The food that we eat and the way in which we eat as a family has certainly changed over the last few decades and it seems like our diets have been increasingly filled with foodstuffs that are high in refined wheat content.
With this increase in wheat products in our diets today, comes increased gluten content.
Gluten is the protein component found in wheat and also in rye and barley. It gives elasticity to food and effectively helps food “bind together”.
The most common foods that gluten is found in include bread, breakfast cereals, pasta, flour and pastry, but can also be present in things that you may not expect such as soups, sausages and some processed ready meals.
Coeliac disease, (an autoimmune disease caused by the body’s adverse reaction to gluten) is now said to affect 1 in 100 people, but whether the small people in your family are affected by this disease or not, I don’t think it does any harm to keep an eye on the amount of gluten containing foods that we feed our family and make sure that they are getting a balanced amount of all the food groups.
As parents, we are seemingly very conscious of how much sugar we give our children, so why not gluten too?
So, if you are looking for snack inspiration for a child with Coeliac Disease or if you just want some alternatives snacks that are gluten free, take a look at my 20 Best Gluten Free Snacks for Kids!
Healthy Oat Blueberry Blender Muffins
Peanut Butter Granola Bars (whole grain) with Chocolate Scribble
Banana Bread Mini’s
Orange & Kombucha Gelatin Gummies
Healthy Blueberry Zucchini Cookies
Italian Chickpea Pancake – Farinata
Maple Spiced Roasted Chickpeas
We are not gluten intolerant but we do try and cut down on it a bit so this post has been really good to have a load of recipes in one place to try with our son.