Going wheat free, dairy free, sugar free with kids?

[Alaska Mom]

Any advice, recommendations, experiences to share?

 

I'm contemplating an experimental elimination to see the affect on energy levels and mood. Dd is very high energy, fairly even moods; ds is lower energy, more moody and tells me all he wants to eat is sugar.

 

I don't really know what to expect, but don't think it's going to be easy. Really want to give it a serious try.

[Jean in Newcastle]

We did a whole family elimination diet. We ended up eliminating wheat, corn, dairy, cane sugar (different from beet sugar). . . and a whole slew of other strange ones like onions and sunflower seeds! But in our case my children had bad eczema so it was easy to see if there was a rash or not.

 

We were able to use another cousin of wheat - spelt instead. There are breads etc. made with spelt so that was easy. You can get noodles made of spelt or rice or some other grains too. Now we don't seem to have problems with wheat anymore unless we use too much. I have switched to using Ezekiel 4:9 bread which is made of sprouted grains instead of flour.

 

We switched to rice milk and now are using almond milk. I baked with it and have no trouble.

 

I tend to bake with honey. You need to use less honey (about 1/2 or 3/4 cup of honey to each 1 cup of sugar called for).

 

I tried to find substitutes for the things my kids esp. like so that they wouldn't feel deprived. It is expensive but you can find natural hot dogs with no wheat in them and no nitrates. Annie's has a wheat free macaroni mix - so does DeBoles (rice pasta).

[Aggie]

Our son has eczema, too, so we did the elimination diet also. Along with Jean's list, we cut out eggs.

 

Since I can't stand cooking, we now eat legumes, meats, fresh fruits and veggies, rice products, and oatmeal. We have added eggs back. We don't eat pasta or bread...ds said rice bread is the worst. (DH does eat bread and pasta, but the rest of us don't) Once in a while I'll find rice crackers, but they tend to be very salty.

 

When you do this new way of eating, the first week may be very rough. Sugar is a drug and our body can get addicted to it. Keep lots of fresh fruits around, get rid of all junk food, and have them drink plenty of water those first few days.

 

It's a very healthy way to eat!

 

Aggie

[Spy Car]

I recently did a story (for a television series) on a woman who had severe eczema and she cleared it by adopting a Macrobiotic diet.

 

She actually turned to Macrobiotics because she was recovering from cancer and hoped Macrobiotics would help re-establish her health and keep the cancer from returning. Clearing the eczema was an unexpected side-benefit (although she said in her case the eczema was far more painful than the cancer).

 

Macrobiotics is a diet built around whole grains (especially brown rice, which has no gluten), fresh vegetables, beans, sea-vegetables, soups, nuts, fruit, and (for some) fish.

 

One "anecdotal" case doesn't prove anything, but I thought I'd mention it as an option that sounds compatible with the direction you are contemplating.

 

Bill

[Stacie]

My biggest recommendation is to eliminate first before substituting. For example, eliminate milk for two weeks or so before replacing with your substitute of choice. The taste of wheat free and dairy free products are different. If you go from one to the other immediately they may balk at the taste. My kids didn't have a problem switching with this plan.

 

Also, we eliminated one thing at a time, first sugar for two weeks, then dairy for two weeks, and finally wheat/gluten. That was less of a shock to their eating habits.

 

There are lots of recipe books and online recipes for cooking. Experiment and don't plan for everything to work right from the start. It takes a while to get your preferred brands and mixes.

 

Finally, learn the names for the products you are wanting to eliminate; keep a list handy. Dairy can take on many different names and you may think you are eliminating it but in fact it's still there in a different name. There are many websites that can give you this information. Along these lines, plan on the first few trips to the grocery store to take longer as you must now read ingredient lists very carefully. It gets easier after a few trips. For specialty items I shop through Amazon.com grocery. It is great for things like flour, cereals, cookies, and other items that I can't find at my usual grocery stores. Plus it comes right to me and if I sign up for subscibe and save I don't actually have to reorder every time I need something. It comes automatically!

