GF/DF/EF/PF/CF and now trying to to do Feingold - HELP!!

[MomToEmerson]

OK, so we already did prick testing and found out we needed to eliminate wheat/gluten, dairy, eggs, peanuts, cashews and I already knew about strawberries. But we are still on a roller coaster with my son. He is sweet and attentive, then he's licking the furniture, climbing the walls, biting, screeching and obviously completely wigged out even though he didn't have any of his trigger foods. So now I think we're going to try Feingold... I can't afford the materials right now so have been reading on the internet as much as possible. I have a house full of things we'd found as alternatives to his allergens and now I am looking at them like poisons - bottles of apple juice, coconut oil, coconut milk, almond milk, rice chex, etc. I just made him a taco with a corn tortilla and beans only. he's hungry and I need to feed him but I think corn tortillas are a no no? What the heck do I feed my son?? I have been trying to find a way to make pancakes with the GF pancake mix and egg replacer but nothing I have tried is edible. I recently caved and added one egg to the mix and they were great, but I am worried about giving him any eggs since we KNOW he is allergic. I am just at my wits end about feeding him breakfast - plus he's a fairly picky eater. I get the nitrite/nitrate free bacon from the health food store sometimes but that is expensive and he can eat 2 packages in a sitting!! he loves meat, but only with ketchup and that is a no no on Feingold. Anyone else dealing with Feingold under such restricted circumstances? What do you feed a picky toddler???

ETA: I forgot to add the soy allergy.

[mamafish9]

My son reacted very strongly to salicylates, so at one point were were off sals, dairy, gluten, soy, corn, potatoes. You have my sympathies!

First off, prick tests can be wrong. If he can eat eggs with no reaction, it sounds like he *may* not be allergic to eggs. I'd see if you can get a more definitive answer on that, because that would be a really nice addition to a limited diet.

Second, have you tried food journaling? What does your son eat in the few hours before he has these crazy episodes? I'd journal for a week or two and see if you can see any relationships (either specific foods or high salicylates foods).

So basically, I'd take it slow, making sure you're eliminating the right foods. Full Feingold with all your other food avoidances will be very challenging, but it also may not be necessary.

If it's salicylates, we went low sals for a while, but added in magnesium, molybdenum, and a little B6. It took a couple of months, but my son now handles salicylates well. You might try an Epsom salts bath when your son hits a crazy patch, and see if that helps.

[deminc]

We did the Feingold in a very similar way, but using it as a starting point and then cutting further and further until it was like your list. It actually solved ds2's problems, but we're still not sure what we can add back since his eczema will flare up within a week of deviating from it (goodness knows if it's salicylates or soy or flours with nut traces or yeast overgrowth??). I'll definitely be looking into Mamafish's suggestions!!

I think Feingold is not an expensive diet. GFCF is much more expensive if you are trying to use replacements! We basically have a very simple diet built around chicken soups and rice, and meat and potato stews. I was fortunate that ds2 likes soup, and the allowed vegetables, and he could eat potatoes. We had roasted potatoes in between meals, and I use a lot of flaxseed oil over rice noodles, and potatoes so that they will not be too dry without sauces. Roast chicken meals with celery/cabbage salads.

The hardest was giving up fruits. We gradually worked an occasional fruit back, and we have expanded the vegetable list, but still do go back to the very basics whenever ds2 has a flare-up. It never fails to help. It is a boring diet, no doubt about it, but it can be very useful.

[changingseasons]

Before you start a complicated diet- are you keeping a food journal to see if you can figure out his other trigger foods? Have you tried just a simple rotation diet to help pinpoint triggers? Basically, only eat each food every 4 days- so if you eat beans on Monday, don't eat beans again until Friday. It sometimes makes symptom patterns a little easier to spot. It's easiest to make a simple menu/plan for the 4 days. For example, pick 4 meats that you think are safe, 4 veggies, 4 fruits, 4 oils, etc. On day 1 eat the first in each group, day 2 eat the second, etc. Easiest to do this when you cook whole foods from scratch, otherwise you have to take into consideration every single ingredient in a packaged food.

