Gluten Free Questions

Recently, I’ve been considering switching our family to a gluten-free diet to see if we notice any health improvements.  There’s SO. MUCH. INFORMATION. available that it’s quite overwhelming.  It reminds me of the early days of my homeschooling decision.  I was inundated with information, so much so that I was so completely overwhelmed that I didn’t know where to start.

 

Breathe.

 

Baby steps.

 

I’d love to have one simple source that would just walk me through how to make this change.  I haven’t found that source yet!  I have all types of sources that provide general information about why to consider going gluten-free, but I want the how-to-implement-gluten-free-simply-and-affordably-in-a-large-family site!!! :-)

 

I have a few questions:

1. Is there a simple way to determine whether or not a food has gluten in it?  I know that gluten is not an ingredient that gets listed in the list of ingredients, making it more challenging to determine if an item contains gluten.  Is there some kind of simple rule or tip or way of determining whether or not a food contains gluten?!?!  If not, is there a site that is easy to navigate to help determine whether a food is gluten-free or not?  Maybe an iPhone app where you can type in the exact food and have it tell you if it contains gluten or not?!?!
2. Some sites say that ALL grains are sources of gluten, including rice, corn, quinoa, etc.  Other sites say the type/amount of gluten found in rice, corn, quinoa doesn’t usually negatively affect gluten-free diets.  Help!
3. No one in our family has tested positive for Celiac’s disease, but it’s my understanding that we could all have gluten sensitivities.  I also understand that gluten could be responsible for many health issues, including many auto-immune diseases, behavior disorders, skin problems, brain issues, ADHD, and the list goes on and on.  With Sawyer’s Crohn’s disease, Matt’s ulcerative colitis, Selah’s mood/behavior/brain issues, Ella’s severe ADHD, and the variety of other smaller health issues throughout our family, I figured going gluten-free is certainly worth a try.  BUT, WHERE DO I START?!?!  I’d love to have a better understanding of how to implement this for the entire family.  Do I first need to go through our pantry, freezer, and refrigerator and toss out every item containing gluten?  (BTW, is gluten in certain spices, too?)  Is there a site that walks people through how to implement this change?  I’ve done dairy-free, egg-free, and corn-free for Sawyer for years (and for me for almost two years when I was nursing Sawyer), but I didn’t do that for the whole family.  I’d love a site to walk me through how to have success implementing gluten-free for the whole family.
4. Recipes!  Is there a site or book with great recipes?  Every morning, I toss meat into our crock pot.  It cooks all day, then I shred it and toss together some type of meal, normally a casserole.  I’m able to stretch how many people the meat will feed by adding other fillers, such as rice, noodles, potatoes, etc.  How do I do this gluten-free?  We often eat things like Chicken-n-Dumplin’s, King Ranch Casserole, Chicken Alfredo, Chili with Beans (over Fritos and/or cornbread), lots of soups and stews, enchiladas, Mexican casseroles, Tater Tot Casserole, etc.  We have bread (Artisan bread, crescent rolls, biscuits, etc.) with almost every meal, as a filler (plus, we all LOVE bread!).  Does a bag of frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts from Sam’s have gluten?!?!  Do I try to use our same recipes and substitute gluten-free ingredients?  Help!

Basically, I’d love for someone to just walk me through this.  Best place to start, best recipes to use, best affordable gluten-free foods, snacks, substitutes.  And, oh, how glorious it would be to find all of this info on ONE site!!!

 

I’m overwhelmed!  Help!