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melanie
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 7:13am | IP Logged
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I'm not sure whether to put this here or on the special blessings forum...we are wanting to try my autistic son on this diet. He is *extremely* picky, only lives on about half a dozen foods, all of which (of course!) contain gluten and casein. So, I'm trying to switch slowly, finding things that he will eat that I can substitute for what he currently eats. Any suggestions? Either homemade or packaged...I'm willing to buy packaged snacks and stuff, especially to get us through this trial period. Here's what he currently eats that will be the most problem...stuff that will substitute for these and taste as much like the original as possible will go over best...
milk- lots of it. What milk substitute tastes most like cow's milk? I've read not to switch them to soy, because it can also cause problems.
string cheese- I guess this will just have to go
crackers
peanut butter sandwiches- need some kind of bread substitute here. he might take a tortilla or something like that, but he wouldn't eat rice cakes.
He love pancakes...a gluten free pancake might be a good thing too.
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Melanie
homeschooling Maria (13yo), Kain (10yo), Jack (5yo), Tess (2yo), and our newest blessing, Henry Robert, born 4/23!
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Courtney
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 7:15am | IP Logged
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My son always puts peanut butter on his gf pancakes. Pamela's baking mix is good and easy for making pancakes. Udi's brand gf bread is pretty good, too. the key to most gf bread is lightly toasting it first so it's not dry and crumbly. Good luck!
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Taffy
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 7:32am | IP Logged
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We've been gluten free, casein free and soy free for a long time now. Might I humbly suggest that you go casein free first? That's usually the easiest item to eliminate (gluten is everywhere, it seems). The fact that your son drinks a lot of milk makes me suspect that you might notice a big difference just from doing that. Definitely don't substitute with soy - we did and had to remove it later. We use almond milk instead of cow's milk but I would suggest that simply removing dairy would be your best bet for your picky eater since any dairy substitute tastes significantly different and is not likely to be accepted.
Once your son has been casein free for about a month or so, then I would go gluten free. In between that time, try and introduce some foods that your son might tolerate. I have a recipe for peanut butter pancakes that your son might like. There is also a simple recipe for peanut butter cookies: 1 cup peanut butter (make sure that it is gluten free), 1/2 - 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix and make cookies, bake for about 15 minutes at 350.
Gluten free bread is so different in taste and texture that your best bet might be to avoid bread for a while. Will your son eat potatoes? Mashed potatoes are a big hit here (just mash up plain potatoes and add salt and or gfcf ketchup). Homemade fries are popular (many fries that you buy in the store are not gluten free). Rice is really versatile too but rice bread is an acquired taste. Tortillas are awesome! I'm assuming you mean corn tortillas, of course. We used to do them a lot but then we had to go corn free for a while. Boy, do I miss them...
Starting this diet is very overwhelming at first, especially going gluten free but once you get used to it it becomes easier. My son never showed much improvement with removing dairy but going gluten free really improved his life. My nephew showed HUGE improvements in behaviour after removing dairy. The diet is definitely worth trying. Good luck! 
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 8:19am | IP Logged
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Just to throw this out there: there is evidence that suggests that sprouted grains (including wheat) lose much of their gluten that causes problems and provides other additional nutrients.
It's something we're going to try in the next few weeks here - to see if gluten is causing some of the problems we have here
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 8:56am | IP Logged
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I second Susan's advice regarding cutting out casein first. If you try to do both at once, it will be too overwhelming.
And, when you do go gluten free, trying the sprouted grain bread that CatholicMommy suggests might be enough. My ds who has gluten intolerance (labeled FTT as a baby) can't handle any gluten at all so he doesn't get it. But, my ds with ADHD learned to like it just fine, and it did make a difference. He likes it toasted, with cinnamon/sugar. The brand we use is Ezekial and it is in the frozen isle at our grocery. (How do we know it helped? Well, in a moment of weakness I went back to regular wheat bread. We've been using the regular stuff for a couple of months. Add to that my oldest ds's new passion for making homemade pizza, which is delicious, but now we have the gluten and the dairy and it's just too hard to resist. So, my ds is really struggling with ADHD right now. It could be coincidence, but I doubt it. We're going back to no casein and Ezekial bread!)
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 9:05am | IP Logged
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For a milk substitute, we use Rice Dream Original. There is a vanilla flavor too, but I think the vanilla flavoring causes problems for ADHD kids so I imagine it would for autism too. No, it doesn't taste like milk. My kids had to get used to it. They only like it icey cold. (There is a chocolate version, and in our store in comes in little mini-boxes with straws. That might make it fun, but check the ingredients.) We do drink alot of hot coco. (Not the packaged kind of course.) I just follow the directions on the container of Hershey's Coco using the rice milk instead dairy. It's easy. After using the packets for so long I forgot it's really not that hard to make some of this stuff myself. Tomato soup is another one that is easy-peasy. No need to buy the canned stuff.
