Two weeks ago I shared with you how to do an Elimination Diet. This week I'm going to talk about what common items our family ate and what we replaced them with. So, read on, share, and be blessed!
When we did the Elimination Diet, we wanted it to be as seamless as possible knowing that "change" was always difficult for our daughter. So to do that, we simply tried to replace common foods we ate with the GF and DF version. For breakfast our kids ate cereal, yogurt, oatmeal, waffles, toast, eggs and fruit. At lunch they most commonly had a sandwich or hot dog with a veggie, fruit and cracker/chip of some sort. Snack time consisted of chips/salsa, crackers/hummus, a rare sweet treat, veggies or fruit. Dinner was usually a pretty balanced meal as well with a protein, veggie and starch such as, potatoes or rice.
We bought familiar foods such as GF pretzels, GF graham crackers and animal crackers, GF cookies, GF granola bars, GF waffles, GF cereal, GF oatmeal, GF bread, GF pasta, GF crackers, DF yogurt, DF cheese slices, GF/DF ice cream and Popsicles.
It sounds like we fed them a lot of snacky/junk in the beginning and I'm not gonna lie, we kinda did (in moderation of course)! We also bought lots of our favorite fruits and veggies. But, like I said, it was to make this transition as seamless as possible. We needed their buy in! We needed to convince them that being GF/DF wasn't a bad thing, it was actually a really good and TASTY thing!
I only recommend doing this for the first two weeks or so because it gets pricey if you by all the snacky type stuff on a regular basis. Once we determined we were going to be GF/DF/FCF permanently, we faded out the snacky stuff with more fruits and veggies, hummus, mixed nuts and other naturally GF/DF foods. We would have a few of the cheaper snacks on hand and every now and then as special treats, buy the more expensive things.
I also fired up the oven and got baking! Making our own GF/DF treats proved to be cheaper AND healthier. We try our best to maintain a low sugar diet for our kids and found that a lot of the GF/DF stuff on the shelf were HIGH in sugar just to make them taste better (I'm talking 20+g of sugar in one square shaped GF nutrigrain bar no bigger than the palm of my hand)! When I bake my own treats I can cut back the sugar if needed and can also make the items smaller to help cut how much sugar is in each treat. I baked my own bread almost daily because it was cheaper too (at first)!
When you head to the store, you will notice that GF/DF products are a bit more expensive than the latter. There are a few reasons for this...1. The ingredients they use are a bit more rare (ex. arrowroot flour, garfava flour, sweet brown rice flour) 2. Most GF/DF products are also CERTIFIED, which means they are made in a dedicated facility to ensure there is no cross contamination and it costs more to manufacture and maintain those facilities 3.They are often times made from Organic, Non-GMO, and all natural ingredients. So you are definitely getting what you pay for, in my opinion.
At this point you're probably just DYING to know what products in fact I am speaking of, right?! Well, I'm going to be a bit harsh and save that for next weeks post. I've gotta give you a reason to come back, but mostly it's because I have way too many favorites too share and if I don't, it'll take you a couple hours to read this one post! I will also share some pics and where I have found some really good deals for everyone (local or not)!
So be sure to bring your pen and paper next week because you are definitely going to want to make a shopping list! Until then, be blessed!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Calling In Sick
Blog friends, I'm taking this week off due to illness, but next week I'll be posting about the food we ate during our elimination diet. Sorry to make you wait an extra week, but I promise it'll be worth it! Be blessed!
Friday, February 15, 2013
The Elimination Diet
This week I'll be talking about the illusive "Elimination Diet" that I've mentioned in my previous posts, so read, share, and be blessed!
In last weeks post I shared that we waited until after school got out for summer break to start the Elimination Diet because of a couple different reasons...
1. Our daughter was used to eating the school lunch every day and we were concerned that the change in routine would cause issues. We were worried she wouldn't eat. We were also concerned that she would eat the school food anyways and we had no way to control that.