I've found that waffles are a lot tastier with limited ingredients than pancakes. I make buckwheat waffles with just fresh ground buckwheat groats (cheaper than buying the flour!), sea salt, oil, and water. As a pancake, that recipe is boooooring, but waffles- not too bad.

[Crazybean]

As far as breakfast, you can do gluten free, soy free toast with almond butter and jelly (the bread is a lot more expensive but he would eat it slowly)... or, banana vanilla french toast or banana pancakes (both use the banana instead of egg in the recipe.
What about gluten free pasta with sauce? Cinnamon carrots, hummus with chips?

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by Crazybean

As far as breakfast, you can do gluten free, soy free toast with almond butter and jelly (the bread is a lot more expensive but he would eat it slowly)... or, banana vanilla french toast or banana pancakes (both use the banana instead of egg in the recipe.
What about gluten free pasta with sauce? Cinnamon carrots, hummus with chips?

I would definitely NOT recommend a nut butter to a kid who is allergic to peanuts and cashews!

[Crazybean]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

I would definitely NOT recommend a nut butter to a kid who is allergic to peanuts and cashews!

This is true.. I was going on what I eat since I'm allergic to pecans and peanuts.

[lastrid]

/

Neither peanuts nor cashews are truly nuts though.

[briansmama]

I'd keep it as simple as possible- meats, rice, and the fruits/veggies he can have. Lots of smoothies for snacks.

Have you checked out the GAPS diet? I started with Feingold as well, but found the GAPS diet really helped us heal so we could eat more foods again.
http://www.gapsdiet.com/GAPS_Outline.html

It's pretty limited initially, but I found that after healing my children became less picky because they were able to tolerate food better in general (bloating, gas, consitpation, etc can make you a lot less enthusiastic about eating anything).

[briansmama]

also wanted to add that our naturopath advises all children to stay away from soy anyways, especially boys.

[mamafish9]

I know some people who healed IgG intolerances with GAPS, but I don't think it addresses IgE? The OP was talking prick testing, so I assume these are IgE allergies.

[JaneS]

Ditto rotation diet and journalling recommendations. Those were the only things that finally uncovered salicylate intolerance in my DS back in the day where no one mentioned it in this forum!

Almonds are ridiculously high in salicylates. Sunbutter from sunflower seeds may be a good alternative b/c it is nut free as well. Cinnamon is crazy high too, stay far far away if you suspect a sal intolerance. Bacon is high in amines, another food chemical, and also spices are very high in salicylates as well.

These sites might be helpful. Sue Dengate's FAILSAFE diet books can sometimes be ordered from library and go further than Feingold.

www.salicylatesensitivity.com
www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.com
www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info

GAPS/SCD didn't work for my salicylate sensitive DS, he did better adding low food chemical grains and potatoes back to his diet, plus the right probiotic.

"Flax seed goo" or gelatin worked when we were avoiding eggs:

Using Flax Seed:
This recipe is every bit as good as real eggs for use in your favorite baked goods. For each egg needed, place in blender:

1 Heaping Tablespoon of whole organic Flax seed, blend until it becomes a fine meal. Add 1/4 cup cold water blend 2-3 minutes until thickened and has the consistency of eggs.

Each 1/4 cup of Flax seed mixture will replace one egg in baking

Using gelatin:
Before starting recipe for cookies, cake etc...
Combine 1 tsp unflavored gelatin with 3 Tbsp cold water and 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp boiling water. This mixture will substitute for 1 egg in a recipe.

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by lastrid

Neither peanuts nor cashews are truly nuts though.

except they are all cross contaminated. My DS is allergic to hazelnuts but never had them in his life... except in cross contaminated Bob's Red Mill GF flour.

[ASusan]

I've done flax seed goo egg replacer a little differently.

1 T ground flax meal (I store it in the freezer)
3 T hot water

let sit 10 minutes

If I do this first while starting a recipe, it's ready by the time I get to the egg part.