Food allergies/Celiacs

[Lindsey H]

Just wondering who else is dealing with food allergies or Celiacs, either yourself or your children. My 3 yo ds has several allergies: wheat, corn, dairy, soy, peanuts, tree nuts and possibly seafood, among others. I have found a lot of recipes on Celiac websites. My question is, what are your favorite recipes, websites and books/cookbooks? Also, any tips and wisdom would be appreciated. I have learned a lot in the almost 6 mos since he was diagnosed. I have a friend at church with Celiacs and many food allergies. Her two kids also have numerous allergies. I don't know what I would have done without her wisdom.

[Jan in CA]

I can't imagine how hard it must be to feed your son. I don't know of any recipes, but will keep my eyes peeled when I'm looking around.

[Sewing Angel]

Oh Lindsey! What a challenge. I used to work in a Dr's office and we had a child with similar allergies (the Dr was allergy and asthma specialist) This was 18 years or so ago and things were not labeled as well as they are now. So many medications for kids are made with these things as a base. Would you have access to a Dietitian or Nutritionist? It would be nice to find one that has experience with this. It sounds like you already have a good handle on it.
Angel

[Nikkilc]

i am allergic to all nuts but Brazil nuts i cant even have there oils on my skin, amazing how many cleaners can have nut oils in.
my daughter is allergic to dairy very severely.
i just use goats milk / goats butter and goats cream she didn't like the yogurts .
i pretty much just adapt all recipes by trial and error.
cook almost entirely from scratch
its not easy dealing with an allergies but it can be done
good luck

[McKnitty]

My heart goes out to you. It is one thing to deal with an issue yourself, but quite another if it is one of your children. It is wonderful that you've found a friend who can help you.

Just in the past year I've started having reactions to all dairy products. I thought at first I was lactose intolerant, but it seems to be much more than that. I went to see my doctor but he said there wasn't anything he could do for me, and that I should just stay away from dairy products. That is easier said than done. Thank goodness for food labels because I had no idea how many foods use dairy products.

This has really changed my life. I get very nervous when I go out to eat at a restaurant or in a social setting such as a party. I always ask if there are dairy products in the food, but I don't always get the correct answer and end up getting sick anyway. I'm cooking at home more so I can control the ingredients.

I have exchanged pm's with another KH member who told me about Amy's Kitchen products. They have several dairy free items that I buy. You might check out the website www.amyskitchen.com/ to see if there is anything there that would be a good fit for your son.

[Mariblue]

Just wondering who else is dealing with food allergies or Celiacs, either yourself or your children. My 3 yo ds has several allergies: wheat, corn, dairy, soy, peanuts, tree nuts and possibly seafood, among others. I have found a lot of recipes on Celiac websites. My question is, what are your favorite recipes, websites and books/cookbooks? Also, any tips and wisdom would be appreciated. I have learned a lot in the almost 6 mos since he was diagnosed. I have a friend at church with Celiacs and many food allergies. Her two kids also have numerous allergies. I don't know what I would have done without her wisdom.

Yep, when my son was three we had him allergy tested, and found out that he was allergic to gluten, dairy, eggs, corn, beef, bananas, and a whole slew of other foods. He was delayed in several areas of his development, and when we removed all the food allergens, he improved so dramatically that it was simply a miracle.
He's 8 now, so it's been about five years that we've been dealing with this. As a result of my son's allergy testing, my husband also got tested, and he is allergic to wheat as well. And in addition, so is my dad, which means that my poor kids have the gluten thing on both sides of their family. I have not been tested, but I know that I feel way better without the gluten.
I have found that the gluten free gourmet books by Bette Hagman are fabulous (I own the dessert one). And there are a couple of books called Special Diets for Special Kids (one and two) by Lisa Lewis that are also really good to have on hand.
I find that the store bought gluten free baking mixes tend to be too expensive for us, so we usually cook everything from scratch, and get the mixes as a special treat every now and then.
Some gluten free blogs I've found are: Pig in the Kitchen, gluten a go go, and A Year of Crockpotting (scroll down and on the left under labels, you'll see a gluten free choice). If you're on Ravelry, there is a gluten-free group there as well.
It gets easier as you learn all the ins and outs. Also, something to possibly keep in mind, as my son's gut healed from the damage done by the gluten, he was able to tolerate more foods. He can have corn now (and I found corn to be almost impossible to get away from), and grapes, and limited dairy. So it's gotten easier for us. And it's so worth it, seeing the improvement it made in him-I'll never feed our family gluten again!
Ok, so we're always searching for a better bread recipe-but the pig in the kitchen blog has a really great looking recipe that I haven't tried yet. A quick tip-gluten free baked goods are always better when baked fresh, they tend to get hard and stale after about a day, so I've learned not to double recipes, and simply to do the baking more often.
Feel free to pm me with any questions you might have!

[jess_hawk]

Sorry I don't have any recipes for you, but I did have a roommate last semester with multiple food allergies, the same as your son. I also have a cousin who has severe nut allergies and allergies to eggs, so unfortunately those are the recipes I know. I also have a couple of wheat free recipes (celiac coworker) but they include peanut butter, corn, or dairy.
One good thing about him being so young with all of this is that he will grow up used to dealing with it. I'm not saying its not going to be tough, just he'll be used to checking whatever he checks and will never develope a taste for those things. My brother developed an allergy to fish a couple of years ago (he's 18 now), and he LOVES fish. He's gotten into trouble more than once by forgetting to check whether the chicken was fried in the same oil as the fish. The people I know who grew up with food allergies check automatically.

[starburst]

I worked with the Gluten Intolerance Group at a summer camp and their website was very helpful.

http://www.gluten.net/recipes/

that group is pretty amazing. They have a program where they can help pay for children to go to summer camp and then they provide them with food for the session so they can still be involved in a normal camping experience

[Knitting_Guy]

I can't really contribute anything useful here but wanted to say that I fully understand how challenging that can be. I've suffered from IBS since I was a kid and have to be very careful about what I eat or drink. Dairy is especially bad for me.

Good luck and hopefully he'll outgrow it as many children do.

[Carrie218]

I'm really curious about the current state of allergy awareness. My niece is severely allergic to peanuts and when we are out together, I have to keep the syringe available in case she goes into shock.

However, when I was a child (40+ years ago), my parents were told I was allergic to wheat and cow dairy. I was raised on rice and goat milk.

But -- and this is the big question -- there was a point in my teens when I mistakingly ate something with wheat and realized I was fine. Then I sampled some cow milk; no seizures! Now I have NO allergies whatsoever and it seriously makes me wonder about the severity of allergies in children and if studies are being done about growing out of allergies as I have.