Calling All Food Gurus!

[Dace]

I need all my food gurus to advise me! (Gosh I love that I can call out and have all these great knowledgeable people at the ready! )

My 8 yr old with the gluten issues still frequently does not feel great. Not sick enough that it keeps her form activities, but often in passing she says her tummy hurts or just the general she doesn't feel good.

Dh has been eating lunch out daily with his business partner and has been complaining a lot about his tummy troubles have returned, to some degree. He mostly eats salad at lunch.

I was talking with a woman at school who knows about Faith's tummy troubles and she gave me a book by Aajonus Vonderplanitz http://www.wewant2live.com/ who can apparently look into your eyes and diagnose health issues (over simplified). She has Crones and is on his raw food diet and has had really good results.

After speaking with her I had an Ah-Ha moment! (that is me hitting myself in the head)

I KNOW that cooked food is harder to digest and I KNOW that my DD and Hubby have digestive issues. I have gotten lazy and some processed crap has made it's way back into Faith's diet (a very small amount of lays chips or cheetos in her lunch) GF waffles, GF granola (crap) bars and salted roasted nuts over raw. I feel so bad that everyone else has all these treats and she had nothing that she really enjoyed so I started caving little by little....in with more junk and out with fruit and veggies (although she is not good at eating either)

Dh is having salad like a good boy, but the dressings are full of bad oil and who knows what other crap and I am sure that is contributing to his not feeling as good as he was.

So I am thinking that I need to include more raw into their diet... and send Hubby with a small cold pressed olive oil to take to restaurants. I need to get my little one to drink a stinking smoothie. I need to switch back to raw milk for my kefir (got lazy).

I am going to read this guy's book and while I can't commit to going all raw, I don't even think I should, I do need to feed my family more raw and less cooked junk.


This lady also brought me a Pelegrino and raw honey for Faith. She said that DD should be drinking good mineral water not ever plain filtered or bottled water (says it is really hard on the stomach?), and that I should put a little honey in it and that would be good for her belly. She did not really explain why but suggested that I look up the health benefits of raw honey. I woudl love to hear your thoughts on that.

She also said that veggies and salad are really hard on those with digestive issues.....so she does a lot of juice (fruit and veg) I tend to disagree with the frequent juicing just for the blood sugar spikes but perhaps it is better for someone with digestive issues?

Anyone have any resources, or comments or ideas or snack ideas???

 

[lorihadams]

try glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com

She has some great stuff on there!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I would be hesitant to do juicing and too much raw, especially with a child. Veges are made out of more then liquid for a reason.
Cooked food is not actually harder to digest. In fact veges in the Cole family are much harder on the gut and endocrine system when raw. They must be at least lightly cooked to prevent the goitragen (sp?) issues
Have you also gone dairy free?
The likelihood of dairy also being an issue when gluten is, is very high.

I would also venture to say its not likely the dressing that is causing the tummy pain for your DH, but actually all the raw veges.

You can experiment by fist going dairy free for a few weeks.
Then rather then raw salads, try lightly steamed veges.

 

[Javamama]

I second the dairy free idea. Not fun, but I think there's a good chance that could be it.
Next I would eliminate raw Cole-type veggies.
I used to have trouble with veggies from the Cole family - once I reacted to dip that my DH dunked his broccoli in! Thought I was going to have to go to the ER. I finally got my gut healthy with loads of probiotics and can eat them now.

 

[Henrietta23]

Don't consider myself a guru and I feel bad that I can't remember if she is dairy free, but I too would try that next. It was a big part of DS's issues. We'll never know which caused more of his tummy troubles, the gluten or the cow's milk, but taking him off both has helped that immensely! We never hear him say he's full when he's had 2 bites of food like we used to. He drinks goat's milk now and before we had the goats and knew he wasn't allergic to their milk, he had almond milk. He still likes that and I use it to bake for him.

 

[big brown horse]

What are Cole-type veggies?

I found it pretty hard to mix my raw honey in my S. Pelegrino.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

What are Cole-type veggies?

I found it pretty hard to mix my raw honey in my S. Pelegrino.

Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflour, brussel sprouts, etc.

 

[Dace]

Hmm....not at all what I was expecting to hear. Is there a scratching me head emoticon??

I have trouble with coles....anyone remember when I was sick for two weeks and finally realized that it was the steamed broccoli that I was adding to my smoothie?

The thing about DH and the oils, is that when he was not working (for several months) we ate big ol salads for lunch every day. I dressed them in cold pressed olive oil and vinegar. Now he still eats that salads but his tummy is not happy. That is the only thing that has really changed (the dressing)....we still have kefir smoothies for breakfast and usually some sort of meat & cooked veg for dinner, although more often than before we are having GF pasta or corn tortillas, so more grains than we used to have.

As for DD....if she can't have milk eeeek....what to feed the child? She has a GF waffle for breakfast and a yogurt in her lunch or a hunk of cheese (along with the few chips, cashews, a few carrots/banana/or apple....which she rarely eats.

Although she does also get into the chips after school sometimes.

So you all don't think it is a processed oil issue or needing more raw food in their diets?
And what about the Pelegrino, I thought that carbonated drinks depleted calcium?

 

[Dace]

Henri...can you post a typical day or two of your son's diet?

 

[Henrietta23]

Henri...can you post a typical day or two of your son's diet?

Sure!
School days are pretty much similar:

Sorghum flour waffle (homemade) with honey or pure maple syrup
Maybe some apple or orange juice. I'd like to see him drink a little goat's milk in the morning but he resists
Banana

Lunch is sometimes homeade meatballs and sauce in a thermos. Sometimes it's Applegate Farms deli meat rolled up. Sometimes it's Applegate Farms hotdogs, cooked but served cold. (I found some fun ways to cut them so they curl when you boil them. His friends love that!) I also make a chicken soup with bean threads for noodles. He gets veggies that way or hidden in his meatballs.
He also gets a package piece of fruit leather, fresh fruit (orange slices, clementine, apple, grapes-he's picky about fruit), some chips (Cape Cod or Kettle chips with no corn oil), a carton of almond milk, maybe a juice pouch and a homemade GFDF cookie or 2.
That's usually enough for him. He will ask for chips after school sometimes.
Dinner is meat and veggies, like you do, with a glass of goat's milk. He likes sweet potato fries so we do those fairly often. Or I'll roast potatoes for him and his dad.
Breads from Anna makes GFDF, nut free, soy, corn, and rice free mixes. I order a bunch every other month or so. I used one of the muffin mixes to make him "cupcakes". I froze them and if his teacher lets me know there's going to be a special event at school I send one in drizzled with Ah-laska DF chocolate syrup.
He told me just last night his life is very happy except for his food allergies. I just hug him and remind him how much better he feels.