Ep 35 Growing Up Gluten Free

Let’s start the blog with the Show Notes for this episode:
My daughter, Deanna was diagnosed with Celiac disease just before her fifth birthday. She is now in her mid-twenties and seemingly well adjusted to the gluten free lifestyle. My interview is an attempt to look at growing up gluten free as a retrospective on how she viewed her life differently because of celiac disease and the gluten free diet. Portions of her story appeared in cookbooks by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt who appeared on Episode 8. I quickly pulled two of the cookbooks and found Deanna on Page 14 of “125 Gluten-Free Recipes” and on page 66 of “The Best Gluten-Free Family Cookbook”. Donna and Heather’s cookbooks are published by Robert Rose and are available where most books are purchased.

Sue’s Websites and Social Media
Podcast – acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com
Podcast Blog – acanadianceliacblog.com
Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast
Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA
Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com
Baking Website – suesglutenfreebaking.com
Instagram – @suesgfbaking
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL
(search Sues Gluten Free Baking)
Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com
New Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com

My Thoughts
Being a Mom to a child on a special diet has so many unknowns. How strict should you be, how much should you separate your child from their classmates, when can you allow them to make their own food decisions, let alone lifestyle decisions? These are all questions that require a balancing act. Being too lenient might make them sick, being too strict might make them feel like they don’t belong among their friends and belonging can often be the most important things to kids themselves.
I can admit it’s very easy to over-compensate and give your child more than they actually need when it comes to gluten free. I have absolutely gone over-board at times to ensure that a restaurant meal was gluten free, not for me, but for my daughter. It’s hard to find the balancing point.
I can only hope that by witnessing my diligence, that when she was in a position to make her own decisions, she would pause and realize the importance of her choices. In the end that’s all we can do. The balancing act of being a parent of a child on a special diet is directly related to the difficulty of the diet. If a child has celiac disease and is lactose intolerant, the balance leans to more diligence and possibly more issues arising from some of the foods to be avoided. I suppose I am fortunate that my daughter was only required to avoid gluten and nothing else.
Being diagnosed with celiac disease later in life (as an adult with two children), it was hard for me to put myself in a place where I had never tried Kentucky fried chicken. We could share a great many experiences, but I could never take myself back to the place she was.
We all teach our children, that’s a given, but there is true joy when we can also learn from them. I learned from Deanna by having this conversation. Thank you, Deanna for that joy.