Gluten Free Children

For months now I have been doing what I can to live Gluten free.  For me it hasn't been that bad of a transition, challenging, but when put in perspective not all that bad.  Children, however, are another story.

I have one child that will really benefit from going gluten free, and another where it will help but is not absolutely necessary.  They are twins so what one gets the other demands.  Not in this case.  I buy nothing but gluten free food.  That means no cookie dough, no Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, no regular doughnuts, no regular pizza, no regular chicken nuggets, you get the point.  Several times already at the supermarket when the kids are along someone will ask, "Can I get this?" while handing me some awful thing.  I say I can't eat that and your brother shouldn't either.  The conversation quickly ends with a loud, "I hate Gluten!"

The resentment of one is matched by the reluctance of the other.  He just does not want to eat gluten free.  After going to great lengths to find products that actually taste good to a child's palate, at this point, I believe the resistance is not based on taste.  I wonder if two things are not happening here.  One is a realization that he is different and has to eat different.  The other that it seems he is singled out as different and has to eat different.  That everyone sees it.  Both those things can be devastating to a child.  I point out the differences in everyone, not just with diets, in an attempt to not only lessen the feeling of having a spotlight on him but to also help him appreciate the differences.  That's mostly  a lot of touchy happy feel good stuff and does not work all that much.

A different approach has been to try to develop insight within him as to what the affects of food are on him.  Certain foods really make him feel bad.  Some hurt a lot.  Gluten also affects him behaviorally.  It is almost like a steroid.  He becomes aggressive, unfocused, irritable, and restless.  I have no scientific evidence of this but am convinced the gluten is a major cause of bad behavior.  It is almost like clockwork that if he eats something bad soon he will be difficult to deal with.  And that is not his normal baseline behavior.

Healthy eating is just that, eating to be healthy.  And healthy counts more than just being not sick.  It means having a better outlook and behavior.  It was important for me and my own health, but becomes that much more important for my life when I see how it affects those I love.  Healthy living is a challenge for a whole family.  It impacts us on a very basic level.  Working it into the lives of children poses its own special challenges, school, socialization, etc.  I want to give both my children every chance to be the best possible persons, even if that requires them to have 'special' diets.  It is the least I can do.