SANS GLUTEN By Christina McGairk
Hello, my name is Christina McGairk and I’m one of the newest writers for Special Needs Living magazine. I’m eternally grateful to Jamie McCabe for creating such a much-needed magazine in our community. I’m also grateful she let me start my own column called Sans Gluten.
RIGHT: Christina and her daughter, TiTi
Being gluten-free isn’t a fad. It is a matter of life or death for some, especially those with celiac disease. As for my daughter, Christiana, who we call TiTi, eating gluten-free did amazing things for her.
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My little girl received her autism diagnosis at 3 years old. At 7 years of age, I set up an appointment with autism care specialist Dr. MaryLou Hulseman. She requested that TiTi be gluten-free a month prior to her first appointment to see if her behaviors had changed. I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical. I have friends who swore up and down that their kids did a complete 180 once they started eating gluten-free. Yet, in the back of my mind, I wondered if it would work for TiTi. Yet, I tried it anyway and I’m so glad I did. I noticed she was more aware of her surroundings and was more focused. I’m pretty lucky because my kiddo LOVES vegetables and doesn’t like sweets. So we started with a pretty clean slate. So basically I substituted her favorite foods with the gluten-free version. For example, we now use chickpea pasta instead of regular pasta, which TiTi absolutely loves. As for eating gluten-free while eating out, that was a bit of a challenge. Although chain restaurants are getting better at listing their gluten-free options online or have a gluten-free menu, it’s a bit tougher to find gluten-free options at smaller eateries. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to start this column. To help other parents and kiddos along their gluten-free journey by writing about gluten-free options in the community. If you know of any gluten-free businesses or ideas, please let me know. Happy reading! If you would like to share Gluten-Free tips, tricks, info, etc. in an upcoming issue of Special Needs Living, email us at SpecialNeedsLivingIndy@n2pub.com.
