Going Gluten Free

Going gluten free has been a real challenge and I wasn't sure how my munchkins would view a gluten free lifestyle. Except for a few wishing moments, they have taken to it like ducks to water. I resorted to a well-tested parenting ploy - bribery.

Oh, you can call it anything else that you want: setting a context, supportive environment, organization.... but we know it's real name.

I am not making light of a gluten free lifestyle. Not everyone in our family needs to adhere to this way of eating but everyone will be strictly gluten free for a month. This time has given us a new appreciation of the family members who must adhere to a gluten free diet.

Back to the bribery. La Famiglia would be so proud.

I purchased small stackable shelving containers of three different colours and labelled them with each child's name. This is called the "snack" stack. Each child has their own supplies of snacks and they are allowed one snack per day. They could trade with each other if they didn't like a particular snack.

The only criteria was that the snacks were gluten free, not healthy, gluten free.

Snack food in this house meant fruit, vegetables, and generally healthy unprocessed food. I'm a bit fanatic when it comes to food ingredients. Any food product over five ingredients is slung back onto the grocery shelf. This was a stretch to choose products solely on a gluten-free basis.

A really big s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

Gluten free gum, candy, chocolate, chips... the list of gluten free garbage is endless. I had to balance it with healthier options of dried tropical fruit, nuts, applesauce cups. I couldn't help myself.

My children think this is an adventure. They love the idea of choosing their indulgences. They think their mother is the greatest. They have no idea.

Cheap Thrills

I picked up a package of Thrills "soap gum" today. For those of you unfamiliar with soap gum, it's gum in the shape of chicklets with a hard purple shell. And yes, it tastes like soap. I've met a few people who don't believe that there is soap gum and people actually buy it. I am only buying it to introduce it to my friends at work. It reminds me of too many childhood threats of a thoroughly clean mouth. But there is this weird attraction, I feel compelled to try it again just to make sure.

Hmmm... the next time I hear an inappropriate comment from my children, I'm offering them soap gum.

Check out this Wiki site for your own cheap Thrills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrills