Married to a Celiac
When my wife found out she had celiac, I had no idea what that meant or how serious an issue it was for her health. I learned pretty quickly though. I was shocked at how common gluten is in food and how little the food industry knew about gluten, including cross contamination.
Sometimes, staff at cafes would use the same tongs for gluten treats as they would the gluten free treats. I would say "this is not okay!" And they would look at me with puzzled looks, we don't eat at those places anymore. Other times staff asked "how serious is your wife's celiac?"
Early on, my wife didn't want to order for herself and have to explain EVERYTHING about celiac every time we went out. So I would often do the ordering so she wouldn't get frustrated. I would get quite protective when I was asked those strange questions of her celiac and made sure the places we went to knew what they were doing, otherwise we would walk out.
In the 6 years we've known, I've noticed a rapid increase of knowledge from most food places we go to. You learn pretty quickly the places you need to stay away from and latch onto the places you know are on top of everything.
We obviously had to change our eating arrangments at home too. I remember when we first got my wife's own labelled butter for the fridge. This was to avoid cross contamination from when our daughter and I would have toast or make sandwiches. There is a strict no double dipping rule for all spreads as well. Often times when I'd make a sandwich, I'd go through 3-4 knives to make sure there was no cross contamination.
We also got another toaster for her, and made sure plates, benches and chopping boards were properly wiped clean after being used. I was amazed at how easy it was to leave gluten traces everywhere.
I also had to be aware whenever I prepared meals for the family. Reading labels became common practice (I don't think I'd ever read a food label before in my life!) and as a family we slowly became adapt at being gluten free ourselves.
I still enjoy a good slice of toasted vogel's with banana on it, but realised that there are some really tasty GF bread options that do the trick. The only problem is how expensive that bread is! That and the fact our 2 kids and I developed a taste for this expensive option.
Slowly but surely we started to get rid of most of the gluten foods in the house. We still have the kids cereals and different treats in the pantry that have gluten in them, but for the most part our household is mainly GF.
It all started with the knowledge of my wife's celiac. From there we had to learn to up skill ourselves so we, as a family, could tackle this thing together. I'm amazed at how our 10 year old is on top of the importance of her Mum's GF lifestyle. To see our family grow and learn together has been a testing but really important journey.
They say knowledge is power. The power we have as a family in the knowledge of fighting the good fight on gluten has been a life changing experience for us all.
Paul Henare
Sometimes, staff at cafes would use the same tongs for gluten treats as they would the gluten free treats. I would say "this is not okay!" And they would look at me with puzzled looks, we don't eat at those places anymore. Other times staff asked "how serious is your wife's celiac?"
Early on, my wife didn't want to order for herself and have to explain EVERYTHING about celiac every time we went out. So I would often do the ordering so she wouldn't get frustrated. I would get quite protective when I was asked those strange questions of her celiac and made sure the places we went to knew what they were doing, otherwise we would walk out.
In the 6 years we've known, I've noticed a rapid increase of knowledge from most food places we go to. You learn pretty quickly the places you need to stay away from and latch onto the places you know are on top of everything.
We obviously had to change our eating arrangments at home too. I remember when we first got my wife's own labelled butter for the fridge. This was to avoid cross contamination from when our daughter and I would have toast or make sandwiches. There is a strict no double dipping rule for all spreads as well. Often times when I'd make a sandwich, I'd go through 3-4 knives to make sure there was no cross contamination.
We also got another toaster for her, and made sure plates, benches and chopping boards were properly wiped clean after being used. I was amazed at how easy it was to leave gluten traces everywhere.
I also had to be aware whenever I prepared meals for the family. Reading labels became common practice (I don't think I'd ever read a food label before in my life!) and as a family we slowly became adapt at being gluten free ourselves.
I still enjoy a good slice of toasted vogel's with banana on it, but realised that there are some really tasty GF bread options that do the trick. The only problem is how expensive that bread is! That and the fact our 2 kids and I developed a taste for this expensive option.
Slowly but surely we started to get rid of most of the gluten foods in the house. We still have the kids cereals and different treats in the pantry that have gluten in them, but for the most part our household is mainly GF.
It all started with the knowledge of my wife's celiac. From there we had to learn to up skill ourselves so we, as a family, could tackle this thing together. I'm amazed at how our 10 year old is on top of the importance of her Mum's GF lifestyle. To see our family grow and learn together has been a testing but really important journey.
They say knowledge is power. The power we have as a family in the knowledge of fighting the good fight on gluten has been a life changing experience for us all.
Paul Henare
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