to add more when I have more time.

Breakfast:

4-6 oz of milk mixed with 2 oz of Boost

Sliced Bananas or other fruit (my gluten-free daughter has been refusing fruit for the past 2 years, but my son always eats fruit)

Homemade gluten-free Waffles with real maple syrup (I make these on the weekends and freeze them to use during the week.)

Recipe:

1/2 cup gluten-free flour (2 parts brown rice flour, 2/3 part potato starch, 1/3 part Tapioca flour)

1/2 cup Sorghum Flour OR 1/2 cup Buckwheat Flour

3 tbs ground flax seed

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Xanthan gum

1 1/4 cup gluten-free Buttermilk

1 egg

2 Tbs Canola Oil

Lunch

Bush's Best Vegetarian Baked Beans

Oscar Meyer Hot Dog with Mustard for dipping (I'm pretty sure Oscar Meyer is gluten-free, does anyone know differently?)

Steamed baby carrots with butter and brown suger

Fruit

Dinner

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese with Bionaturae gluten-free pasta (soy, rice & potato)

2 tbs butter

2 Tbs Tapioca Flour

1 cup milk

8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

(make a roux with the butter and tapioca flour, add milk slowly, stir until thick, add cheese.

My husband and I like to add Salsa to this for a little zest. The kids like it plain.

Green peas with butter (1 use PictSweet Tiny Green Peas - they are sweet and tender for the kids)

Snacks

Milk mixed with 1-2 Tbs of Carnation Instant Breakfast powder or 2 oz of Boost

Mi-Del gluten-free Chocolate chip Cookies OR

Pamela's Shortbread Swirl Cookies

Hummus w/ Snyder's of Hanover Veggie Crisps

(I make my own Hummus; if anyone wants the recipe, let me know)