I was sure that removing the allergens from Ahren's diet would just be a matter of reading the labels and being careful. Um, yeah, apparently I was waaaaayyy off on that one. I find a product that does not contain wheat, but it has soy lecithin. No soy? It has modified food starch which comes from wheat. No starch? It contains soy oil. At this point I can feed him bananas and raw potatoes.
Breakfast has turned out to be the easiest meal. Bacon and eggs, rice cereal with bananas and milk, wheat free home made pancakes with real butter and syrup. Lunch is a struggle. Today he had chunks of cooked chicken, cheese, an orange, and corn chips. Dinners will be OK as long as I cook from scratch. I just have to make time to cook on the weekends and have things ready to heat up quickly.
The biggest stumbling block? Snacks and little things. Yogurt has 'natural flavoring' which can contain strawberries or wheat. All snack crackers we normally choose like wheat thins, goldfish and cheezits are off limits. Fruit chews are suspect. I did find some yummy pretzels that work, but i also found some other crackers made with spelt....and then I discovered spelt is an ancestor of wheat and has to be avoided. We have no idea if he is allergic to other nuts so at this point all nuts are out. No nut butters, no nut oils, no nut anything.
Next week is Valentines Day. I am scared to death of all the goodies and candy. I will send him with his own goodies and treat bag, but I have to trust the adults in his classroom to make sure he doesn't eat a cupcake or drink a juice box that has strawberries. At this point his worst reaction has been an extreme asthma attack, but that is bad enough. His reactions to the allergens can get worse initially as he starts treatment so we have to get this down before that point.
How do people do this? I need a freakin Excel spreadsheet to track what he can and cannot eat. I will need to put a list on my phone to reference at the store. Right now it takes me 30 minutes to find 3 items that will be OK. Thank goodness I have some awesome friends who are helping me! Thanks to Elle, Gayle and Meredith. You all are saving my son and my sanity. I owe you a million hugs and a lifetime of chocolate and wine!
2 comments:
I don't have any advice, but wanted to send hugs your way. I am guessing that after time, you will know what works and what doesn't. I am thinking a trip to a natural food store might help? I have heard that the staff at ours is pretty helpful with the food stuff. And of course, google. I am sure there are people out there who have done this. I hope you continue to find answers!
Not sure if this helps, because I don't know eveyrthing you are avoiding, but I noticed that our Yoplait Greek yogurt is Gluten free and comes in a few different flavors if you need to avoid the strawberry. My son is partial to lime and honey vanilla.
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