2. We wanted to use up as much of the stuff we had in our pantry that had gluten in it, so it wasn't wasted.
3. If there were going to be any protests, disagreements or flat out meltdowns over what we were or were NOT eating, we wanted them to happen at home.
This decision worked out really well for our family and believe it or not, we really didn't have many protests and not one meltdown!
You're probably thinking, "Well that's all fine and dandy, but what the heck is this Elimination Diet thing anyways and why do it?" Well, I'll fill you in on that right now...
The name "Elimination Diet" is pretty self explanatory, you eliminate something from your diet. Basically you eliminate whatever you think you may be allergic to. In our case we eliminated all gluten, wheat, dairy and food coloring.
So, for 2 weeks you completely cut out the type of food your testing for. You have to be very strict or else your results may not be accurate.
During the 2 weeks of elimination I encourage you to notice how you feel. The first week you may feel a little run down, tired, not 100% yourself because you're basically detoxing your body. But pay special attention to how you feel week two. Keep a journal to monitor how you're feeling. For my family in week two, we all felt that we had more energy, we were all in better moods, we felt less sluggish and bloated after eating, and we had seen improvements in skin conditions we all possessed.
Once week two of going "cold turkey" is over, (get the journal out because you're going to need it for this part) slowly add things back in and document how you feel. The key word in that sentence is SLOWLY. Try one thing the first day that has whatever you cut out and give your body time to react. Write down how you feel. The next day, do it again. Do it until you feel convinced your body either reacts to it or doesn't.
Note: sometimes when adding something back in, we wouldn't notice a reaction until days later or sometimes not at all. So for us we decided that since we felt better and noticed huge improvements in our daughter by cutting it out, that that decision was better than having it and hoping we wouldn't have a reaction to it. I think it's better to be safe than sorry. It's kind of like playing Russian Roulette, but with food, nooooo thank you!!!!
Our family felt so good and had seen such a HUGE difference in our daughters emotional/behavioral health from being off of it for two weeks that we didn't even feel we needed the evidence of what would happen when added back in, but we did, ONCE!
My husbands work had an event and sent the employees home with the left over churros (a BIG stick of gluten!), so we figured, why not, let's see what happens... Within a few minutes of eating it, a category 5 meltdown had struck our daughter, the rest of us felt extremely bloated, and for the rest of the day we felt tired and run down.
That was huge proof for us that we all had a reaction to gluten, some more sever than others, but still a reaction. One of our son's had such a severe reation to dairy that within hours of eating it he had diarreah and a bloody diaper rash (sorry for the gross details).
We had a similar meltdown after allowing frosting from a birthday cake that had been artificially colored, as well as allowing just a few Halloween candies, confirmed the reaction to food coloring.
So, for us, the proof was in the "gluten, dairy, and food-coloring" puddding (yes, the punn was intended! Just humor me and laugh)!
I encourage you to try it, the only thing it takes really is 2 weeks of commitment. That's about how long most people last with their New Year's Resolution so, I know you can do it!
I'll write soon on what we ate during the 2 weeks and things we gave up (I never knew until then how many things, gluten was in!). If you are interested in trying the Elimination Diet, let me know and I'll help in any way I can.
Until next time, blessings!
In last weeks post I shared that we waited until after school got out for summer break to start the Elimination Diet because of a couple different reasons...
1. Our daughter was used to eating the school lunch every day and we were concerned that the change in routine would cause issues. We were worried she wouldn't eat. We were also concerned that she would eat the school food anyways and we had no way to control that.
2. We wanted to use up as much of the stuff we had in our pantry that had gluten in it, so it wasn't wasted.
3. If there were going to be any protests, disagreements or flat out meltdowns over what we were or were NOT eating, we wanted them to happen at home.
This decision worked out really well for our family and believe it or not, we really didn't have many protests and not one meltdown!
You're probably thinking, "Well that's all fine and dandy, but what the heck is this Elimination Diet thing anyways and why do it?" Well, I'll fill you in on that right now...
