Sodium Nitrate?

[monkeymommy]

DS has been having allergy/gluten issues...pimply/itchy rash around his nose & mouth, on his chest, etc; choking cough, itchy nose and ears, congestion, and something is causing him to have unusually emotional outbursts lately. The allergist was NO HELP, he told me that DS probably doesn't have food allergies, just intolerances...and they don't know what the mechanism is (in other words, not trying to find out what it IS, just want to torture him with a bunch more inconclusive skin prick tests ). I said I don't care WHAT you call it, he has a problem with alot of things and I want to find out how to make him feel better!

So far, he's gluten intolerant, has had reactions to iron supplements, seafood, almonds (refuses or spits out all other nuts & legumes), and soy. He doesn't do well with HF corn syrup, artificial colors, etc.

We've tried to eliminate all the allergens & gluten from his diet, and the only processed stuff he eats now is bacon & ham. Thinking of just going veg for all of us, but DH is so picky....sigh.

I was wondering if sodium nitrate might have something to do with DS's allergies and behavior? I know sodium benzoate has nasty effects on kids' behavior, but does anyone know more about the nitrates? It's the only thing I can think of. TIA!

[Chinese Pistache]

Nitrates are a chemical that can cause problems like you describe. The FAILSAFE and Feingold Diets both address that issue.

How does your dc do with corn? There are usually corn-derived ingredients in ham/bacon, like sodium or calcium lactate, sodium erythorbate, dextrose, or corn syrup.

Corn is very pervasive and difficult to avoid unless you know what to look for. Have you seen this list? http://www.cornallergens.com/list/co...ergen-list.php

Even if you're cooking from scratch, corn can be in enriched rice products, vanilla extract, baking powder, the wax on fruit/vegetables, and so on. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out.

If you're bfing, have you also cut out the foods that bother your lo?

[ellasmama2007]

nitrates/nitrites can be partly responsible for problems like adhd and allergies. they are chemicals that can really affect the brain and body in different ways, much like many of the food additives out there. could you maybe try organic meats for your family ( my dh is very picky too). he doesnt love organic stuff, but he tolerates it because it makes me happy.organic bacon and ham are definitely different, but still good.

[mtn.mama]

Beeler's is really good... if you can find it.

[monkeymommy]

Thanks! Forgot to mention that yes I'm still bfing, and have cut out everything he has, since I've found that I also react to the same things! Hindsight being 20/20, I now realize I've had problems all my life and no one ever seemed to notice when I was a kid. DH is even gluten intolerant, and his biscuts & gravy-cookin' family never realized it either.

Dextrose is something that really sets us off...I thought maybe it was from the gluten, since additives like that can also be derived from wheat....but maybe it IS the corn! DS's rash gets worse from drinking HFCS stuff, and was eating corn chips while we were in the allergists' the other day - he was really upset, had a full-on door-slamming tantrum after his test (can't blame him there! ). They didn't test for corn, but everything else he's had reactions to came back "negative" on the skin test (even though his chest broke out in mild hives?!) so I don't know WTH to think! grrr... I don't even want to take him back to that jack@$$, maybe a homeopath would be better.

Oh yeah - I think he may be allergic to dust and/or possibly pet dander (hope not, we all love our cat like another child!). The dust thing would suck, since we live in Nevada...next to a big sand lot. sigh.

About the uncured & organic meats - I've found some, but they're sooo expensive!! Though maybe that would encourage us to eat less meat, which can't be a bad thing. Any ideas on other safe forms of protein? What do you mamas do? We're just getting started on all this, and it's so frustrating, I sometimes wonder if I'm going out of my mind.:

Anyway, thanks again!!

[grisandole]

We are a gluten free household, and corn (particulary non-organic corn) will cause me to break out and be congested. Dairy, too.

I would stick with basic food ingredients (ie, nothing packaged)...and go organic when possible. For snack foods, rather than corn chips, try Lay's potato chips (sunflower oil, salt, and potatoes are the only ingredients). Cut up fruit/veggies and hard boiled eggs are good, too.

