Today we started a Multiple Food Elimination Diet. It's day one of seven.
Here's what we're not eating, the top 8 allergy foods, I believe.
Wheat
Corn
Eggs
Dairy
Sugar
Food Coloring/ Preservatives
Chocolate
Citrus
The goal is to see if the children's behavior or allergy symptoms improve by day 7. IF there is improvement, then I will reintroduce one allergy food at a time and watch how they respond.
I have to say that dairy is by far the hardest for me to give up. Well all of us probably.
Menu:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with peaches and honey, also tea with honey
Lunch: Carrots and hummus, organic refried beans (in a bowl), fruit, and juice (I bought juice because I was taking away milk and everything else)
Snack: Tahini cookies
Dinner: Carribbean Brown Rice and Beans (thanks Em!) and Spinach Salad with Strawberries
I pulled out all the good stuff today. I can't wait to see how tomorrow goes. :( The kids didn't really eat dinner, but I did cook it in a crockpot, so it was a little mushy. . .
We were all pretty grouchy today but I wasn't sure if it was bedcause of the diet or because the Gods of Urine were angry at us and I spent all day cleaning out the kid's infusion cabinet b/c Jaxon peed on it in the middle of the night.
Jaxon: Half day, had a cookie and popcorn so no diet until afternoon. Typical behavior, went to bed with melatonin
Asher: Asked for milk and nutella and bread. Mostly ate fruit and juice, a few carrots. Lounged on the couch all day complaining of a small cut on his finger (hope it's not infected)
Finn: Extra grouchy today, lots of yelling and fighting. Good thing hot sauce is on the diet :)
Me: Grouchy (maybe it's me not the food?) and nervous about if the kids will eat anything in the next 7 days. Cravings for me aren't so bad, though.
Mark: Thrilled with a new computer to watch football and beef jerky. Easy to please.
I'm keeping track of this mostly for me, so don't feel the need to comment unless you want to or have a great recipe to share!
My goal for this experiment is to see if there are 1 or 2 items we could eliminate in our diet to see big results. If that is not the case, then this will have been an experiment in child torture and perhaps healthy eating.
4 comments:
Not to make your life more difficult, but the big allergy for us -- and the one that affects mood the most -- is soy.
Soy is huge for us, too (only gluten is as bad). And some people who can't have soy can still have soy oil and soy lecithin, but my kids can't.
Just for reference, the top 8 allergens are:
Peanuts
Treenuts
Wheat
Dairy
Soy
Eggs
Fish
Shellfish
Sugar and food dyes can definitely affect mood, though. And as a side note, I would definitely eliminate all gluten, not just wheat, including using gluten-free oats.
Good luck, and if I can help with food suggestions or anything else, just ask! We haven't eliminated all the same things you're doing, but we've done a lot of them and I've gotten really good at substitutions and stuff.
If it helps, I found the first 2-3 days of any elimination diet were the worst. My anxiety was through the roof and I'm sure that affected Asher's behavior.
Keep up the good work, Mom!
Keep on keeping on :)
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