The name "Elimination Diet" is pretty self explanatory, you eliminate something from your diet. Basically you eliminate whatever you think you may be allergic to. In our case we eliminated all gluten, wheat, dairy and food coloring.
So, for 2 weeks you completely cut out the type of food your testing for. You have to be very strict or else your results may not be accurate.
During the 2 weeks of elimination I encourage you to notice how you feel. The first week you may feel a little run down, tired, not 100% yourself because you're basically detoxing your body. But pay special attention to how you feel week two. Keep a journal to monitor how you're feeling. For my family in week two, we all felt that we had more energy, we were all in better moods, we felt less sluggish and bloated after eating, and we had seen improvements in skin conditions we all possessed.
Once week two of going "cold turkey" is over, (get the journal out because you're going to need it for this part) slowly add things back in and document how you feel. The key word in that sentence is SLOWLY. Try one thing the first day that has whatever you cut out and give your body time to react. Write down how you feel. The next day, do it again. Do it until you feel convinced your body either reacts to it or doesn't.
Note: sometimes when adding something back in, we wouldn't notice a reaction until days later or sometimes not at all. So for us we decided that since we felt better and noticed huge improvements in our daughter by cutting it out, that that decision was better than having it and hoping we wouldn't have a reaction to it. I think it's better to be safe than sorry. It's kind of like playing Russian Roulette, but with food, nooooo thank you!!!!
Our family felt so good and had seen such a HUGE difference in our daughters emotional/behavioral health from being off of it for two weeks that we didn't even feel we needed the evidence of what would happen when added back in, but we did, ONCE!
My husbands work had an event and sent the employees home with the left over churros (a BIG stick of gluten!), so we figured, why not, let's see what happens... Within a few minutes of eating it, a category 5 meltdown had struck our daughter, the rest of us felt extremely bloated, and for the rest of the day we felt tired and run down.
That was huge proof for us that we all had a reaction to gluten, some more sever than others, but still a reaction. One of our son's had such a severe reation to dairy that within hours of eating it he had diarreah and a bloody diaper rash (sorry for the gross details).
We had a similar meltdown after allowing frosting from a birthday cake that had been artificially colored, as well as allowing just a few Halloween candies, confirmed the reaction to food coloring.
So, for us, the proof was in the "gluten, dairy, and food-coloring" puddding (yes, the punn was intended! Just humor me and laugh)!
I encourage you to try it, the only thing it takes really is 2 weeks of commitment. That's about how long most people last with their New Year's Resolution so, I know you can do it!
I'll write soon on what we ate during the 2 weeks and things we gave up (I never knew until then how many things, gluten was in!). If you are interested in trying the Elimination Diet, let me know and I'll help in any way I can.
Until next time, blessings!
Friday, February 8, 2013
Why We Went Gluten-Free
Many of the questions I get from people (and you might be asking yourself) about being Gluten-Free (which I will now refer to as GF) is, "WHY?!?!" Well, I'm glad you and everyone else asked because that is this week's topic. So, read on and I hope you are blessed...
We moved back to the Sunshine State from a very WET Portland, Oregon in November of 2011 after living there for about 2 years to help some good friends plant a church. Our kids we very excited to be moving back "home" and to live at Gammy and Poppie's house (again) until we could get a place of our own. Although this was a positive change and a familiar move, the transition still posed as a struggle for our daughter. Any type of change in her life, good or bad, has been something she has a hard time with. We had been struggling for awhile to handle some of her emotional and behavioral issues, but this move really seemed to affect her quite drastically. After a few months of trying several differnt things on our own and no success, we decided to seek professional help.