[ellasmama2007]

corn makes my dd hyper through the roof! we avoid it like the plague!
for proteins, i rotate legumes. i buy almost all organic anyway and try to buy as many types of legumes to rotate as poss. http://community.livejournal.com/par...1/1898199.html the 2nd grid is the joneja scale for allergic foods. it helps a lot though anyone can be allergic to anything. we eat everything it the nuts, seeds column from lentils dow, plus coconuts.hth!

[monkeymommy]

Yeah, corn is sounding pretty suspect...we don't do much dairy, maybe 1 glass of milk per day, and a little butter here & there, but that would be enough.

Looks like I pretty much have to make everything from scratch now...had a little episode with Van's wheat-free Mini-Waffles this morning, I forgot they have soy, and MAN was I sick. Aside from the soy, we did ok this morning...I just have to really watch what he's eating, seems like every other day I goof and give him something bad...no wonder the poor kid is miserable! Need to go through the pantry & fridge and clean out everything we're not supposed to eat!

We already do all fresh (or fresh-frozen) fruits & veggies, DS loves hard boiled egg whites...I usually go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's and get their potato chips, but I'm not sure how he does with sunflower seeds so we might have to skip the chips altogether. DS won't take kindly to that idea, thanks to my MIL, who began feeding him Cheetos and Coke behind my back at 9 months....even though he immediately up-chucked them on her bed. (instant karma! ) Now I know why he did, I knew that stuff was bad news!! We'll have to really watch out when she comes to visit next month...I'm going to make sure there isn't a crumb of what she'd call "normal" food in the house! And a list of off-limits foods posted on the fridge - my defense attorney might need it later. (kidding...hehe!)

Thanks again for the helpful pointers!

[Chinese Pistache]

This list was invaluable to me when we were starting out corn-free: http://corn-freefoods.blogspot.com/

[ellasmama2007]

"DS won't take kindly to that idea, thanks to my MIL, who began feeding him Cheetos and Coke behind my back at 9 months"

i would have filed a restraining order against her - im dead serious

[mtn.mama]

I'm with you on that one Ellasmama, 100%!!!

Monkeymommy- I think you'll find it helpful (and if you're like me, extremely depressing at first) to go through your house and liberate yourselves from the evil allergens to the best of your ability. It sucks at first, but then it does help the stress bleed away once you figure out what and how to cook again. Good luck!

[monkeymommy]

Originally Posted by ellasmama2007

"DS won't take kindly to that idea, thanks to my MIL, who began feeding him Cheetos and Coke behind my back at 9 months"

i would have filed a restraining order against her - im dead serious

: Yeah, I wanted to, but at the time we lived with her! Between that and her refusal to quit smoking in the house...well, you can see why we ran screaming off into the night...all the way from Ohio to Nevada!

[monkeymommy]

Originally Posted by mtn.mama

I'm with you on that one Ellasmama, 100%!!!

Monkeymommy- I think you'll find it helpful (and if you're like me, extremely depressing at first) to go through your house and liberate yourselves from the evil allergens to the best of your ability. It sucks at first, but then it does help the stress bleed away once you figure out what and how to cook again. Good luck!

Thanks! I went through the house and anything I could find, either threw out or gave to our neighbor. Except I forgot about the sodium lactate in the uncured bacon I bought him...back to Square 1 again! And from his reaction to a teensy bit of butter this morning, it looks like we'll definitely have to avoid dairy, too. So now, I'm going to make a list of all the foods to avoid, and all the foods we CAN eat...hopefully that will make life a little easier! Thank you again, mamas, for the helpful hints!!

[mommydancer]

It is hard at the beginning to learn all the names of the components and derivatives. Here are a couple links tht helped me:
http://www.foodallergy.org/

http://allergyadvisor.com/hidden2.htm

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/

http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/

I wish you luck.

[monkeymommy]

Ooooh, thank you! This looks like some great stuff. I'll have to let DH read some of the info on the fedupwithfoodadditives.info site...I swear he thinks I'm a nutcase when it comes to this stuff, so now I can show him and say, HA - Told you so!!!