Food allergies

[Dia Minha]

Have you ever noticed that there is wheat, soy, and/or eggs in just about everything, prepared or processed in anyway? And those items that do not contain wheat, like rice pasta, bread without gluten, and the non-wheat flours, so I can make my own, are so much more expensive and harder to come by. I can't even find a store-bought granola bar that does not have wheat in it that has no probability of contamination with peanuts. Even puffed rice cereal is processed with what they call wheat starch. And soy is a whole another story.

My five year olds allergy testing came back a couple of weeks ago and I have really been struggling to follow his doctor's recommendations. She says that he would be better off if I could get him off of his allergens, which are wheat, eggs, and soy, completely for six months. Than I would need to rotate them on a four day cycle. In other words he should only have wheat, eggs or soy once every four days. She did say I don't need to become the food nazi and that six months was really hard so if I could just get him right on a four day rotation, we would still see some benefits.

I know deep down inside Heavenly Father has been preparing me for this, because I have been feeling like I need to go back to the basics for a long time. It has just been so hard. I basically have to make everything from scratch or fork out the money for the prepared foods that he can eat. I still don't think I have gotten through one whole day without feeding him wheat from one sorce or another, and he is supposed to go three days.

Anyway, thanks for listen to my ranting and raving. I know that with the Lord's help I will be able to do this. I just wish it wasn't so hard.

If anyone has any meal or snack ideas that do not contain wheat, (because that is what I am concentrating on right now) please, please share. I can only get the boy to eat so many fruits and vegetables you know. Breakfast and lunch have been the hardest. Basically I can control dinner fairly well. So I really could use some quick breakfast and lunch ideas.

Thanks so much,

Dia

[5ft Diva]

Have you talked to the lady on the northeast corner of Brittany way. She has just stumbled onto something that is very helpful to her daughter that I think you may be interested in if you're not already aware of it.

Sorry, I don't have any suggestions for you except for maybe those rice cake thingy's. I hope you know what I mean by that. I can't even think of what they're called.

Good luck!

[Erudite]

Have you tried websites on Celiac's disease? I have a friend who has that and she can't eat any wheat and a bunch of other things. I was looking into it a few years ago for some reason and looked through some of the sites. They have a lot of good recipes for avoiding stuff your child can't eat.

Do you have a grinder? I think you can grind your own rice flour or barley flour or rye flour and then you can use those flours for your baking. That's my only real thought. Hope it helps!

[Dia Minha]

Oh duh. I don't know why making my own flour didn't occur to me. I have been working on using more wheat and grinding it myself, why not rice and oats. I do know that oats substitute really well in wheat flour recipes too. Wow, thanks Erudite.

I was blessed this last week to discover the Maceys actually now carries a line of wheat free mixes. They had brownies, pancakes, cakes, cookies and several other items. They were more expensive of course, but they sure could help in a fix. I'm going to keep a few on hand for those bad days, when I just can't come up with another wheat free something.

Oh and Diva, I have thought about talking to the lady you mentioned. It is one of those things I'm trying to get brave enough to do.

Dia

[missypoohsticks]

Dia,
I buy Makenzie her soy milk from a place called Blue Chip Group. They have wheat-free things there as well, you should check them out. They do have a website, it's [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. I'm sorry to hear that you are dealing with food allergies, just know that you're definitely not alone, especially in this neighborhood!

[Dia Minha]

Missy, What kind of reactions does Makenzie's have to her allergies. The reason I am asking is because the more research I do the more I feel inclined to forgoe my son's doctor's suggestions. I have been able to control his breakouts with supplements of oil and aloe vera juice. My fear is that there could be more going on in his little body then what is manifested on the outside. I can't find any information to verify these fears and the doctor's are no help.

One doctor has told me that by not eliminating the allergen completely he could build up an immune to it and would no longer have problems with it. An other doctor told me that in order to prevent his breakouts I would have to take him off the allergens completely and the re-introduce them slowly back into his diet. The thing is that he hasn't had a break-out in months. I am talking like almost six months now. I haven't taken any of his allergens completely out of his diet, except peanuts. However, I have not elminated the possibility of cross-contamination with peanuts. He still eats m&ms and granola bars that could have traces of peanuts and still no reactions. He even ate a granola bar that we later discovered had peanut flour in it and had absolutely no reaction to it. We are prepared for an emergency situation, because it is still possible. However, I just don't see a need to go through all this, so it makes it that much harder.

I was feeling like I was doing such a good job until talking to this last doctor. Now the harder I try the more frustrated I get. So if you have any insights to food allergies and how they work, that you think might be helpful, would you please share?

Thanks so much, Dia

[missypoohsticks]

Makenzie's allergic reaction varies depending on what the food is. The first time that she had scrambled eggs, she got hives on her face and we thought it was b/c of the black pepper because she was eating w/her hands and rubbed her eyes, and that's where the hives were. After that, she had no hives when she ate them. Now when she has something w/ eggs or milk in it, she has severe itching all over her whole body. With nuts, she gets HUGE hives all over. Her Dr told us that with the milk allergies, the more exposure she gets to milk, the worse the allergy will get unless we keep her off of it until her testing comes back negative. So that's something that you need to research, which allergens become worse with continued exposure. Although she has had Cool Whip, and doesn't seem to react to the milk protein that is in it. I don't know if any of this helps or makes any sense.

[Dia Minha]

That makes sense to me. I assume since my sons doctor said to take him off the allergens and then reintroduce them that his allergens are not the once that worsen with exposure. Except the peanuts of course.

I will continue researching and see what I get. I just get so confused with all the conflicting information that is out there.

Thanks, Dia