In February of 2012, we started seeing a counselor to help us better understand our daughter, so we could help her better understand herself and her emotions. Through that process we learned that our daughter was more than just "Strong Willed". We learned that she suffers from severe anxiety, she has some PTSD that is attached to any change in her lifestyle and routine, she has some OCD/perfectionism traits, she struggles with how to filter her emotions and can be overly sensitive, as well as having a "Strong-Willed" nature. It was a huge eye-opener to see that she's not just out to make our lives difficult and to challenge us on everything! Some times her behavior and response to different things can be due to these other factors, which is OK because that's how God wired her.
Commonly in today's psychiatric world, the "symptoms" and behaviors our daughter was exhibiting can be diagnosed as ADHD. Our counselor encouraged us to have her tested, but not to rush to medication treatment if diagnosed. She highly recommended researching different dietary changes.
We weren't too surprised that our counselor thought our daughter might be ADHD. When she was 21/2 yrs. old we saw a Psychiatrist because of her exhibiting some extreme emotional and behavioral difficulties. She was tested and labeled AT-RISK for ADHD. We were told that once she was school aged and if she was still struggling with the emotional and behavioral challenges, that she would most likely be tested again and could very well test positive.
So, we continued forward on this journey and started the ADHD testing and research of dietary changes to help ADHD children. While in the testing process and researching, I learned a lot about how different food allergies can present themselves in emotional and behavioral ways and not just physical. The ADHD test results were inconclusive due to testing positive in the home environment, but not the school environment. Most kids exhibit the behaviors both at school and home.
We were relieved when we found out she didn't have ADHD, but knew that something wasn't right and were determined to find a solution for our daughter.
During my research I came upon the "Elimination Diet" method to test for food allergies (more on that in another weeks post). Since so many of her symptoms mirrored those of different food allergies such as Gluten, Food Coloring, and Dairy, we decided to try it.
We waited until May when school would be out so, the changes in her food wouldn't cause any issues at school (we were being sensitive to the new things we learned about her PTSD to change and severe anxiety). Over the course of the 2 weeks that we completed the "Elimination Diet", we saw such a significant change in our daughters over all behavior and mood as well as specific behaviors during times that would normally trigger meltdowns and extreme behavior reactions, that we were sold! The best way to describe how gluten effected her is that it clouded her brain so, she couldn't think and process emotional and behavioral things clearly. After the diet she was able to think much more clearly.
We took all of the information and our findings from the diet to our Pediatrician. He was very supportive (since he administered the ADHD test himself) and could see the difference in her after the dietary changes. He agrees with us, that the best thing for her health is to be GF/dairy-free/coloring-free and low sugar.
Because we all did the "Elimination Diet" together so our daughter didn't feel singled out, we found some food allergies and sensitivities in each of us. With those findings, it made the decision simple for us to ALL be GF/DF/CF and low sugar.
Now that the "Gluten Fog" has been lifted, we get to enjoy who God made our daughter to really be. She still has her moments (being GF doesn't cure the strong willed nature!)but, don't we all?! We are now able to work through those moments a little bit easier. She sees a difference in herself and knows that she likes the person she is GF over the latter.
Going GF has been life changing to say the least, but most of all it's been a HUGE blessing!!!
We moved back to the Sunshine State from a very WET Portland, Oregon in November of 2011 after living there for about 2 years to help some good friends plant a church. Our kids we very excited to be moving back "home" and to live at Gammy and Poppie's house (again) until we could get a place of our own. Although this was a positive change and a familiar move, the transition still posed as a struggle for our daughter. Any type of change in her life, good or bad, has been something she has a hard time with. We had been struggling for awhile to handle some of her emotional and behavioral issues, but this move really seemed to affect her quite drastically. After a few months of trying several differnt things on our own and no success, we decided to seek professional help.
In February of 2012, we started seeing a counselor to help us better understand our daughter, so we could help her better understand herself and her emotions. Through that process we learned that our daughter was more than just "Strong Willed". We learned that she suffers from severe anxiety, she has some PTSD that is attached to any change in her lifestyle and routine, she has some OCD/perfectionism traits, she struggles with how to filter her emotions and can be overly sensitive, as well as having a "Strong-Willed" nature. It was a huge eye-opener to see that she's not just out to make our lives difficult and to challenge us on everything! Some times her behavior and response to different things can be due to these other factors, which is OK because that's how God wired her.
