Raising A Gluten Free Teen

I do not have a recipe, product review or new research to share today. Instead today I have only a life event and a story to share.

The Gluten Free Kid is officially a Gluten Free Teen –yes, this weekend she crossed that inevitable line from being a kid to being a teen.

A beautiful, oh so healthy, sometimes snippy, but amazingly happy these days, teen who can almost stand toe-to-toe with me and look me in the eyes.

Who wears the same size shoe as me and is starting to borrow my clothes.

Who loves her cell phone and completely ignores me when she is around her friends.

A wonderful healthy normal teen.

Of course, it is a milestone that all kids cross, but to have a healthy normal teen is in itself a gift when you have a kid who has been so sick.

A kid who used to get so dehydrated from vomiting all of the time that she had to get IV's to rehydrate;

Who seemed so unnaturally unhappy that you were debating taking her to a psychologist,

Who was addicted to Pepto Bismal,

A kid who is lucky to be one of the few diagnosed with celiac disease. I said lucky because only 5% percent of people who have celiac disease are currently diagnosed. I can’t even imagine what the Gluten Free Teen would be like by now if she was not diagnosed.

So how is it to live with a Gluten Free Teen?

It has only been a day, so we will have to figure that one out together.

But I have noticed that, like most teens, she just wants to fit in and, to a certain extent, be like everyone else.

For her that has meant that she wants absolutely nothing to do with celiac disease. If you have checked her website lately, you will notice she has not updated it in a long time. They are starting a Celiac Teen group in our area and she absolutely does not want to have anything to do with it. She still loves to cook and eat, but prefers not to think about the fact that it is gluten free.

And that is fine – if we have reached the point in our lives where we can live gluten free without even having to think much about it, then we are pretty well off. If she can live day to day without having to constantly think about what she puts in her mouth, then that is great.

Lastly, this brings me to an email I received this week. I get a lot of emails, but this one brought me back home this week. Back to where we started:

A little over a week ago, my 5 year old daughter, was diagnosed with Celiac.  Of course, a million things ran through my head, but at first I didn’t think it was too big of a deal until I looked for something for her to eat.  I have been in panic mode since.  I feel confused, angered and just plain helpless.  I have been reading anything I can get my hands on to understand what our lives will be, how you live with Celiac, and how just to become normal again.  I have found a lot of great information online but I have to say that yours has been the most appreciated.  Being from a mother’s perspective, it has calmed me down a bit to realize things will improve.  For me, it’s like a step program for beginners to take to a life of a new normal.  So I just wanted to write to say Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

That is it isn’t it – the point we have reached, the "life of a new normal." A new normal where we can eat and be gluten free without having to dwell on it every breathing moment.

Oh, we have been through plenty of the confused, angered and helpless days. I remember initially I thought about food constantly – every morning started with "my goodness what will eat today?" Trips to the grocery required huge manuals and lists and seemed to take an eternity.

Every school event, party or dinner invitation had a new meaning, a new level of work that was required, and a new adjustment.

Yes, it was crazy tough at times, but we made it through and we are okay with our new normal. Even better than we were before because no one is sick now.

Speaking of our "new normal", I have to share one last thing. It is the Gluten Free Teen’s birthday cake. Before going gluten free, birthdays at our house were celebrated with a cute, very sugary, decorated cake from our local grocery store. Thus, the gluten free birthday cake was another big adjustment in our new lifestyle. We all like our new tradition of making and decorating our own cakes. I would not call the cakes we create beautiful, but they were fun to make.

But this year, when I was presented with the opportunity of buying a gluten free and dairy free decorated cake, I had to take it. Here is the cake!  

It is funny how much this cake meant to my kids. They were thrilled to have a cake which was "like the cakes we had pre-gluten free." A cake that was, to their minds, just like everyone else’s. A cake that just looked "normal." Well, actually better than normal because it was gluten free!

This cake was made by Stephanie at CakeFixation.com. This was Stephanie’s first gluten free cake and she did a fantastic job. My other kids have already put in their request for their birthday cakes.

I’ve been having the most wonderful time. I feel as though I’ve emerged from a dark tunnel and found myself in the middle of a carnival. I don’t particularly care for carnivals, but after the tunnel, it’s delicious.

From The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.