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Elimination Diet-Need Snack Ideas For 19 Month Old DD

610 views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Severine 
#1 ·
(Cross Posted in Nutrition as well)

We had our 2nd visit with the new naturopath today to try to solve her problems of frequent fluid in her ears and asthma. She's under chiropractic care in tandem with this (they're a husband-wife team) but today we got the dietary suggestions to try. Basically, we're eliminating a lot of stuff....

*Foods prepared with the following oils: sunflower, corn, soy, peanut, safflower, and canola
*Sweetened foods and beverages (we don't do sweetened beverages...but I'm wondering if this means no honey/molasses/agave nectar in muffins and breads since we do rely on that as snacks
: )
*And if none of the above work, avoid dairy for 3 weeks (we're waiting on this because yogurt is a HUGE love of DD's, as well as cheese, and we just got in a 5 lb block of raw cheddar cheese that I really don't think I should eat by myself
) (BTW, DD does not drink milk due to a lactose sensitivity - she only has raw milk cheese or organic yogurt for dairy...)

We're supposed to use olive, sesame, and flax oils. Eat foods high in quercetin (onions-she hates, garlic-she hates, apples-she loves, squash-I hate, broccoli-iffy, spinach-she'll eat it, and parsley). And ensure an adequate intake of protein - though she is not really fond of any kind of meat and I am not fond of adding soy products to her diet to make up the difference.

So.... where does this leave me?????

We already do fresh fruit for snacks. Mostly bananas and apples since she loves them, but I add in kiwi or oranges, sometimes even pears, when the prices are right. And strawberries and blueberries when they're in season (which they are not right now).

She is NOT fond of veggies most of the time. I can get her to eat spinach by making spinach nuggets with them (which include egg and raw parmesan cheese). Sometimes she'll eat broccoli but only if I hide it in mac & cheese. She may eat a carrot occasionally, but usually throws them to the dog. And I can't even get her to try salad greens, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, etc.

A normal day WAS:
*breakfast: oatmeal (real)/homemade whole grain pancakes/scrambled eggs & a banana with a cup of Organic Oat Milk
*snack: applesauce or apple & organic cereal bar
*lunch: mac & cheese/sunflower seed butter sandwich/tahini sandwich/
occasional Beechnut meals (not since I became a SAHM though)/grilled cheese, with maybe some freeze dried fruit or cheese (depending on the meal)
*snack: raisins & organic yogurt
*snack: organic graham crackers or homemade healthy muffins (no refined sugar)
*dinner: pasta with sauce/baked mac & cheese/spinach nuggets/maybe whatever we're eating with an attempted veggie (which is usually thrown to the dog)

Help!!!! What can I make her that she can snack on in between meals... and actually, any meal suggestions? I don't eat legumes (YUCK!) but I imagine she could use some help from them... though I can't get her to eat chili, which is the only thing I make with legumes, so I'm not even sure if she'll eat them either.

ETA: I wanted to add that we try to include as much natural or organic food as possible in DD's diet. She's only had fast food once, and that was an emergency situation that I don't plan on duplicating. We avoid refined sugar and white flour. So we're already making some pretty healthy choices (please remember the above examples are not all-inclusive of her diet). But we have a lot to deal with considering she is a very picky toddler who used to, but no longer does, eat just about anything.
 
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#2 ·
www.pecanbread.com may be of some help.

when you take out the allergens, they will often start eating a wider variety of food. in my experience the kids who have issues usually crave the food that is making them sick. Lendon Smith also states this in his book Feed Your Kids Right.

it will be rough for a few days but she will come around I promise.

ear problems and dairy go hand-in-hand.

for a snack that is sweet w/o sweetener, we use frozen bananas. They are VERY sweet. I blend them up with coconut milk and fresh fruit. they make YUMMY smoothies. You can also throw a kale leaf in there.

For dinner dessert or a snack you can bake apples and pears with just a sprinkle of cinnamon. That is VERY yummy wholesome and simple.

Have you roasted carrots? they get super sweet. What about sweet potato? I sometimes mix half baked sweet potato w/ half applesauce, throw on a sprinkle of cinnamon. my kids love it.

protein...will she eat meatballs? You can get ground turkey and even add shredded carrots and spinach to them. We call them confetti balls.
 
#3 ·
She really way too young to have lactose problems, unless she has secondary lactose intolerance, which is caused by a damaged gut. Right there and the fact that she loves cheese and won't eat anything unless it's sprinkled w/ cheese makes me want to say that I personally think the dairy is the culprit. I would cut that out NOW personally. You may find she becomes a new person who will eat a variety of foods after a few weeks of being dairy free. You can freeze cheese, btw. I just ordered a 2.5lb block of raw cheddar that I'm planning on cutting into a week's worth size chunks and freezing.

Snack ideas: beans. My toddlers have all liked eating beans, especially black beans. I give them either canned or homemade. I just rinse them off so that they're not quite so messy and are easier to pick up. Frozen blueberries, they're not only tasty and nutritious, but great for little teethers. Slices of fruit, steamed vegetables, chunks of baked or fried potatoes, baked or fried sweet potatoes, avocadoes. My kids love spinach cooked in chicken or turkey broth served over mashed potatoes. I use kosher salt on my veggies, it's sweeter than regular salt. (I just read CHanley's post. It's funny that we're saying similar things!
) I also put grated carrots and other veggies in spaghetti sauce.
 
#4 ·
You don't have to give up yogurt to give up dairy--you just have to switch to soy yogurt. Silk is the brand I like best (though some people like Whole Soy and O'Soy, I really prefer Silk.) You can buy the big tub of it in vanilla or plain at some health food stores and Whole Foods, and that brings the price closer in line with cow milk yogurt.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the suggestions!

I"m still not totally convinced on the dairy... she loves it, but she only gets a small portion of cheese and yogurt daily and I would think she would be having a larger reaction than the occasional wheezing and ear infections that don't even bother her. Plus with what I've read about raw milk, it's supposed to be far healthier for you (and far more tolerated) than pasteurized milk. I did have someone else mention wheat as a possible culprit, so we're going to try reducing that first and see if there's an improvement. It's hard to tell if there are immediate results since the asthma usually crops up when she's sick, and she's not right now...and the ear infections, well, we usually don't even know about them because she doesn't complain. It's often something discovered because we were in the ped's office for some other reason.

We don't do soy... I do not feel it's a healthful product due to the phytoestrogens. So I appreciate the other suggestions that were given.

Wendy - I may have exaggerated the issue with the cheese. She will eat other things, it's just she loves food covered in cheese. I'm much the same way. But we still limit how much she has.
 
#8 ·
I totally understand that reducing will not remove the effects, but it's a step for me. I have a cabinet full of wheat pasta, I bought a bread machine last month to be healthier by making our own bread... and I recently became a SAHM, so throwing everything out of our cabinets and starting fresh is not a monetary option. I stocked up on staples at the time for us. Reducing is a start in foreign territory for me since I've always been told that whole wheat is super healthy for you. And yes, I know that there will not be immediate effects. There won't be anyway. It will be more of a wait and see if she doesn't get sick thing since that's when these problems manifest: they're not visible in daily life and she never complains when she does have an ear infection so I don't know unless she's in the office for something else and they come across it accidentally.

Thank you for your help.
 
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