For icecream, well, that's a tough one. We've never found a substitute we like. We do like things like Italian Ice though and many brands don't have dairy.
Cheese is difficult too, because we love cheese around here. The substitutes are, well, not so good. I've been buying the stronger cheeses and my older dc have really learned to like them. This works great for us because my ds who can't have it only likes the more bland cheeses like colby and co-jack. I just try to keep those out of the house.
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Teachin'Mine2
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 9:25am | IP Logged
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There's a gluten free potato bread that's really awesome. I haven't had it in years, but it was always in the freezer section of the health food stores. Just toast it and it would be great for peanut butter sandwiches. Trader Joe's has great crackers that are gluten free. I agree with Becky on the Rice Dream. It doesn't taste like milk, but I think it tastes pretty good. Their "ice cream" is delicious - once you get used to not having dairy.
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pigeonberry
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 10:12am | IP Logged
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I wish the sprouted grains had worked for us. I had switched to sprouted grains and the NT diet for 5 years before my son was born. After he was born, I noticed he had really oily hair and he was very irritable. I had a feeling it had to do with wheat/gluten, so I took it out of my diet and within a week his hair was normal and he was a very happy baby. A lot of my symptoms that I was experiencing went away as well, like anxiety/depression, cold hands and feet, and arthritis. Needless to say, we'll remain gluten free.
I know what it's like to have to make such a big switch so go at the pace you feel comfortable with. For some, that means take it out completely immediately, for others it requires a gradual approach.
God Bless You
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 10:49am | IP Logged
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Wow pigeonberry, I didn't know oily hair was a symptom of gluten problems. My ds had oily hair as a baby and I couldn't figure it out.
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 10:58am | IP Logged
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Wow pigeonberry, I didn't know oily hair was a symptom of gluten problems. My ds had oily hair as a baby and I couldn't figure it out.
Melanie, the only crackers I've found that my kids will eat is a Glutino brand. We like the pretzels by the same brand. The crackers need something though, like peanut butter. By the way, check the peanut butter. We were eating a healthy brand but then I checked the label and it contains wheat germ, which I think has gluten.
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LeeAnn
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| Posted: March 16 2010 at 11:18am | IP Logged
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We just got a dedicated gluten-free market here in town and they sell some fabulous gf stuff by Schar. Theirs is the only "fresh" gf bread I have liked. Udi's is the best frozen kind. Schar crackers and Glutino crackers are good. We are only GF though, no problems with casein, so you might need to check the labels--those items I listed above might have dairy in them.
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pigeonberry
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| Posted: March 17 2010 at 9:38am | IP Logged
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Becky Parker wrote:
Wow pigeonberry, I didn't know oily hair was a symptom of gluten problems. My ds had oily hair as a baby and I couldn't figure it out.
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Well, basically I put 2 and 2 together. I had a suspicion even before he was born, that I needed to cut back on wheat. One of the symptoms of gluten intolerance/wheat sensitivity is mineral malabsorption. Zinc deficiency is what causes oily hair and dandruff. In fact, if you look at a bottle of Head and Shoulders, it's active ingridient is a zinc compound. My Dad and I both have very oily hair. My dad has colitis. When Fulton was born with oily hair I told everyone that I think it's because he can't tolerate wheat. They told me it's hereditary but I was skeptical. His hair was so oily, that it looked like it needed to be washed just a few hours after washing it with shampoo. He was also very irritable. Again, I was told it was his personality. I decided to go with my "gut" instinct (pun intended) and remove the only form of wheat I was eating in the form of Ezequiel bread from my diet. Within a week, he no longer had oily hair and he was very happy and contented baby with no irritability. My hair too can now go about 3 days without needing to be washed which is a huge deal compared to less than 24 hours. Fulton's head is not oily now, even if it's been a week since washing it. (I don't wash his hair when northerns blow through).
Because of this experience I feel very strongly that my body and my son's cannot tolerate wheat/gluten and we will remain gluten free.
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lovemy4
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| Posted: June 12 2010 at 12:21pm | IP Logged
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I'm really late to this topic but wanted to add that Glutino has a great brown rice bread that we use. It's in a purple package. It also has no corn(which one of my kids is also allergic too).
We have been making icecream out of canned coconut milk with great results and now I've notcied that 2 companies are making icecream using only coconut milk. They taste GREAT. One is "Coconut Bliss" the other is "Purely Decadent". Expensive for sure but for the occastional treat, it is well worth while.
I make a gluten free pancake using 1 cup each of rice, sorgham flour and 1 cup potato starch. 1 TBS baking powder 2 tsp guar gum, 4 tbs sugar. Then 3 eggs, 3 cups rice milk, 2 tsp vanilla essence, 2 TBS oil.
My kids eat this with no additional sweetner and use it with PB or even ham. HTH
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Topic: gluten/casein free diet
