D.D.'s Gluten Free Book

School has been out for a few weeks now. I have to tell you, my daughter has spent maybe three nights of that time in her own bed. Summer keeps her busy! She has a lot of grandparents, relatives and friends that love to have her come and stay with them. I miss her while she is off on her travels, but she has so much fun that I put my feelings away and help her pack bag after bag.

Between you and me, this stuff used to terrify me. D.D. is strictly gluten free. She doesn’t get immediately sick when glutened, instead, she gets unbelievable headaches. The headaches are bad enough to cause nausea and (eek!) memory loss. The headaches bring with them a host of other physical and mental symptoms that I am not eager to watch her suffer through again.

It used to be very stressful for both of us when she went anywhere. She was worried that there would be nothing to eat and I would spend the whole time thinking, “what if”. I had to resist the urge to call every five minutes to see how everything was going.

Since we do not have the option of bubble wrapping our children and keeping them home, I had to look for another solution. I realized that a lot of my fear came from the fact that I knew that D.D. didn’t know all the things she was supposed to eat, which meant that she would trust any well meaning adult with a cookie. It was this realization that led me to do one of the best things I have ever done for my daughter: D.D.’s Gluten Free Book.

Frequent readers may remember that I have mentioned this book before, (in the article Help Your Children Adjust to Being Gluten Free) I figured that it was high time that I shared the secrets of the gluten free book with all my friends here. Here’s what I did:

I started with a journal from the local dollar store. I picked a book that was cute, small enough to travel and was her favorite color. I titled the book clearly on the cover. After that I wrote an encouraging love note inside the front cover. Then I hit the computer. I printed off copies of both the “Do List” and the “Don’t List”. I also printed the most current candy list I could find and gluten free menus for D.D.’s favorite restaurants. I took all of these print outs and cut them to fit inside the journal.

I split the journal into sections, using some blank address labels I had on hand as easy reference tabs. The sections were:

• The Do List

• The Don’t List

• Candy and Treats

• Restaurants

• Easy Foods - Fruits, veggies, etc.

• D.D.’s Gluten Free Journal - a place for her to record her thoughts and feelings about starting a gluten free diet.

Later, she added the “Loves” section to keep track of all of her new favorite foods.

I glued the printed pages I had into the appropriate sections in the journal, making sure to leave space on each page for added notes. I also left quite a few pages blank at the end of each section so there would be room for additions or changes later. A half sheet of the blank labels attached easily inside the back cover, giving her the ability to add sections later. To make reference easier, I made a table of contents and numbered the tabs accordingly.

When all was said and done, D.D. had a personalized book to take with her so that anyone could help her choose what to eat. Best of all, having all of that information available was what got D.D. started on reading her own labels.

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The book I made for D.D. was far from high-tech, it was barely even pretty. You can make a gluten free book for your kids as easily and inexpensively as I did, or make a more fancy version. I promise you, though, no matter what the book looks like it makes a huge difference. I felt safer letting D.D. stay at other people’s houses when she had her book with her, and the adults that were caring for her were always grateful for the information. D.D. no longer worried about what she would eat, she knew she could check labels for herself anytime.