Feingold diet

[Amylisa]

Hi,
Has anyone here tried the Dr. Feingold program? I am checking into it, it sounds pretty good.

My son is already eating a gluten free diet and it has helped his behavior issues a lot. He seems to feel better physically on it as well. He has tested negative for celiac, but he is definitely sensitive to gluten. He is on a dairy free diet also for the most part.

I am looking into the Feingold program for the family in general as well as my son. A couple of my other children have had learning issues, one is borderline ADD. This program of eating seems to help kids with these issues.

 

[mom2anaspie]

Can you suggest some helpful info on getting on a gluten free diet? I've just recently heard of that and would like to try it with my son.

 

[Amylisa]

Hi!
It can be a little difficult at first, but it can be done.
Do you have a whole foods market, or a trader joe's store anywhere near you? They both sell some gluten free foods.

There is a Hannaford's right near us and they even have several items in their Natural Foods department. Gluten free spaghettis, pastas, cookies, mixes.

One thing I can tell you....most of the pre-made gluten free sandwich breads are really Awful. They're like cardboard. Someone told me about Bob's Red Mill bread mix that you make yourself. It's SO much better, and a little bit less expensive. It comes with a packet of yeast and stuff too so you just add the wet ingredients. It's pretty good. I've never made homemade bread but it came out okay! You don't have to knead it or anything, and there are directions on the package for making it by hand or with a bread machine. I just made it by hand. Actually I need to make some more today. It sure makes your house smell good while it's baking!

I don't know if you're familiar with Bob's Red Mill...they make all kinds of mixes so just make sure the ones you buy are marked Gluten Free. The one I use is called Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix and it says GLUTEN FREE across the top of the bag. One bag makes one loaf.

There are some gluten free cereals that are geared toward kids. I give those to my son sometimes. Not a lot of nutrition in them, but he can munch on them and he enjoys them. Plain potato chips are another snack that he loves, I have to hide them or he'll eat nothing but chips!!

We use a lot of Van's gluten free frozen waffles. At first he wouldn't eat them....if I served them with butter and pancake syrup, the typical way, he didn't like them. The texture is a bit different than regular waffles. But if I put peanut butter on them for him to just eat like a piece of toast, he LOVES them. Also now and then I use a couple of them to make a sandwich with. On Saturday i was out of bread and so I made him a ham sandwich with a couple of lightly toasted waffles and he was very happy with that. You kind of learn what tricks will work for your child as you go along. Mario has always LOVED bread and crackers, etc so it was a struggle at first to find something he would eat.

Amy's frozen foods (organic) also has several gluten free items. Mostly mexican type dinners, Mario likes those too. And they make a pretty good frozen, gluten free spinach pizza. I think it's dairy free too. He'll eat that sometimes if we are having pizza. It's a little expensive so we don't have it very often.

Generally also you can feed a GF child regular white rice or brown rice. Just not any rice mixes as they usually have gluten in the seasonings. And regular chicken, hamburger, steak etc. Just not breaded meats, or shake and bake type things. If we go to a McDonald's I will sometimes get him nuggets cause the breading is kind of "puffed up" and I can take it off pretty easily with a knife. Those were his favorite thing there so I try to allow it now and then. But we don't eat there much. I suppose if someone had celiac disease where you cannot have ANY gluten, then removing the breading would not be good enough because some gluten probably still remains on the chicken. So it depends on your situation.

Of course you can have fruits and vegetables like always! A lot of salad dressings have gluten in them though. I am still learning about that too.

In my opinion for dessert mixes, "Pamela's" are the best. Betty Crocker's brownie mix is available now in a lot of grocery stores and it's pretty good. I wasn't crazy about their cookie and cake mixes though, the texture and taste seems kind of funny to me.

There is a magazine called Living Without that has a lot of helpful things in it. They have a website too.

At the beginning you try out different products to find what your son will like or not.
I have to go right now but I'd be happy to answer any other questions that I can! I know this process can be hard at first.
Have a good day!

 

[mom2anaspie]

Thank you SO much! This can become quite an overwhelming task! I've started researching it quiet a bit and went out last night to purchase the gluten free cereals, almond milk, GF pasta etc. We have an Earth Fare near us that I'm assuming will have a bunch of GF products...(haha you have a hannafords...I used to live in the North and haven't heard that grocery name in a few years!) I appreciate all your tips and we're going to try to be very strict about this diet for a few months to see if it improves his behavior/sleep. He doesn't sleep much so it's been a rough year. Thank you again for taking the time to help me out!

Blessings to you!

 

[Amylisa]

I have read that if gluten is a problem for your child, you can often see improvement in sleep once you go gluten free.

My son rarely slept straight through the night before we changed his diet. Now he sleeps much better. Very often now he sleeps straight through without any waking up during the night. Which of course helps him feel better in general and also helps his mood.
We have also started him on a small dose of a medication to help with his anxiety and mood. And our pediatrician recommended giving him a melatonin tablet every night before bed. I chop it in pieces with a sharp knife and then crush it into powder with the back of a spoon, and put it in a small amount of almond milk. It works Great. And melatonin is a natural substance, not a drug so it's safe. Maybe ask your doctor about it. One of my teenagers was having trouble sleeping lately and she took a tablet and slept much better.

My son is almost 7 now and we've dealt with sleep problems his whole life! It is such a blessing that it's going better now!
Good luck and God bless you and your son!

 

[mom2anaspie]

Oh my!! 7 years of the no sleep! HOW did you manage?! We're already on the natural melatonin supplement. He's also started one called twighlight time (it's made by progressive labs) and it has a mixture of natural sleep aids including triptophan. I guess that one will take a number of weeks to kick in. We're doing better on the melatonin but he STILL is getting up most nights. (sigh) Poor lil' guy wears me out more than our other two combined! (and our youngest is only 2 months) He seems to be taking to the gluten-free thus far. I got a bunch of good food for him today...even found quite a bit at our local discount food store. If we go for a mostly dairy free diet with him as well....can he have goat milk and goat cheese? I'm able to get fresh goat milk from a local farm.

 

[mom2anaspie]

Do you think I'll see a huge difference in his sleep/behavior with this diet change? I've fed him 90% organic since he got on food and breastfed him until he was over the age of 1 (would have longer but we got pregnant when he was 9 months and I lost my milk soon after he was 1)

 

[Amylisa]

Well I'm no expert but I bet you will see a huge difference. Has he been having a lot of tantrums or anything like that? Mario was, every day. But since getting him off of gluten he is so much better. This past summer was very hard, he was screaming and crying so much and got upset over anything and everything. He has autism which I guess can be more severe than aspergers? I don't know much about that.

I've heard that some people who have trouble digesting lactose do much better with goat milk. It does have some casein in it but not nearly as much as cow's milk does. Mario has mostly almond milk, but I am not as strict on the milk as I am with the gluten. Gluten is also in oats and some other grains too. So just cause something is wheat free doesn't necessarily mean it's gluten free. I'm still learning and checking labels all the time!

You're ahead of the game already with having breastfed and giving your kids organic food! From what I've been reading, additives and food colorings, etc. can really bother kids who have issues like aspergers and autism. I am trying to do better with that.