Gluten free diet blog

my son had a chicken nugget from McDonald’s on Tuesday at11:00. He had a small crying spurt Tuesday night near bedtime (buthad fallen off a chair a few minutes before… cried right away,calmed, then cried again for a few minutes). Other than that, wenoticed no change. He had his best ABA session ever yesterday(Wednesday), according to his therapist. Then today, he had a veryunusual meltdown at 10:00 this morning about Barnyard Bingo (when histherapist put it away, he went nuts). Hard to redirect, which isn’tlike him. He was also incredibly distraught when they came in fromtheir walk and he discovered he had green marker on his hand. Hescreamed at the top of his lungs, shrieking repeatedly, with tears.

The only other thing that’s been different is I changed from Welch’sand Safeway white grape juice to Archer Farms brand from Target. Theingredients look exactly the same, but the Archer Farms brand is muchdarker in color. Coincidentally (or not), when he began an awfulbedtime screaming behavior for over a week and screaming when we’dleave the car, I’d also been using that juice. I stopped the juice,started melatonin, addressed the behaviors through therapy, and he gotbetter. Now the juice again (started it three days ago), and now he’sincredibly fragile and irritable again. Would it possibly take threedays to see the effects of the juice, if that’s what’s causing this?

What’s the best way to test the juice, take it away, see if he getsbetter, then try it again? Or keep giving it, see if he gets better,then I’ll know it’s not the juice? And how do I tell with the gluteninfraction? Can it take nearly 48 hours to see the effects of thatsmall amount of gluten?

My daughter is consistently low in zinc even though we supplement atweight +20. Has anyone out there had this problem and been able toremedy it by switching to a different brand?. My daughter was takingKirkman zinc capsules and we recently added in kirkman liquid zinc buthaven’t tested after that addition. Any info would be great.

We have been GFCF since 2000 and have been living mainly on the Ener-GTapioca loaf for sandwiches and toast since all homemade versions were(understandably) rejected by our son.

Now I see that Bob’s Red Mill makes a GF bread mix that has directionsfor home made and bread machine versions and I would like to getfeedback from people on the list whose children like firm white breadslike the EnerG Tapioca loaf. Also, if you need super consistnece inquality is it worth investing in a bread machine or am I better offcontinuing to stick with the store bought bread?

Also, years agopeople used to complain that there were crosscontamination issues with flours from Bob’s Red Mills - is that stillan issue?

Let me introduce myself and my family. I’m Alice. My husband is Bill, wehave two children a daughter, nine 1/2 years old and a son 7 1/2 years old.

Our son, AJ was diagnosed PDD-NOS just shy of age 3. He went from at 18months being a little scientist to at 27 months being a child who would nolonger respond to his name, didn’t want to be touched and lost all hislanguage except for the word “milk.”

We’ve been fortunate in that AJ has responded well to just about everyintervention we have tried. He now only lags in language about 18 months.We recently identified CAPD (central auditory processing disorder) as one ofhis major issues.

I could go on and on, but I’ll stop. Recently we decided to test for glutenand casein peptides in the urine with Dr Shaw’s laboratory. We also did theorganic acid test to look at yeast and bacteria issues. No big surpriseshere he tested way high (14 X normal) for casein and high (3X normal) forgluten peptides. Since we’d no more give him poppy flowers (the REAL ones)to eat, we are starting the gf/cf diet.
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Warnings on the bottles contain the caution for pregnant women, and the warning that too much alcohol could impair your ability. But what about those who can’t tolerate gluten?
For Americans who suffer from celiac disease a sensitivity to the gluten contained in wheat, rye and barley can have painful results.
The body sees the gluten as an enemy. That’s why nutrients can’t be absorbed, and sufferer gets symptoms like cramps and fatigue.
However beer manufacturers have made gluten-free beer that received high responses also from non-celiac sufferers.
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I am hoping someone here can help me to understand the basics of thegluten free diet. My son was recently diagnosed with an ASD. Thepsychologist suggested both a dairy free and gluten free diet. We havealready begun the dairy free but are waiting on the gluten free fornow. Does the gluten free diet make a difference, how so? How exactlydoes the gluten free diet work? Why does it work?Could some wonderful person here please explain this to me a littlebit. The only info I got from the psych was to try a gluten free diet,but I do not have any idea where to start, and it is a littleoverwhelming.

My son who is 27mths, has been diagnoised with mild-moderateautism and we started E/I and ABA Therapy. Also willing to tryanything that could help we put him on the GF/CF diet. I have seenminute changes, such as better alertness, eye contact, and response toothers.. which is big and encouraging. My question arehow long do these kids need to be on the diet?What are some good vitamin supplements to give them?As far as Juice ( he likes his apple juice) do i need to look for adifferent applejuice?any feedback and suggestions would be much appreciated.

Has anyone’s child on CF diet had adverse reaction to Chick-fil-e’sgrilled chicken breast without the bun or Mc Donalds premium grilledchicken strips? I have called both comapanies and they both claim tonot have any Milk/Milk by products in them. My son is doing so wellon the diet(2-yrs now). He’s now 5-yrs-old and I occasionally like totake him out for fast food. Any suggestions??

My 7 YOA son - ADHD, Asperger, OCD…..has been taking the BrainchildNutritional Minerals/Vitamins for a couple of months. He is doing great withthem. But, I was reading yet another article and it was raving about the supernu-thera B6/Magnesium combo, and how in some kids it is more effective thanRitalin (which my son is currently taking, and I would LOVE to stop the meds atsome time soon!).My question is - does anyone know if I can give the SNT in addition to theBrainchild supps? I really dont want to mess w/the Brainchild, cause I finallygot him up to the full 6 tsp/day without problems, and he tolerates it well. Idont want to OD him on anything, but I was wondering if any of ya’ll have donethat. Or if any of you use any other type of B6/Mag combo.

I am at wits end!! I don’t see a DAN dr. until Feb and I am having thehardest time with this diet. My daughter refused to eat anything butpotatoes. She would eat some applesauce if I sat there and fed her.Her face and butt were so rashed (her butt was bleeding from thesores). So, I gave her some of her old favorites (Eggo waffles,campbells soup, etc)…After a little hestitation, she ate all of it.We had been on the diet for 12 weeks and I didn’t see any change in herbehavior when we removed gluten. We did see a change with casein.Anyway, I have stopped giving her potatoes and she seems to be doingmuch better. Less stimming, more focused and vocal, and no moredilated pupils.I know I have seen this asked before, but do some kids do better whenoff the diet? Or is it b/c she doesn’t have much in her system?Anyone seen a change when they took away potatoes?We are going to get all the allergy testing done in Feb, but I don’twant to mess up everything we have done…Thanks everyone!