Most of my family is now on a gluten free diet (more on that when I have the time). This is really quite a simple thing since we were already fans of fresh fruit and veggies. I cook a lot from scratch anyway so it was a fairly easy matter of buying different ingredients. It does mean a significant jump in our food budget, but that seems to be balancing out by the fact that we can no longer really eat out.

For one, it’s just not fun anymore. The best part of dinner out is almost always the rolls/bread/biscuits the hostess drops on your table to start your meal. But most importantly, few restaurants seem to know what is even in their food. Even if I didn’t have food intolerance to deal with, that would be scary to me. I can’t begin to tell you how many restaurants—chains, mostly—can’t answer a simple question about the ingredients.

I get excuses about various suppliers, ingredients changing, etc. A lot of the problem seems to be messy kitchens—flour flying, fries mixed with breaded chicken, contaminated knives and cutting boards. Mostly, though, people seem to be clueless. I tend to simplify our issue by saying we are allergic to wheat rather than go into celiac disease and the concept of gluten which is in wheat, barley, rye and malt.

Today, after mentioning the “wheat allergy” to our waitress I ordered each of the girls grilled chicken with no bun. The genius waitress tells me, “Oh, they are just the regular white buns.” Yes, and these are made from those fancy wheat-free white stalks?

Things are going well for Lorelai’s gluten free diet experiment. She has great energy, takes only 1 good nap each day, and just in general seems like a healthier, happier baby. I took her to the doctor on Thursday to be sure her cold wouldn’t become an ear infection while we were out of town. It included a weight check and she has gained 4 ounces in her first gluten free week!

It looks like gluten free will stick around for awhile. Her 1-year checkup will include a referral to an allergist, who will tell us what else she may be allergic to. I’m already guessing strawberries, after the rash she got when the girls ate them. Yesterday, my sister accidentally gave her a poisonous strawberry kiss. A rash appeared a few minutes later.

This week I’ll be experimenting with some gluten free cooking. Ordinarily, I would have been starting a baby on some table foods by now. Lactose intolerance, and now a wheat allergy, have delayed that. I am looking for a good flour substitute for breading and thickening. That really should eliminate gluten in most of our meals. Anything on bread or buns would be off limits anyway until she’s much older. Then I can purchase gluten free breads at Wild Oats. It helps that I cook with a lot of fresh foods already.

Food allergies are a new experience for me, but I’m great at research. While challenging, it’s going to be just fine. She’s young enough to make it easy—she’ll never know what the “real” stuff tastes like. On the other hand, her sisters do know the difference so it will be hard when she wants what they have. We’re learning as we go.