Last night was kids eat free at Texas Roadhouse so my daughter Mindy and I decided to take the kids because it was just too hot to cook. He husband who is also gluten free decided not to go with us. He was going to fire up the grill and make something for himself. We got to the restaurant, it wasn’t busy so we were seated right away. We asked for the gluten free menu and the hostess said they had to throw it away because it looked gross with food stains and it was only a piece of paper anyways. Both Mindy and I looked at her then each other with questions in our eyes but we said nothing as she kept prattling on that the chef would come out and speak to us about the gluten free options. We got to our booth and sat down. Aedan immediately picked up one of the warm rolls the waitress left on our table. At first he just smelled it making an uhum noise. He looked directly at his mother and she stared back with a “don’t you dare eat that” look. They kept eye contact as Aedan slowly opened his mouth as if to take a bite. The look in his mom’s face got even stearner. He threw the roll back into the basket and said “I hate being gluten free” his head went down, his hands folded and his bottom lip jutted out in a pout. My heart started breaking in little pieces as his bottom lip started to quiver. Just then there was a plop! He quickly jerked his head up and with a big grin grabbed for the pail of peanuts the waitress just brought. Phew! Dodged that bullet!
It’s so hard for kids on special diets and the restaurants sometime make it worse for them. Aedan was able to get the ribs (no BBQ sauce it has wheat gluten in it) and applesauce. He then wanted some of my corn which I gladly gave up. I think next time(if there is a next time) I will be sure to bring some homemade gluten free rolls and gluten free BBQ sauce so he would be able to enjoy eating out without becoming upset.
I will give you the recipe for the rolls and the name of the BBQ sauce in my next blog.
Love,
Grammy Deb
Anything But Gluten 
Hi, I work with Sonya and she told me about your experience. Our nine-year old has been both gluten and dairy free for four and a half years and we’ve been very fortunate in that he’s embraced the diet. In fact, he will quiz us regarding new foods to ensure they’re safe. He‘s the enforcer.
Looking back, I think there are a number of reasons why this happened. Most important, he remembers how he used to feel and behave before we started the diet. He remembers being out of control and irrational with daily tantrums and meltdowns. He remembers the mental fog, being a step of two behind the other kids when asked a question. He remembers the constant night wakings and the entire family being in an uproar (and me being extremely angry) from him waking up the household two or three times a night. He also remembers the gut pain, the cramping and acid reflux that vanished with the diet. Today, he’s a sweet boy and one of the top performers in his class. He’s also gut pain free, something I’m sure that plays a key role in his disposition. Over the years, we’ve talked about how he used to feel and behave, and reminded him of how much better he is now. We talk frankly about how the proteins in wheat and dairy affected his brain. We tell him about how the doctors said he would not get better and wanted to put him on drugs. We tell him about how proud we are of him for having overcome so much in his short life. We remind him that other kids out there also have his “allergy” but don’t yet realize it, still eat these foods, and still feel like he used to feel. We discuss how lucky he was that we figured this out when he was so young.
The second key aspect for us was to ensure he doesn’t feel deprived on the diet. For the most part, the whole family tends to eat gluten-free. We use rice and potatoes as our meal starches, and we only use gluten-free pancakes, waffles, breakfast cereal, pasta, etc. for everyone. On the rare occasion we have some high-wheat food at home (pizza for example), my wife either makes him a gluten-free version (she makes them and freezes them so we can quickly have one ready when needed) or makes him something else that he really likes. We make sure his school lunch includes stuff he really likes. When other kids are eating some refined sugar/starch junk food for a recess snack, our son gets low-sugar beef jerky. The biggest problem with that is the other kids want to trade with him! He also loves cashews and almonds, along with pork rinds, so ensuring he has a good snack really helps him resist temptation. Of course he could still eat potato and corn chips, but we find that giving him the higher-end, more nutritious “real food” snacks keeps him full and less likely to go looking for something else.
Dining out is more difficult, so we usually plan ahead or stick with a few favorites that we know we can trust if dining on short notice. Most chains have an allergen menu online that you can print out and bring with you. We tell the server right off the bat not to bring bread as we rarely eat it as a family anyways. We also make dining out a treat for our son even though his food choice is limited. He happens to love shrimp, so we stick to a few favorite restaurants that have shrimp available knowing he will always be able to pick something he loves (and he always does). He also loves breakfast, so we also ensure our favorite restaurants have breakfast available throughout the day, knowing we’ll be safe with bacon, eggs, and potatoes. (Although since he also doesn’t eat dairy we insist they use real eggs and only use oil when cooking instead of butter.) There are also some restaurants (Ruby’s for example) offering gluten-free buns on their burgers for a small extra charge. This allows the whole family to go out for burgers without him feeling deprived.
The last thing is that we give a little leeway when it comes to the definition of “gluten-free” when dining out. Restaurant allergen menus inevitably don’t include things on the gluten-free menu even if there are miniscule amounts of gluten or even the possibility of gluten contamination. They do this as their gluten-free menus are geared toward those with celiac disease where even the tiniest amount of gluten can set off the devastating autoimmune disease that destroys the intestines of someone with celiac (my sister has celiac). For example, french fries are often not listed as gluten-free since they are cooked in the same frying oil used for non-gluten free foods like onion rings. Our son does not have celiac disease; we know this as we had him tested for it, but he does have an inability to fully and properly digest the gluten protein. Tiny amounts (and I mean tiny) don’t have the devastating effects the same way they do someone with celiac disease. Because of this, we will allow him to have things like French fries in moderation even if they are not listed as gluten-free. We monitor him afterwards to make sure we don’t see behavioral issues or stomach upset. Common sense is really important here as it’s very easy to start bending the rules way too far. Anything processed, bread-based, or breaded is out unless it’s specifically listed as gluten-free. However, we allow non-wheat *real foods* like sliced potatoes even if there is a theoretical risk of gluten contamination. We would not do that for processed potato products (things made from dehydrated of reconstituted potatoes) unless it was specifically labeled as gluten-free.
Hope this is helpful and best of luck. Gluten-free/dairy-free changed our lives, I could not imagine going back to where we were five years ago.
Thank you for your comments. You have so much useful information. I will definitely put it all to good use. Aedan has been gluten free for about a year and we’re still trying to get the bugs out. So nice to hear from someone that has been dealing with it for a while. It will surely save us some missteps. The 99 Restaurant in our area serve gluten free buns. Domino’s Pizza offers a gluten free pizza but with a disclaimer that it’s prepared in a kitchen with regular flour so it’s not recommended for celiac people but like you said Aedan can have it because the cross contamination is very minimal and would not affect him as much as it would with a celiac person. Thanks Again!