Commonly in today's psychiatric world, the "symptoms" and behaviors our daughter was exhibiting can be diagnosed as ADHD. Our counselor encouraged us to have her tested, but not to rush to medication treatment if diagnosed. She highly recommended researching different dietary changes.
We weren't too surprised that our counselor thought our daughter might be ADHD. When she was 21/2 yrs. old we saw a Psychiatrist because of her exhibiting some extreme emotional and behavioral difficulties. She was tested and labeled AT-RISK for ADHD. We were told that once she was school aged and if she was still struggling with the emotional and behavioral challenges, that she would most likely be tested again and could very well test positive.
So, we continued forward on this journey and started the ADHD testing and research of dietary changes to help ADHD children. While in the testing process and researching, I learned a lot about how different food allergies can present themselves in emotional and behavioral ways and not just physical. The ADHD test results were inconclusive due to testing positive in the home environment, but not the school environment. Most kids exhibit the behaviors both at school and home.
We were relieved when we found out she didn't have ADHD, but knew that something wasn't right and were determined to find a solution for our daughter.
During my research I came upon the "Elimination Diet" method to test for food allergies (more on that in another weeks post). Since so many of her symptoms mirrored those of different food allergies such as Gluten, Food Coloring, and Dairy, we decided to try it.
We waited until May when school would be out so, the changes in her food wouldn't cause any issues at school (we were being sensitive to the new things we learned about her PTSD to change and severe anxiety). Over the course of the 2 weeks that we completed the "Elimination Diet", we saw such a significant change in our daughters over all behavior and mood as well as specific behaviors during times that would normally trigger meltdowns and extreme behavior reactions, that we were sold! The best way to describe how gluten effected her is that it clouded her brain so, she couldn't think and process emotional and behavioral things clearly. After the diet she was able to think much more clearly.
We took all of the information and our findings from the diet to our Pediatrician. He was very supportive (since he administered the ADHD test himself) and could see the difference in her after the dietary changes. He agrees with us, that the best thing for her health is to be GF/dairy-free/coloring-free and low sugar.
Because we all did the "Elimination Diet" together so our daughter didn't feel singled out, we found some food allergies and sensitivities in each of us. With those findings, it made the decision simple for us to ALL be GF/DF/CF and low sugar.
Now that the "Gluten Fog" has been lifted, we get to enjoy who God made our daughter to really be. She still has her moments (being GF doesn't cure the strong willed nature!)but, don't we all?! We are now able to work through those moments a little bit easier. She sees a difference in herself and knows that she likes the person she is GF over the latter.
Going GF has been life changing to say the least, but most of all it's been a HUGE blessing!!!
Friday, February 1, 2013
The Gluten-Free Blessing
You might be asking yourself how being gluten-free can be a blessing? "The Gluten-Free Blessing" seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it?! Most people assume that a gluten-free diet is a huge inconvenience, not tasty and extremely limiting, but I'm here to tell you differently!
Going gluten-free has been a huge blessing to my family. I will save the story of why we went gluten-free and specific examples of how we went gluten-free for another weeks post.
Basically today I'm just here to tell you why I have started this blog...
I have had several family, friends and just plain strangers ask me about being gluten-free. Most of them have the same questions as you probably have or had. "Isn't it hard (especially with kids)?" "You must not get to eat much variety?" "Isn't it expensive?" and on and on they go.
I too had many questions when we first embarked on this journey, so I tapped into my Military Police Investigation training and got to work (you can call me PI Kelli!) I started by doing LOTS of research on the Internet about what Gluten was in the first place. I read many medical research studies from reputable sources such as, The Mayo Clinic Hospital, and learned what the different symptoms/reactions to an allergy/intolerance of gluten are. I also talked with family and friends that have made the switch, taking away what I could from their experience. I then compared what they said to the medical research just to see how they matched up. I also watched A LOT of food documentaries to learn more about the food we put into our bodies.
