Seths Gluten Free & as much preservatives Free Diet

[workin'mumof2]

So i dont really want a diary as i want feed back..

Day 1 went well only to have it ruined and accused of underfeeding my child by inlaws:rolleyes::hair:

So Day 1 tomorrow!
Take 2
i know it will go well as he coped fine the first time. just have to go via coles b4 our outing. to get some gluten free snacks. i know exactly what i want too!

Breakfast i feed him organic cornflakes with blueberries found in the health food section and yes they are gluten free and absolutly no preservatives.

lunch is bread i have to make(nutlex or tahini). preservative and gluten free. (just some effort from mummy:p)

there are a few options for snacks. rice cakes that are gluten free. other gluten free biscuits but doesnt like as much. some other chips (cant remember the name but i know there healthy, gluten and preservative free and yummy)

fruit and veg

dinner is meat or gluten free pasta with vegies..

and hes on A2milk

any suggestions or any comments most welcome.. especially if you know more gluten free or preservative free items:yes:

Thank you

[Mum2Lucas]

hi i came across a site the other day called hullabaloofod.com.au and they make all sorts of food. most things are gluten free, dairy free, preservative free, failsafe and everything free. my son is on a gluten free and very little preservative diet. it's working really well for him. good luck.

[reAllytee]

Orgran is another brand that yucky stuff free lol & Freedom foods have a good range too !

Good luck !

Its a hard road but worth it !

[lealea79]

i find woolworths has a better range of gluten free stuff then coles and a bit cheaper and a more of a variety...


glutenfreedirect.com.au is another site that i stumbled across i havent brought anything from then yet..

best of luck

[WorkingClassMum]

You've got a great plan.

Not all rice crackers are gluten free, Sakata plain, wholemeal and seaweed definatley are. Healtheries KidsCare Rice Rounds Original Flavour are gluten free, taste good and come packaged in little packs great for travel

Try also those puffed corn biscuits - they make great sandwiched (RealFood Corn Thins) and Orgran Corn Crispbread also make a good sandwich until you get into the bread making.

With bread making, slice it as soon as it's cool, and freeze in packets of two slices. Home made gluten free bread goes stale and crumbly really quick. PM me and I'll give you the name of a bakery out Boronia way where you can buy Organic Rye sourdough way cheaped than any health food shop - I buy 10 loaves at a time.

Watch out the your jams are wheat free - some are made with wheat based glucose.

With the pasta, the corn and rice pasta has a lower GI than the straight rice pasta and keeps them fuller for longer.

Watch out for presrv's in stocks - Massel is gluten free but a wee bit salty.

Also - what's gluten free and preservative free today may not be so tomorrow. Even when you have your preferred brands and stapels - keep reading the packs - they change without warning...

Orgran Spaghetti in tins is gluten free and great for a lunch on the run or on a rushed day

Naturo fruit bars are 100% fruit.

Annies fruit straps are also really good - but can be $exy

[WorkingClassMum]

How's he (and you) going with it all?

[MyFourCubs]

Oh man, don't they ever?! (Brands changing their ingredients to suddenly include preservatives.) Grrr.......:thumbsdown:

Alex eats a lot of plain vegie chips and we live on the orgran animal biscuits. Orgran is pretty fab- all their stuff is generally preservative free and free of all the other nasties too. They also have a custard (powdered), tinned spaghetti, bread crumbs, gravy, corn bites, cake mixes etc. they are fab!:thumbsup:

I bought Alex a gluten free nut free msueli that I have been trying to mix into his fruit (with little success so far) can't rememebr the brand as I have emptied it into a container. Saw those cornflakes- any good? May ahve to give them a try.

The prob with so many of those "healthy" cereals is that they have sweet FA in them except sugar! No nutrients, drives me up the wall.

Ummm... heinz have just brought out mini corn cakes with apple and banana, gluten and preservative free- in the baby aisle. they also ahve plain mini rice cakes but I balk at spending that amount on something just because it's mini!

Ummmmm..... everything else has been suggested, I think! My kids also like hummus- make your own or get a deli one, many are now preservative free!

[workin'mumof2]

WCM - yesterday was horrible but that was because we had too many outings in that week.

so were just resting.. anyway ive written down the items suggested and looking more into it..

He seams to be acting alot better.. maybe because were resting at home today.

me and ruby will need to go shopping a bit though..

so i see people are mentioning that gluten free items are not only in the health section :o

must look beyond that then:o might also pop into a few health food specialty stores.

we notice though that he seams to be snacking more so i do have a question

are gluten free products less filling???:detective: or is it just him adjusting to the new diet?

[workin'mumof2]

bought some more products.. made a small mistake by letting hubby choose a product.. well he got the no preservative part right.. only thing was...

it had gluten.. ah dear me. i knew straight away though..

so there now my treats..:laughing: and we try again tomorrow..

but were pretty sure its helping.. he seams more responsive of an afternoon and alot easier to handle not to mentoin he finds it easier to "go" in his nappy.

