Mr Chubby Cheeks

Gluten Sensitivity

We recently had Tyler tested for gluten sensitivity, yesterday we received his results which were positive. The lab recommended that Tyler follow a strict gluten free diet permanently in order to improve and/or resolve a long list of problems. Which include neuropsychiatric, autoimmune, asthma, abdominal, glandular deficiencies/hyperactivity or skin diseases. Also to prevent small intestine damage, malnutrition, osteoperosis, and damage to other tissues (like nerves, brain, joints, muscles, thyroid, pancreas, skin, liver, spleen, among others). This explains why he gained 15 lbs in 4 months on his mission when he was in the Tagalog speaking area. where their main staples are chicken and rice and therefore gluten free.

They also said that as gluten sensitivity is a genetic syndrome, you may want to have your relatives tested as well. I have been reading some of the FAQ from their site, and as far as I understand it our kids have a 50% chance of having gluten sensitivity. We are planning on testing Malakai, because if he has a gluten sensitivity he will have a long list of potential problems (many of which are listed above). There is no point in testing Kayden yet because the way they test it is if there is damage to the small intestine in the cells. So if there is no small intestine damage yet, you will test negative to gluten sensitivity, even though you are really are sensitive to gluten. It is a little bit more complex than that, but kind of hard to explain.

In short, I will be learning how to cook gluten free. I had tried some things, but no baking as of yet. I plan to bake as much as I can in regards to bread, muffins, pancakes, and things like that, because the majority of store bought gluten free things that are already baked tend to be either disgusting or insanely expensive. An example would be Udi's gluten free bread, which is one of the best tasting, but it is half the size of regular bread and costs about $5 or $6 a loaf.

For anyone who is more interested in learning more specifics about gluten sensitivity I am including a link to some frequently asked questions.

http://www.enterolab.com/StaticPages/FaqResult.aspx