 

Good luck with your changes!!

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

My Asperger-type child has improved immensely on a gluten-free diet. You may want to check out Special Diets For Special Kids. Lots of great recipes. Blessings.

[Peela]

I would eliminate either dairy or wheat first to see if there is a connection. If you do both at once, you wont know which they are sensitive too. Same with sugar.

I have a dd who is actually sensitive to sugar..always has been. It actually causes eczema for her, and headaches. So we have an agreement that if she wants junk food (she is 14....she wants junk food) it needs to be savoury.

She had some testing done at a naturopathic clinic and it told her exactly what to give up...she gave up for several weeks, boosted her system, then she could go back to all the foods. We just know its best she stays away from sugar. She used to get a lot of headaches...she doesnt anymore.

 

I stopped sugar about 10 days ago. I got sick! First cold all winter (its spring here!). Maybe its a shock for my sugar addicted body! Anyway, apart from getting sick I feel fine, except that I am relaly hungry a lot of the time. I can eat a meal and an hour later I am starving. I didnt realise how much I was relying on sugar as an energy source.

[Rosie_0801]

Could it be that your carbs are being spread unevenly through the day? I'm a few weeks into my second bout of gestational diabetes and pretty much had food psychosis for the first fortnight, until my body adjusted just to less carbs (it's a bit naughty to snack on toast all day even if it is multigrain.) It was recommended that I concentrate the required carbs into the three main meals of the day, but my system really couldn't hack that and I was food psychosisly hungry all day. Eating less carbs meant they would only sustain me to the next snack (morning/arvo tea and supper,) not the next proper meal. Now I spread the carbs over the meals and snacks, and have virtually no problems.

Have you looked up the recommended serving sizes? It may be that you're overdoing them, not that you need to give them up altogether.

Cheers,

Rosie

[super grover]

I swear the behavioral problems (attention span, emotion highs and lows amongst others) have decreased but how in the world do you explain that to dad and grandmas and neighbors who think you are crazy? We havent tried sugar elimination yet...

Also, after a while my DS who ate literally every 30 to 40 minutes started eating 3 meals and 2 snacks! What a blessing!

 

We have a great crepe recipe that has replaced the bread in PBandJs, we have a wheat grinder that will also grind rice and so we have some great muffin recipes... and are eating more fruits and veggies (gasp!). Fritos are not healthy but a great treat, taquitos are GF/CF and are easy snack food, rice noodles and speghetti sauce a major favorite.. email me if you are interested in recipes... it really is trial and error though. adamlise@comcast.net

[lakotajm]

What do you do about life outside your four walls? Even at our homeschool co-op it's major wheat/dairy/sugar at lunch. And granny always has cookies. Dad likes to buy them yoohoos and donuts. Help!

 

Lakota

(allergic to wheat/dairy/peanuts)

[Tess in the Burbs]

well I would suggest adjusting to one thing at a time. we were already dairy free for years when we went gluten free. haven't chosen to go sugar free since there are many things we can't have, but when we had new food allergies this year and I threw it all at them it was devastating to my kids. we had to drop peanut and soy immediately. my pantry was wiped out! luckily we got soy back very quickly but we avoid so much already at that point we needed a break, lol.

 

anyway, cost may be a lot to change all at once too. we love Rice Dream original rice milk for our milk and I found a rice cheese for sandwiches. I make the Bob's Mill gluten free bread and it's good. as for sugar...good luck, I wouldn't want to take it away(for me!) but I hope you get good results!

[Jean in Newcastle]

What do you do about life outside your four walls? Even at our homeschool co-op it's major wheat/dairy/sugar at lunch. And granny always has cookies. Dad likes to buy them yoohoos and donuts. Help!

 

Lakota

(allergic to wheat/dairy/peanuts)

 

Bring your own. If it a potluck, bring enough to share. You can get some special gluten and dairy free cookies. I'm not sure about sugar, though. I would perhaps supply Granny with some of your special cookies to share so she can feel like she can "indulge" you without it being too hard for her.