Gluten Free Lifestyle: Hidden Hazards

Sooo, if you’ve been living under a rock, you don’t know that Pookah is allergic to wheat.

Yes wheat.

I’ll wait while you think of all the stuff he can’t eat….

So. He’s allergic to it. No, he won’t get diarrhea, no he won’t get a tummy ache.  He gets hives, his nose starts running, his eyes swell up, he starts wheezing, and then he stops breathing.

Yeah, so I’m really interested in not letting that happen.

Right now, my house is half and half in terms of wheat/gluten free items and regular items.  I buy gluten free items for school lunch and snacks and for home. But we still eat all the good stuff.

Problem is: Pookah is now at the age where he wants to try to eat everything. And as last week shows( when he got into Popeyes chicken and had a reaction), I need to just go ahead and eliminate wheat from my household.

This is hard. Harder than you think.

For instance: I thought I was doing a good job.

But for the last month or so, I noticed that Pookah had a rash in the creases of his arms and legs and under his arms. I thought it was his eczema.  But when Pookah got retested last week for his wheat allergy, I noticed that not only did the skin test turn positive, but so did those areas.  Those areas turned into hives.  Classic signs of Pookah’s allergy to wheat.

I thought about it.

And then thought about it some more.

But I was sure it was still his eczema.  Even though it seemed to come and go. Some days worse than others. Some days not there at all.

I was in the middle of getting ready to cook chicken, and I reached for my regular seasoning of choice when I’m in a hurry: Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning.   Seriously, I put that S*** on everything.

Since I had just picked up a copy of Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s new gluten free cookbook, and had just read the part on checking the labels of everything in your pantry, I took a peak:

May contain wheat, soy and milk.

FOR REAL??

That explained EVERYTHING!!

I haven’t cooked with any in a few days, and the itching is better. The rashes have gone away.

But that taught me a lot.  I’m going through my spice rack, my cabinets, my pantry to completely eliminate ANYTHING that has wheat in it. It’s going to be hard, but it will be worth it.  I need to stop inadvertently poisoning my child. And yes, that’s what I’ve been doing.

So my house is going totally wheat free. Which in this current world means  TOTALLY GLUTEN FREE.

This is going to be interesting folks.

This is going to be a journey.

P.S. The photo above has been entered in Sweet Shot Tuesday over at My3boybarians. Enjoy!