I then put what I learned into action. There was a lot of trial and error, but now I feel pretty confident in what information/knowledge I have. I'm constantly striving to learn more and know that I don't know it all!
I was able to put that knowledge into use as I recently coached a friend in going Gluten-Free. I basically shared with her my story of why we went Gluten-free and as we spent more time together, she saw what we ate and became more intrigued. She asked questions here and there and along the way, she began to identify some symptoms in her family that could benefit from going gluten-free. She asked more questions, which I answered and I encouraged her along the way. Finally she decided to take me up on doing an elimination diet for 2 weeks (more on that in another post). So I immediately called her up and said let's go shopping! We went to the store to get the basics, my favorite transitions for kids and adults, and I shared easy meal ideas (do you see some post topics in the making?!).
But back to those questions you and many others have and why I started my blog...
It was suggested of me to start a blog to help others learn how to make the switch since I'm not able to personally coach and shop with everyone who asks (I am a wife and mother of 3)! I'm here to answer the questions as best as I can and to share with you how to go Gluten-Free! I will have weekly topics that are derived from the most common questions I get asked, questions that I've asked, and many more, i.e. favorite products and places to eat Gluten-Free.
Having the opportunity to share my experience is a blessing in itself and I know if you take the leap of faith, going Gluten-Free may be a blessing to you as well.
So join with me in experiencing...The Gluten-Free Blessing!
Going gluten-free has been a huge blessing to my family. I will save the story of why we went gluten-free and specific examples of how we went gluten-free for another weeks post.
Basically today I'm just here to tell you why I have started this blog...
I have had several family, friends and just plain strangers ask me about being gluten-free. Most of them have the same questions as you probably have or had. "Isn't it hard (especially with kids)?" "You must not get to eat much variety?" "Isn't it expensive?" and on and on they go.
I too had many questions when we first embarked on this journey, so I tapped into my Military Police Investigation training and got to work (you can call me PI Kelli!) I started by doing LOTS of research on the Internet about what Gluten was in the first place. I read many medical research studies from reputable sources such as, The Mayo Clinic Hospital, and learned what the different symptoms/reactions to an allergy/intolerance of gluten are. I also talked with family and friends that have made the switch, taking away what I could from their experience. I then compared what they said to the medical research just to see how they matched up. I also watched A LOT of food documentaries to learn more about the food we put into our bodies.
I then put what I learned into action. There was a lot of trial and error, but now I feel pretty confident in what information/knowledge I have. I'm constantly striving to learn more and know that I don't know it all!
I was able to put that knowledge into use as I recently coached a friend in going Gluten-Free. I basically shared with her my story of why we went Gluten-free and as we spent more time together, she saw what we ate and became more intrigued. She asked questions here and there and along the way, she began to identify some symptoms in her family that could benefit from going gluten-free. She asked more questions, which I answered and I encouraged her along the way. Finally she decided to take me up on doing an elimination diet for 2 weeks (more on that in another post). So I immediately called her up and said let's go shopping! We went to the store to get the basics, my favorite transitions for kids and adults, and I shared easy meal ideas (do you see some post topics in the making?!).
But back to those questions you and many others have and why I started my blog...
It was suggested of me to start a blog to help others learn how to make the switch since I'm not able to personally coach and shop with everyone who asks (I am a wife and mother of 3)! I'm here to answer the questions as best as I can and to share with you how to go Gluten-Free! I will have weekly topics that are derived from the most common questions I get asked, questions that I've asked, and many more, i.e. favorite products and places to eat Gluten-Free.
Having the opportunity to share my experience is a blessing in itself and I know if you take the leap of faith, going Gluten-Free may be a blessing to you as well.
So join with me in experiencing...The Gluten-Free Blessing!
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