So, go with me here. I'm going to get personal. I mean really personal. Most of my life I have had awful belly aches. Mainly at night, mainly after I've laid down on the coach/floor/bed etc. I just assumed I am a gassy person (I told you, personal).
I exclusively breast fed Piper until she was 12 months old. At that point she started showing interest in eating solid foods so we let her eat a little of everything we were eating (a bit at a time to make sure she didn't have any major reactions). Fast forward to about 3 months ago and my little girl started waking up every other night for 1-3 hours a night and just bawling. I'd hold her and she'd arch her little back as far back as she could, she'd lay her head on my shoulder and rock her bottom back and forth, I'd rub her back in a counter-clock wise motion all of this in an effort to toot. We started noticing a major change in her personality (not in a good way) back in September and then the gas pains.
I had an allergy test done and it showed I had a major allergy to all things diary, white sugar, buckwheat, cranberries, bakers yeast, and chicken eggs. My amazing naturopath explained to me that this could be a major cause of my tummy trouble. I have never been so excited to know something was wrong! I can fix this!
I decided to take Piper to the Dr and have her allergy tested but it only came back that she had a major allergy to chicken eggs and a slight intolerance to dairy. Things we had already elliminated. When I met with her pediatrician he said she has classic signs of "Celiac Disease" (wheat belly, super distended, inconsistent weight gain, personality change & it all happened right after we started giving her human food). So he has referred us to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist Dr who will most likely be suggesting an endoscopy to confirm Celiac Disease. If this is indeed the case, this is a major change in how we live and eat. I am hopeful that it is something we can handle!
In the meantime, we are all eating Dairy Free, Dye Free and working on going completely gluten free. I'm getting a handle on the Dairy Free/Dye Free foods.
For those of you still reading this post, here are some links to some of my favorite foods that we are eating:
This is a delicious Banana & Berry Bread, I replaced the sugar with splenda (1:1 ratio), the flour with oat flour (which is GF), coconut oil in place of milk and almond milk (vanilla) in place of cows milk!
These are awesome German Pancakes (we did use green food dye for St. Patricks Day), we replaced the flour with oat flour, the butter with Earth's Best Vegan Butter, the eggs with this fancy little trick from PETA (1 egg = 2T water, 1T evoo & 1t baking powder, mix it together well and then add to dish), and almond milk in place of the cows milk. These German pancakes were so stinking good!
For these delicious homemade Peanut Butter Granola Bars we just had to substitute the chocolate chips for carob chips.
These amazing Protein Packed Energy Balls were simple and devoured in a matter of hours! We just used carob chips in place of the chocolate chips!
This Lemon Poppyseed Muffin recipe was a lot of work to convert but it was well worth it, holy moly they are good! We replaced the flour with oat flour, the sour cream with vegan sour cream, buttermilk with almond milk, the sugar with splenda and the eggs with that handy egg substitute from PETA
Speaking of amazing muffins, this Chocolate Chip Muffin was also a lot of work to convert but totally worth it. We just replaced the egg whites with the water+oil+ baking powder mix from PETA, the yogurt with soy yogurt, the sugar with splenda and the chocolate chips with carob chips
This is my favorite most delicious Chicken Avocado Salad EVER. Seriously. I just replaced the mayo with vegan mayo and then we devoured with with GF chips! Oh my word, so yummy!
We eat a lot of tacos since they are naturally gluten free (we just doing use cheese and we add vegan sour cream), we also eat chicken breast and salad a lot, and rice with hamburger (or turkey burger in our case). I feel like it's a lot of work, but worth it if our tummy's stop hurting and start working.
Our amazing Naturopath and the kids' Pediatrician, Dr. John Calcagno say it can take up to 12 weeks before we really see any results. So here is to praying we see results. I hope you all enjoy these recipes! Do you have any of your favorite recipes that you'd like to share?
I have Celiac Disease too, Amy, and let me tell you that if she has it and goes off of gluten, she will feel like a brand new person! It's literally miserable as an adult and I can't imagine how awful it must be for a little one. I hope that's your answer, because it's something that you can fix naturally without medication. Once you get used to the lifestyle change, it will become 2nd nature. There's so many good resources and products out there now for easy, tasty, gluten free substitutions. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWe're not gluten/dairy free but I find that when trying to cut out processed stuff the crock-pot is my best friend!! So easy to just throw in my protein and veggies and have dinner ready later on. Especially on days when the idea of just grabbing a box or something out of the freezer is so appealing. I try to have the stuff ready in the fridge to go in the night before so I can just throw it in and leave it on low all day.
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