by April | Apr 2, 2010 | Celiac, Food Allergies, Gluten
I unlocked a new piece of the puzzle with my son’s allergies this week. It’s taken a long time to get this particular piece. He’s been having a flare up with his tummy lately (intestinal bleeding), and we couldn’t figure out what it was. We’ve been avoiding gluten for a year, and eggs and all dairy for about nine months. We’ve read books and articles, but there didn’t seem to be an answer. So I’ve been praying that God would lead us to what might be causing this. His biggest reaction happened around his birthday. We’d had hot dogs (all organic, no preservatives, no nitrates, really expensive ones), and lunch meat (gluten free, dairy free). His stomach was upset, but the ingredients listed in these were safe. And then our local grocer was out of the regular chicken we buy. So we switched brands to Tyson. He then went on to have the worst reaction we’ve seen. I hopped on Celiac.com web page to see if anyone else was having these problems, and several people mentioned bad reactions after eating Tyson chicken breasts, but other people were very dismissive to them, saying the chicken was gluten free, so it must have been something else.
I went to Foster Farms (our reg. brand) web page and read about their chickens. I read that they feed their chickens corn, and sometimes the corn would turn their skin, and even feathers yellow. Something clicked in my head. If corn can turn their skin yellow–then it must be going throughout their system. Like when we take vitamin B to keep away mosquitoes in the summer. It’s not like the mosquitoes bite us and then pass on the word, “she tastes bad, don’t go there.” They smell the vitamins in our skin. SO, follow me for a second, if our intestines are digesting little bits of food and sending them throughout our system, it makes sense that some of that will end up in our muscle tissue. SO, if chickens (Tyson chicken in particular are being fed “wheat and other vegetable matter”), then some of that is going to end up on our plate.
I’ve discovered that a lot of animal feed contains wheat, barley, oats (that have often been contaminated by wheat), dairy and egg. I also discovered several sites speaking to the issue and suggesting Celiac patients and autistic spectrum people not eat animals that are on a grain diet, and to watch out for eggs and dairy because of reactions. Not many people seem to know about this, I sure didn’t.
Since we’ve eliminated Tyson chicken and lunch meat, his stomach has calmed down. I’ll now have to check on other animal products–another thing on our checklist, but that’s okay. He’s better, and that’s what is important. I’m so thankful we’ve solved this part of the puzzle.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
by April | Mar 26, 2010 | Food Allergies
My husband picked up a copy of this magazine for me. It can sometimes feel like a daily struggle to feed our family with the food allergies we have. Anyway, after reading LIVING WITHOUT I was really impressed by the articles. It was lovely to see advertisements from food companies that are making gluten free/dairy free/egg free items. And even though we’ve been on this road for a year now, and I’ve read A LOT, there was new information here. For instance, the number of people with Celiac disease has risen to 1 in every 100 people. AND they’ve discovered a direct link of seven chromosomes to people with diabetes. So much so, they now suggest that people that have diabetes be tested for Celiac disease. They’ve found that 1 in 10 diabetes sufferers have Celiac disease. This is a double whammy for those folks–increasing the risk of organ damage if one or both go untreated.
If you suffer from food allergies like we do, then you know reading a magazine just for one type of allergy, or a cookbook that focuses on just food allergy, it can feel a bit..frustrating. You read it and say, “well, yes, you’ve left out the gluten, but you still have eggs and dairy in there!” Of course, they don’t mean to be insulting–but it adds insult to injury. This magazine seems very sensitive to that.
We also found out we were chosen to do taste testing for ENJOY LIFE FOODS. They make awesome allergy free foods. So we were really excited about that. My box of fun hasn’t arrived yet, but I’ll let you know what I think. The kids are really looking forward to it 🙂 and to be honest, so am I!
by April | Mar 3, 2010 | Food Allergies, Food Product Sugestions, Gluten
I mentioned I’d be sharing about our quest for allergy safe foods for us on occasion. It’s a challenge to find our SOLID information from companies. It’s like they don’t want to commit all the way. Very frustrating for people like me who want the answers clearly written in stone! So, I contacted Shirataki Company about their products because a friend recommended them. It took two phone calls to get the answer, but they are gluten free and vegan, so we can eat them. I haven’t tried them out on my son yet-they are a bit crunchy and do have just the slightest touch of a tofu flavor. Very slight, though. I haven’t eaten them with any Italian sauces, but I did make an Asian soup and they were quite good with that.
Also, I contacted Cadbury, who make a variety of candies and (surprisingly enough) cough drops. This is what they had to say :
“Our company complies with all applicable labeling regulations by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies in the U.S. In addition, we have implemented an internal food allergen management policy, pursuant to which we have undertaken the labeling of any known allergens in the following categories: cereals (containing gluten and products of these including wheat, rye, barley, triticale, spelt, kamut, and oats, but not corn, rice, sorghum, or buckwheat), crustacea (including shrimp, prawns, crab, lobster, and crayfish), mollusks (including oysters, clams, scallops, and mussels), eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, tree nuts, sesame seeds, and sulfites (greater than 10 mg/kg). Accordingly, we continuously assess our products and update supplier information in order to make new or existing labels accurately reflect the presence of the listed allergens.”
