CeliacMom's Blog

Still Confused!

celiacmom — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:01:43 +0000

My son Will went to Sick Kids for his endoscopy and it came back negative as well. He does not have Celiac Disease, but he is still under weight and very short. I have a follow up appointment with his family doctor next Friday to figure out what our next steps are. In the meantime I am keeping him on a gluten free diet. Since he has been eating gluten free his appetite is so much better! He would only eat a bit at a time but often and now he will eat two servings in one sitting! From what I have read the only difference between Celiac disease and gluten intolerance is a negative Celiac test. Lactose intolerance also runs in my family so dairy may be the next to go to try and get his tummy back to normal. He has one big belly! Although he looks so cute, I know it doesn’t look right at the same time! I guess we’ll see what his doctor says and I may also take him to a Naturopath. I just want my son to grow!

Birthday and More

celiacmom — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:38:26 +0000

Well, my daughter is 5 years old! My has time flown by. My grandmother made a delicious doll cake out of the Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix and WOW!!! It tastes amazing! Everyone ate it right up with no complaints. So far it is only offered in the U.S., but with the border being so close, it is not hard to get. I still have another box in my cupboard!
A little after her birthday my son had his first appointment with Sick Kids hospital and the doctor thinks he has Celiac Disease too. He is very small for his age and although it does make him really cute, it is concerning seeing as he went from the 40th percentile to 5th on his chart within a year. He is now scheduled for his endoscopy on Dec. 6th. Of course everytime I think about him going under, my stomach turns, but we do need to find out because if he does not have it, it could be something else. Let’s pray it’s just Celiac! I do believe there are worse things! Wish us luck!

Birthday Girl!

celiacmom — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:07:50 +0000

I can’t believe my daughter is 5 today! Time really flies! We’re going to be getting pizza tonight, but we haven’t decided if we’re going to pick it up from Pizza Nova or go to Boston Pizza. Has anyone tried the crust at Boston Pizza? Any good? I’m not a big fan of Boston Pizza so not sure what the g-free options are like. It would be more fun to go to Boston Pizza that’s for sure, but I have to convince my husband first! Well, if we go to Boston Pizza I’ll be sure to let you know how the crust is.

A little about me

celiacmom — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:33:26 +0000

I know this is usually about my children, but I had some interesting news last week. I found out I have moderate arthritis in my hips. How in the world does a 31 year old have arthritis??? I believe it’s osteo-arthritis and I know that Celiac disease can cause certain kinds of arthritis, but why has my blood work been negative twice? You think it would have shown up by now! My last test was just this year. I am quite confused right now. It could also be related to what my dad and brother have, hip dysplasia. I am going to make an appointment with their hip doctor so I can figure this out! I have to start somewhere! Wish me luck!

By boy’s diagnosis….sort of

celiacmom — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:15:34 +0000

My son Will had to get the Celiac blood test in order to get an appointment with the specialist at SickKids and it came back negative. Now my first reaction was relief, but at the same time he is not even 18 months, could this be a false negative? He still looks a bit like a Celiac kid, except he doesn’t have the dark circles around his eyes…yet. Asia didn’t either until just after she turned 2. I have heard from a source at the Celaic Association that he may not have the proper enzymes yet that the blood test is looking for. If anyone has anymore information in regards to this please let me know! We do have an appointment at SickKids on October 31st, so as long as that stays I will get answers eventually. I guess he could just be a small kid, my husband and I are not tall AT ALL, but Will’s doctor still seems concerned that he went from the 40th percentile at birth to the 2nd percentile by the time he was about 15 months. Well, stayed tuned and we’ll see what happens in October!

My Little Boy

celiacmom — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:06:29 +0000

My son Will is showing signs of Celiac Disease, I’m sure of it! He is 17 months now and not gaining weight and hasn’t in awhile, his belly keeps getting bigger and harder but the rest of his body is quite skinny. I know it could be worse, but of course I was hoping he wouldn’t get it. I really tried everything to keep him from getting it, but I don’t know if that’s possible! I’m thinking if they are going to get it, it may not matter what we do when something is genetic. My husband is taking Will to the doctor’s today to get a referral to the specialist at SickKids to see if he should be tested now or if we need to wait until he is a bit older, because we don’t want a false negative! I will keep you updated!

Diabetes and Celiac Disease

celiacmom — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:07:02 +0000

This is something that I have been concerned about with my daughter Asia, mainly because I was not sure if it would be easy for her to get diabetes. From a little research I have found that diabetes most likely comes first. It is those with diabetes who need to watch out for the symptoms of Celiac disease and not the other way around. Althought I am thankful for that I will always watch her sugar intake, because you never know! Either way, it has been proven that there is a gene linked to both diabetes and Celiac disease called HLA-DQB1, so because of that I think anyone with Celiac disease needs to be careful when it comes to sugar consumption. I’m sure in time they will see the reverse happening if we’re not careful!

Pancake Mix

celiacmom — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:47:48 +0000

I have to say, our gluten free pancake mix is the best on the market for various reasons. First off and most importantly, my daughter LOVES them, not one complaint. The other reason is, there is NO sugar. Every gluten free pancake mix I’ve tried (we get samples to try others out and my daughter is our tester!) and they ALL have sugar, a lot of sugar! I can’t stand it. Our pancake mix is better known as our PaneRiso Foods “Rice Cake & Cookie Mix” and although there’s not much nutrition in the mix I always add 1 Tbsp. of flax seed meal and 1 Tbsp. of Teff flour. Teff flour has 18g of fibre in that one Tbsp.! It does call for 1 tsp. of sugar in the recipe, but you can add your own type. I have tried it with Organic Cane sugar and it worked fine and instead of using sugar at all I add 1 tsp. of pure vanilla extract. Either way my daughter loved them! I also add a few semi-sweet chocolate chips which helps but I am still able to keep it quite healthy. Give it a try! You can purchase it online at www.canbrands.ca or buy it at Superstore, Loblaws and various health food stores. If you “Like” this post on Facebook your name will go into a draw for some free product, including this mix! Great way to try out some new products! Contest ends July 13th, 2011 and you must be living in the U.S. or Canada. Good luck!

Restaurant options to come

celiacmom — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:29:26 +0000

I don’t think I can give away who the restaurant is right now, but a great one in the GTA will be offering a gluten free menu! I don’t know when though, but it’s nice to know I can take Asia somewhere other than swiss chalet for a decent meal out! I had a meeting with them yesterday and they looked at our bread, oatmeal, crackers and coconut macaroons. They are also looking for tortillas and g-free pastas. These bigger companies are starting to realize gluten free is not going away! It’s only getting bigger and they have seen the demand for it. YAY!! I will keep you posted on this!

G-Free Flour blend

celiacmom — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:59:48 +0000

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this out to you! But I have it now! This will work with most non gluten-free recipes, it worked great with my whole wheat banana muffin recipe ( I just took out the whole wheat flour and replaced it with the g-free blend). Enjoy!
1 1/2 cups White Rice Flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 cup corn starch
1 tsp. xanthm gum
1 tsp. baking powder

To add some fiber to this mix, like in my muffin recipe for example, I throw in some flax meal and teff flour, about 2 tablespoons of each.
I hope this brings you and your kids some yummy eats!