Originally posted on Gluten Free UAE in October 2012

I often get asked about why our whole house is gluten free, are we all Celiacs? If not then why aren’t the rest of you eating gluten? Well, let me explain how I see it…

Our Celiac is 3 years old. Still a young child. A young child who doesn’t yet fully understand the ins and outs of cross contamination. But thats not the main reason we have made our house gluten free. We made our house gluten free because we want our child to feel normal. Because she is! She’s just a normal kid, she likes pink, she likes to dance, she likes to play football with her brother and she loves squinkies! She’s only different from most 3 year old girls when it comes to food. And she is only different when we are out.
Why? Because we, her family, have decided that this diagnosis is not hers, its ours. We are a Celiac family and this is how it has to be.

I personally believe that every Celiac has the right to feel safe in their own home. If there is gluten in your house, no matter how many systems are in place, you always run the risk of contamination.

Cooking, in a mixed house where both gluten foods and gluten free foods share a space is extremely stressful, or at least it was for me. Watch a pot of pasta boiling. Did you know water can jump out of the pot and jump in to the pot next to it? Never mind the spoon confusion, gluten free to the right, gluten to the left, gluten free to the right, gluten to the left…. then the phone rings, the doorbell goes, the dog barks, older child spills a juice and which spoon was it again???

For a Celiac, less then a bread crumb (or a very tiny bread crumb) is enough to cause a reaction. For my older (non Celiac) child this took the enjoyment out of eating his chocolate cupcake, I was a nervous wreck, right there with my tissues, waiting to clean any crumbs, ‘lean over the plate, careful, careful…. don’t touch anything, come, now wash’. I was on edge, worried, and most meals I had tears in my eyes when she asked for something she couldn’t have.

We lasted like this less than 2 weeks. The decision to make our home a safe home for our girl, was the best I ever made. Now we all eat chocolate cupcakes together and the crumbs can go wherever (although my cleaning nerve does twitch a little), we all eat the same food, and everyone is able to open any cupboard and eat anything they want. It is all gluten free, all safe.

From the work I now do with Gluten Free UAE, it seems to me that those who have a mixed house (gluten and gluten free foods sharing a space), have a much more limited diet with less variety. Why buy variety if its just for one person anyway, its a waste if it goes off?

In the beginning our food costs were sky high off course, they over doubled once we all went gluten free, now, a year and a half later, they are back to almost the same as they were when we were gluten eaters, and I must tell you, we are all, much much healthier.

If you are still mixing products in your home and finding it a challenge, try making your house 100% gluten free for a while – it may just work for you too – if not, you can always change back 🙂

-Linda

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