They, for some reason, won’t go so far as to put that info on the package in the form of “gluten free” or “vegan”, but I think if more people asked for it, they might.
by April | Feb 19, 2010 | Celiac, Encouragement, Food Allergies, Gluten
So, I recently read a book about gluten allergies, The G Free Diet by Elizabeth Hasselbeck . Even though we’ve been going down this road, making our home an allergy-free domain, I was very surprised by some things she had to say. It was well written, so if you are wondering if it’s worth buying, I’d do so-if it’s for you, or if you want to empathize better with someone in your family that suffers from food allergies. But not only that, she got me looking at areas of my house I never thought to look at. Like wooden spoons and rolling pins. And cutting boards that have been used prior for wheat and cheese items. And colanders–you really can’t get them all the way clean. Needless to say, we’ve spent some cash replacing old items with a lot of new stuff lately.
So I picked up this food packet to feed a little water pet my son recently got and read the ingredients: made with wheat. Crud. My eyes snapped down to the cat food. No, it’s a grain free version…but it is made with eggs. CRUD part two. I occasionally say “hey, son, would you feed the cats?” Now I always have him wash his hands–that’s just healthy–but it only takes a miniscule amount to hurt him. And if you’ve never looked at boy’s fingernails, they get dirty just sitting still. I mean, I never asked my daughter to go clean her fingernails, not once that I remember. HOWEVER, my son, who might not leave the house all day, will turn up with the most disgusting gray matter under his nails. He’s like a dirt magnet.
It’s a hard thing to feel like the world is out to get you. Pantene shampoo just introduced a new line of healthy hair products made with wheat protein–their commercial made me groan. We are discovering that it comes in soap, lotions, hair spray. And don’t lick those envelopes–that sticky glue comes from wheat. And yesterday I learned that sugar alcohols, like sorbitol and mannitol that are found in sugar-free products whose alcohol content can be made from rye (gluten) or corn. So there’s another label ingredient we’ll have be diligent to call on.
I’ve felt pretty overwhelmed lately, as you can imagine. My son is going through a flare up, and despite our diligence, we are at a loss as to what is ‘getting’ him. So, I pray for peace in all circumstances. These verses are a comfort, I hope they will be to you, too.
Psalm 116: 1-2 I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.
Romans 8: 26-30 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
by April | Feb 11, 2010 | Celiac, Food Allergies, Gluten
I’ve been thinking about blogging about our food recovery for some time. I didn’t really know where to start with that, but thinking about it certainly isn’t getting it done. So, here’s to digging in! I’ve made separate categories to the side for easy subject access. I’ll share about companies that are friendly and helpful, and I might warn you of those that aren’t (in ways of suggesting you might call them and ask them to be). Mostly, this is a food blog to help and encourage–to let you know if you are struggling, I’m there too.
If you live in a household with a food allergy/sensitivity, then you know what a challenge that can be. Food isn’t something we can avoid altogether–we need it. And when you have people in the house that DON’T have that particular allergy, then you know you can’t be exclusive with food. There has to be a safety zone, there has to be compromise.
My son has Celiac disease which means he can’t eat gluten. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, barely and spelt. It can also be found in oats due to shared machinery during milling. And it’s in places you would never guess like soaps, lotions, and even some pop. He is also allergic to eggs and all dairy products. When he ingests any of these food items, he experiences intestinal bleeding. I struggle with similar foods as he does, as does my daughter (although she can eat gluten). My husband has it narrowed down to squashes and seafood.
We all have our challenges. We’ve all had to grieve our losses on different levels. For some of us, the kids primarily, it’s harder than others. Much harder. We don’t live in a ‘safe’ world for food allergies. We’ve had to give up eating out–restaurants are NOT safe unless they are an entirely gluten free/diary free/egg free dedicated kitchen (and we haven’t found one that is yet). So life takes much more planning than it used to. We can’t just pop over to a friend’s house without packing safe snacks, or bringing our own meals.
So, over time, I’ll add to this category. I’ll post about discoveries I’ve made, so that maybe, if you are in a challenge like ours, you can learn from us too.
I unlocked a new piece of the puzzle with my son’s allergies this week. It’s taken a long time to get this particular piece. He’s been having a flare up with his tummy lately (intestinal bleeding), and we couldn’t figure out what it was. We’ve been avoiding gluten for a year, and eggs and all dairy for about nine months. We’ve read books and articles, but there didn’t seem to be an answer. So I’ve been praying that God would lead us to what might be causing this. His biggest reaction happened around his birthday. We’d had hot dogs (all organic, no preservatives, no nitrates, really expensive ones), and lunch meat (gluten free, dairy free). His stomach was upset, but the ingredients listed in these were safe. And then our local grocer was out of the regular chicken we buy. So we switched brands to Tyson. He then went on to have the worst reaction we’ve seen. I hopped on Celiac.com web page to see if anyone else was having these problems, and several people mentioned bad reactions after eating Tyson chicken breasts, but other people were very dismissive to them, saying the chicken was gluten free, so it must have been something else.
