Gluten Free?

Here it is midnight and I just got back from the grocery store. I spent nearly 2 hours staring at packages and reading labels in the Health Food aisle.

I had been thinking about doing this for awhile, putting my family on a gluten free diet. Even more since I found that a gluten free diet could help with IBS, and then the other night I heard that someone got their arthritis under control by going gluten free.

I don't have any problems with either of those but I started considering it several months ago. I was talking to someone about Advocare. She was concerned about some of the ingredients because she has gluten allergies and it affects her hearing. It causes a build up of mucus in her sinuses. Also casein, most dairy and a few other things.

That is what prompted me to switch to enriched rice milk for my daughter. She's old enough, and the pediatrician said it would be OK. She's been nursing; she's older and weaning but still likes a bottle of warm milk every once in a while.

Anyway, she has terrible pollen allergies and had been really congested and coughing. Well, since she stopped drinking so much milk, she's been much better.

My husband also has sinus trouble, horrible headaches daily. So I am going to go ahead and try to be gluten free. And it's not going to be easy. I am not necessarily a health food nut. Today we took my daughter to a birthday party and I totally enjoyed the pizza buffet and second helping of cake!

I don't really know what gluten is and do I need to stay away from yeast and all grains? What about casein? I guess I can just Google it, buy a book, read some labels maybe even make my own bread and pastas - because I have that much free time!