[juzzyduck]

Have you thought about seeing your gp if things are settling down. It would only take a blood test and then you will have some answers and can really start the changes for life. You will also be able to join the Coeliac's Society which has a world of information and people to help you source all the products you need to remain completely gluten free.
Just a suggestion.
It sould like it is working which is the main thing atm.
Good luck and keep up the hard work.

[WorkingClassMum]

Hun - you're doing well :thumbsup:

[sja]

I think you're doing well so far. Gluten free products do tend to have a much higher GI, so they won't be as filling as other foods. If it's not coeliac disease, then maybe he could tolerate oats (you can buy uncontaminated oats, as the regular oats can be contaminated as they're grown and processed with wheat). Oats are very low GI, and you could add them to things like cereal and bread to make it lower GI and therefore more filling.

Someone mentioned rye bread. Rye has gluten, so that's out. And glucose syrup from wheat was also mentioned as having gluten. Glucose syrup derived from wheat has no detectable gluten in it. The Coeliac Society give it their okay, so it should be fine to eat. I've spoken with some coeliacs who reckon they react to it, but my DD has always been fine with it.

My DD5 has coeliac disease. I make bread for her, then when it's cool I slice it and make toasted sandwiches - things like tuna and cheese, or pesto and cheese. Then I freeze the toasted sandwiches. She'll eat these defrosted, but if I just freeze the bread, then defrost it and make a sandwich, she won't. A lot of people will say that GF bread is best eaten fresh, or frozen and toasted, and this seems to be a way around it. I make 2 loaves at a time and make about 12 sandwiches this way - that will do her for 2 or 3 weeks.

If you stuff up bread, or it tastes gross, don't throw it out - turn it into breadcrumbs. If you want to crumb meat to make nuggets or schnitzels, then crushed up cornflakes make a nice alternative for breadcrumbs. Or you can use polenta or sesame seeds as a coating as well.

I make my own GF muesli. I use puffed millet, puffed brown rice, sultanas, dried apricot, rice bran sticks, sunflower seeds, pepitas, psyllium, and slivered almonds. I just mix them together. DD loves it. Other good brekkies are soft-boiled eggs and GF toast, banana smoothies, baked beans on toast, rice porridge, and rice pudding with stewed fruit (do the rice pudding in the slow cooker overnight).

Other GF foods (don't know about preservatives though) are cheese, yoghurt, sunflower seeds, pepitas, nuts, baked beans, other beans like cannellini and borlotti beans, chickpeas (you can toast these for a snack), corn cruskits, and popcorn. Eggs are good. I make mini frittatas in my muffin tin.

Lauke make a GF bread mix. I use it to make pizza bases and pikelets. The bread's not too bad either.

You can use pad thai noodles in place of pasta, or when you get sick of rice. Also rice vermicelli. Much cheaper than GF pasta. And you can try rice in place of pasta too - rice with bolognese sauce isn't that bad. And round rice paper (I think they're called Vietnamese spring roll wrappers?) make cheap GF lasagne sheets.

Don't just look in the health food aisle. Learn to read labels and you'll find that a lot of things are gluten free. And when you do see something in the health section that's GF, look in the regular section to see if there's a GF version there. Example: You can buy GF cornflour in the health section. Or you can go to the regular aisle and find Farmland cornflour that's cheap and GF. Often the generic brands are GF where the more exy brands are not, so check them out.

Decide how strict you have to be. My DD is coeliac, so we tend to steer clear of things that say "may contain traces of gluten". But if you don't have to be that strict, then a lot of things are okay. Like generic brand cornflakes - they don't have malt in them, but do probably have traces of gluten. But if you decide that's acceptable then that would be a lot cheaper for you.

[workin'mumof2]

UPDATE

thank you everyone for your wonderful suggestions & support. its nice to have it somewhere..:D even if you are online friends:p

ok so its been 8days and nothing as yet to report.. other then its shocking that health food is expensive when we should be promoting people to eat healthy:yes:

anyhow his bowels are better and he seams a tad better in the arvo. either that or its a placebo to us :p

sticking with it for a while yet.:fingerscrossed:

[OneCheekyMonkey]

I agree that eating healthy preservative free food is very expensive ! I wish it were cheaper !


