[MyLittleWonders]

We are going to start a 30 day (or more) gluten (and possibly grains entirely) elimination for the whole family. I'm wondering if anyone here is gluten or grain free (I can't find any old threads though I'm pretty sure they exist), and also if you found you needed to supplement yourself or your children when you eliminated grains. We currently only supplement them with cod liver oil and occassionally magnesium. Otherwise, we try to just give them a lot of real food - raw milk, grass-fed beef, fresh fruits and veggies. But, they usually have at least one or two servings of grain a day (whole wheat bread or such ... and grains are the one area we aren't very "TF" with). We don't like the idea of synthetic supplementation of vitamins, but I'm wondering about them getting enough B vitamins and possibly iron. Any suggestions? (Oh and they aren't terribly picky, but I'm not thinking something like nutritional yeast would go over too well.)

 

[Panserbjorne]

milk has plenty of B vitamins. Iron can be found in SO many places too, beef, greens, molasses etc. If you weren't doing dairy I might think about B vitamins, but otherwise I think you'd be fine!

 

[Village Mama]

I have been grain free for over a year now and I dont supplement. The boys have been gluten free for over two years and they takeCLO and a multi every day.

 

[MyLittleWonders]

Thanks! Out of curiosity Village Mama, what multi do they take?

 

[Village Mama]

Shoot. I wish I could have been more thorough with my first post.( time for long posts isnt always available!) We have used different multis... always the additive, colour, gluten free ones at the health food store. Much better than regular multis, but we dont go for anything really fancy( best we can afford but we dont order the best of the best!). Not TF. but I have been giving my littlest guy a tablespoon of organic blackstrap molasses in his milk for some extra iron (he can be picky... I will mix up a VEGA smoothie here and there for an extra boost. He is 3 3/4 and barely 30 pounds )

 

[kdmama33]

I'm not Village Mama

, but ...

I've been looking at the Brainchild Nutritionals multis. They are EXPENSIVE, but they are free of wheat, gluten, dairy, casein, yeast, eggs, corn, soy, refined sugars, artifical sweeteners, colors and flavors. They are Feingold approved, too. According to the website, "every effort has been taken to eliminate any significant sources os natural salicylates, phenols and benzoates." They also don't contain synthetic vitamin A.

I've spent a lot of time researching these multis over the last few days, and I'm pretty impressed. Like I said, they are expensive, but I have ordered some and I'm hoping they will be worth the money.

 

[Gale Force]

Don't serve the milk with the meat if you are worried about iron. I think you should be fine.

You might also keep the corn in their diets and cut it out in yours if you can. They might rebel too much if it's grain free. My son would.

 

[nylaboo]

I am GF and do take B vits (because I am actually deficient) but I take Standard Process which is a whole-food vitamin (no synthetics). This brand has to be purchased through an ND or other professional, but they are supposed to be the best and my ND swears by them. I can tell the difference right away when I run out and don't get more. I also do CLO and a few others on occasion.

 

[MyLittleWonders]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gale Force Don't serve the milk with the meat if you are worried about iron. I think you should be fine. You might also keep the corn in their diets and cut it out in yours if you can. They might rebel too much if it's grain free. My son would.

John and I were debating the merits of grain free versus gluten free, and corn was our big hang-up, especially for the boys. So, I think we are doing just that ... they may have corn (and rice and buckwheat), but in small amounts (I don't want to o.d. on the corn/rice because it's the only "option" if that makes sense), but John and I are aiming for grain free. I told him it'll be like our 30 day period when we did The Maker's Diet 2 years ago. Actually this time should be easier because the rest of our diet has evolved so much than 2 years ago (then we still had one foot in the mainstream side of food

).

Kdmama33 (and I've been meaning to pm you back

), thanks for the info on Brainchild Nutritionals ... being FG approved, not having any of the other yucks, *and* not containing synthetic A sounds wonderful! I am going to google them and bookmark them incase we do end up going with any supplementation. Right now it seems like they would need it ... my otherwise eat-anything children have morphed into some extremely picky people - Hello, it's simply chicken with some homemade alfredo sauce, broccoli, and a raw milk/fresh strawberry milkshake for goodness sakes ... *all* things that you otherwise LIKE to eat!

 

[kdmama33]

I have the pickiest child on the planet, and now his little sister is starting to copy him ... just because she can. She's always been a fantastic eater, loving pretty much every "healthy" food I put in front of her, and suddenly she's pulling out the "I don't like that" before even tasting a bite of her favorite foods, simply because she hears her brother do it all. the. time. So I hear you there!

No worries about the PM.

Life is hectic!

 

[MyLittleWonders]

OMG ... that's ds#1 (6) and ds#2 (3 1/2) ... suddenly to ds#2, things are "lucky!" (insert y in stead of l

) I'm not sure if it's a 5 year old/6 year old phase, but it is so annoying ... I mean, the milkshake I made for fun last night was basically how I'd make ice cream (without the cream though) and tasted like it too. Ds#1 takes the smallest sip and says, "I don't llllliiiiikkkkkkeeeee it." Ugh!!! But then today, he scarfs down a bowl of goat's milk yogurt with some maple syrup. I can't keep up!

 

[grisandole]

There's a great yahoo group for TF and gluten free/casien free; even though you aren't CF you'll get tons of valuable info

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GFCFNN/

 

[MyLittleWonders]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grisandole There's a great yahoo group for TF and gluten free/casien free; even though you aren't CF you'll get tons of valuable info http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GFCFNN/

Beautiful! Thanks