Gluten-Free Diets

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http://www.celiac.com/index.html

 

Celiac Disease and Gluten-free Diet Support Center

Celiac Disease and Gluten-free Diet Support Center at Celiac.com provides important resources and information for people on gluten-free diets due to celiac disease, gluten intolerance, dermatitis herpetiformis, wheat allergy, or other health reasons. Celiac.com offers key gluten-free and wheat-free on-line resources that are helpful to anyone with special dietary needs. Our purpose is to raise celiac disease awareness, and to provide people who have it with enough information to get diagnosed and treated so that they can begin to lead more comfortable and healthy lives.

 

Celiac disease, also known as gluten intolerance, is a genetic disorder that affects 1 in 1331 Americans. Symptoms of celiac disease can range from the classic features, such as diarrhea, weight loss, and malnutrition, to latent symptoms such as isolated nutrient deficiencies but no gastrointestinal symptoms. The disease mostly affects people of European (especially Northern European) descent, but recent studies show that it also affects Hispanic, Black and Asian populations as well1. Those affected suffer damage to the villi (shortening and villous flattening) in the lamina propria and crypt regions of their intestines when they eat specific food-grain antigens (toxic amino acid sequences) that are found in wheat, rye, and barley3. Oats have traditionally been considered to be toxic to celiacs, but recent scientific studies have shown otherwise. This research is ongoing, however, and it may be too early to draw solid conclusions....[read more]

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http://www.vegsoc.org/info/gluten.html

 

This one is really good. I printed off a lot of information from this site. This is only a part of what is there.

 

Gluten-Free Diet

 

The Gluten-Free Diet -- Nutritional Advice -- Vegetarian Gluten-Free and Gluten Containing Foods -- Further Information

 

 

The Gluten-Free Diet

A gluten-free diet is essential for people who have coeliac disease or dermatitis herpetiformis (a gluten induced skin sensitivity). Some people may choose to follow a gluten-free diet for other reasons, although these two diseases are the only ones where a gluten-free diet is considered medically imperative.

Gluten is a mixture of proteins found in some cereals, particularly wheat. It is the gliadin component of gluten which is responsible for coeliac disease. A gluten-free diet is not the same as a wheat-free diet, and some gluten-free foods are not wheat free. Despite a good deal of research, it is unknown how or exactly why gluten harms the gut. It is now considered likely that coeliac disease involves an abnormal immunologic response, rather than an enzyme deficiency as was suggested in the past.

 

The Vegetarian Society believes that a gluten-free diet is compatible with vegetarianism. Some doctors and The Coeliac Society advise against a vegetarian or vegan diet for coeliacs because they believe it may make your diet too complicated and this could mean it is difficult to comply with. There are no known medical or nutritional reasons why you should not be a vegetarian or vegan coeliac, although the gluten-free aspects of your diet must be the priority for your own health and well-being.

 

It is possible to follow a gluten-free vegan diet, although you must be extra careful to ensure that your diet is nutritionally adequate. It is essential that you seek the advice of a sympathetic dietitian if you want to follow a vegan gluten-free diet.

 

Vegetarians may initially find it difficult to establish what foods they can and cannot have. This Information Sheet is designed to help.

 

A gluten-free diet involves the complete avoidance of all foods made from or containing wheat, rye, barley and usually, oats. Some doctors say oats may be permitted, although The Coeliac Society advise against the inclusion of oats in a gluten-free diet. (see the Cereals Information Sheet for more details of cereals.)

 

The Coeliac Society publishes a list of gluten-free manufactured products in a booklet which is updated every year. You can check with The Vegetarian Society if you are unsure whether any particular foods on this list are suitable for vegetarians or vegans. Some manufacturers use the gluten-free symbol on their label.

 

A wide range of specially manufactured gluten-free foods such as, bread, bread mix, pasta, biscuits, cakes, crispbread and flour are prescribable under the NHS. Some groups of people are exempt from prescription charges, children, pregnant women and pensioners in particular. If you are not exempt, it works out economical to buy a "season ticket" type prescription. Some gluten-free products, such as chocolate biscuits, are considered luxuries and are not prescribable, although they can be bought from the chemist.

 

Nutritional Advice

Coeliac disease leads to severe damage of the gut surface, which can be completely reversed by following a gluten-free diet. Shortly after the diagnosis of coeliac disease, you need to be extra careful to ensure you have a nutritionally adequate diet, as you may have been suffering from malabsorption of nutrients.

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http://www.gicare.com/pated/edtgs06.htm

 

Another good one. This and sooooo much more.

 

 

[Homesteader]

Poor Snow! Does this mean no cheesecake?

[HapyGirl]

I can highly recommend the book "Special Diets for special kids" as a great gluten free/ casien free cookbook. A friend of mine has a child like I do with autism and she has her child on a gluten free/casien free diet and has seen great results with it. I haven't been brave enough to try, but the recepies I got to taste from this book my friend let me taste are really good!

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