Goodluck, it is a hard road, it is much better for my health to be on a gluten free/pres free diet but I have been slack and lazy.... oops

[workin'mumof2]

2Weeks :yelclap::smiliedance: didnt think id make it :p

well now i have will see how he is today and note it here for you all. :D

[WorkingClassMum]

I'm looking forward to reading your obsv.:yelclap:

[workin'mumof2]

well either hes more well behaved because hes on a diet or ive changed and handle him better..

we will stick with this for a month then test him on some gluten and obviously from that see where we go.

now when dh goes shopping he knows what to look for b4 anything else hehe "gluten free":yes:

he is also eating better, as in more variety and finishing his meals with vegies.. some not all vegies but hey better then nothing.. and his bowels are ALOT better.. so maybe more proof for me.

dh even had to pop out by himself so i had them both for a while and seth was really good with ruby for a change. maybe its helping him focus *shrugs*

now dont get me wrong there were points in today where he was just "himself" spinning and spinning in circles and just not getting dizzy but thats just him.. and thats ok;)

so on the 22nd of feb it will be a month. lets hope we can keep it up that long and i can update then

untill then i would like to thank everyone for helping me with this.(and answering my lamo questions)

Thank You!

[mum_inlove]

I just want to say 'what a great job you're doing' :thumbsup::yelclap:

I want to starts the children on the same diet, and already oh so confused..

[WorkingClassMum]

and answering my lamo questions



If you post one more derogatory comment about yourslef, I'm coming over to beat you with a big stick! :shame::hugs:

I am so glad that you see some improvement in Seth's behaviour. :yelclap:

Have you also tried Fish Oil yet?

Are you considering restricting diary as well?

Did you decided to investigate salicylates yet?

Sorry if I'm confusing you :o

I really hope you get some good results from all your hard work

[workin'mumof2]

If you post one more derogatory comment about yourslef, I'm coming over to beat you with a big stick! :shame::hugs:

Is that a theat or a promise :p

I am so glad that you see some improvement in Seth's behaviour. :yelclap:

Have you also tried Fish Oil yet?

no because last time we tried fish oil it gave him the runs, but we did do it everyday.. maybe that was the problem

Are you considering restricting diary as well?

we tried doing that for a week at the start with the gluten free and it was way too restricting. he wasnt full enough on the rice milk. could do it seperatly maybe afterwoods.

Did you decided to investigate salicylates yet?

yes sure did. he reacts when you put bonjella on him. so were trying to stick to the natural alternatives but cant wait till the next 3 teeth pop through and thats it for him.

Sorry if I'm confusing you :o

I really hope you get some good results from all your hard work

nope not confusing. me too.. maybe i should use some of my left over energy and concentrate on me:p

[workin'mumof2]

one more week and we made it to a whole month.

then we might see what happens if we introduce gluten again.. or wether its the extra preservatives we took out as well.

we will soon see and i will update:yes:

[juzzyduck]

hey
Glad to hear things have settled down for you and the diet is working and you are seeing lots of changes.
I had miss placed my bible and have now found it so sorry I did not give you the details earlier. This is worth the money if you are thinking of doing a gluten free diet long term. The book is called " is it gluten-free" An A-Z of things gluten free and it is written by Carole Hofflin. You should be able to pick it up at Angus and Robertson or any book shop. It has lots of things that have hidden gluten, things you would never image to have it in. I would be lost without it. I discovered in this book that Bacon has gluten in it due to the shape of the bacon, helps hold it's shape. Anyway, worth getting copy.

Good luck and look forward to your next up date.

[WorkingClassMum]

You are doing great guns Hun.

I hope that things contine to improve

[workin'mumof2]

oh my goodness.. well we introduced gluten again..:eek:(2days)

well even my husband notices a difference..

next time we go shopping we are going to keep him on the gluten free diet..

like forever..

coz my son has gone from a nice boy to the same unable to concentrate boy with yukky bowels.

so we have our answer..

gluten does something to him:crying:

[WorkingClassMum]

oh my goodness.. well we introduced gluten again..:eek:(2days)

well even my husband notices a difference..

next time we go shopping we are going to keep him on the gluten free diet..

like forever..

coz my son has gone from a nice boy to the same unable to concentrate boy with yukky bowels.

so we have our answer..

gluten does something to him:crying:

Oh hun - no tears - that's great :yelclap:- and you did it all on your own!

I'd be taking your results to the Dr's and maybe get him tested for celiacs disease, and if that's neg- than you know it's an intolerence.

I believe you've done an amazing job!

[workin'mumof2]

considering we have had nothing but diarrhea nappies 3times a day we switching back to gluten free today..

[juzzyduck]

Please, please take him to your Dr and have him tested for Coeliac's Disease. I am talking from experience and know exactly what you are going thru and our boy changed dramatically once we knew had is confirmed and changed his diet forever.
I had a boy who would poo up t 6 times a day, was skin and bones, always cryed and could not talk. Since being diagnosed he has toilet trained, only poos no more then 2 a day, is happier and in 16months since diagnosis he is starting to now talk in full sentences, we estamate he is about 12 months behind others his age, just with talking.
Also look into getting that book I recommended in a previous post if you are planning on doing this long term, it helps you as to where all the hidden gluten is, stuff you would not believe.
Good luck, remember it does get easier and become second nature feeding them.