hi

[reebs]

hi everyone

im new on here and i am a little bit struggling with my three yound children who are 4 3 and 2 yrs old they are all on a gluten free diet and now gaining alot of weight, the problem i have got is i am repeating the same foods over again every day coz i dont know what i am doing with it or cant find any foods they will eat (now they are bored with it all) they have not been diagnoised and the doctors wont do the test but they the ones who are keeping them on the diet please help me

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Hi reebs, well you have got yuor hands full that's for sure. Your 3 children are also responding to a gf diet so thats good you also realise that they need a healthy ballenced diet as do all of us.

One problem today is that all processed foods are packed with calories and not nutrition so your dilema is shared by many parents regardless of whether they eat gluten. Your children are young enough for you to introduce new foods and change their eating habits. It's important how you present foods to children and encourage them to have plenty of excercise so they burn off their calories.

This web site might interest you: glutenfree4kids.com/

Adriana who runs it has also written a book called gluten free cooking for Kids:

The Gluten-free Cookbook for Kids by Adriana Rabinovich

(There's a link to it at Amazon on her web site)

I have been chatting to Adrana recently and have sent her links to GFG and am encouraging her to join, they are away camping this week but you can contact her directly through her web site.

I would consider blending fruit and adding that to natural live yoghurt with a little vanilla essence and unrefined sugar like golden caster sugar as an alternative to sweets and biscuits.

Lastly I would try and take comfort from the fact that your youngun's are responding to a gf diet and you are taking steps to improve their diet.

Good luck and you ask away,

Jerry

[FionaGFG Administrator]

Hi reebs,

Can you provide any more background as to why they haven't been diagnosed formally but the docs want you to continue with the gf diet?

As Jerry says there are lots of good ways to vary the diet for kids. It's also worth googling a lot of the mainstream recipe sites like BBC Good Food / 4 Ingredients Australia etc as they often have gf categories and recipes. Do bear in mind that a gf diet can require increased nutrients/ vitamins/ checks from doctors and dietitians. For example diagnosed coeliacs require almost double the amount of calcium daily to prevent osteoperosis and therefore are often put on additional supplements. I'd strongly recommend you seek advice from the doctors/ dietitans on a varied and healthy gf diet for your kids as they'll need a good balance of nutrients and vitamins to ensure they grow healthily. If the doctors are keen they continue a gf diet as you suggest I am sure they can give you some tailored advice. Meanwhile on here other parents will no doubt offer you some tips on catering for gf children.

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This is on the BBC web site and as Fiona says they are a mine of info'

bbc.co.uk/health/treatments...