Gluten Free Casein Free Diet

There is a wonderful nutritional product - 20 years of high ratings - and I have many friends whose autistic kids have had great results. It gives them all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, etc. as well. If you are interested, I can connect you with some of them so you can talk directly.

There are tons of books and websites on this, two of the best are the book, "Special Diets for Special Kids" and the site for the Autism Network for Dietary Intervention (I think www.andi.org but you might have to google it). Also a great book is, "Unraveling the Mystery of Autism". Sometimes GF/CF isn't enough, many kids need an anti-yeast regimen as well. The fact is, he won't starve. It's very difficult to do, but when he is hungry, he will eat. The body cries out for those off-limit foods like an addiction but if you are strong it can be broken. Congrats to you for being on top of this and willing to try! You know, kids don't need milk or waffles...you can stick to basics like proteins, veggies, non-gluten grains and give lots of good supplementation.
M.

I am on a gluten free diet myself. Before I got pregnant I was also caesin free. Just keep it simple. Meat, veggies, startch of some kind. I know that starch is the problem. Have you tried deBoles pastas or rice dream milk?

W.

My brother has celiac. A lot of new recipes and good info have come about in the past few yeasr. There are good breads made with rice flour and corn flours now. You should Google celiac support groups in your area and join a group. You will get a wealth of info on the topic. There are all kinds of good gluten free foods in stores now. If you email me directly I can give you the name and number of a woman who will help you tremendously.

Hope this helps.

Here are some local sites:

The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network
http://www.foodallergy.org/

Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
http://www.aafa.org/

Earthward Natural Foods & Co-op
http://www.earthwardnatural.com
They carry wheat free, dairy free and many specialty items.

Skip the Gluten
____@____.com
Gluten free cakes, confections & catering

Gak’s Snacks
http://www.gakssnacks.com
No peanuts, no tree nuts, no eggs, no wheat, no dairy

As others have pointed out - Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and Trader Joe's are great sources for GF/CF products. Part of it is simply a matter of taste - so there will be some trial and error. Please don't give up. My son was also diagnosed on the middle of the spectrum at 2.3 years old and this diet made a huge difference! We started by removing cassein and later gluten. He never liked the soy or rice milk, so we went with a product from Vance's Foods (a potato based milk). Even if you don't use the product, they have lots of resources on their website http://www.vancesfoods.com. You can also try the GF/GC support network at http://www.gfcfdiet.com. My son is now 4.5 years old and can tolerate gluten and cassein in small amounts (he also likely will test off the spectrum in the coming year). Finally, if you find a product that you like, check out their website because they will list other stores where you can buy their product. Sometimes this will point you to places you didn't know were there. Good Luck.

YOU may want to pick up a copy of Nourishing Traditions. It is a cookbook/diet book with several gluten free recipes. I make homemade pancakes from buckwheat and rice flour that are delicious. My son is also gluten sensitive so I have found substitute flours. Teff (an african grain) is also gluten free and I have made wonderful pancakes and cookies with this.

Good luck!!!

As daunting as it may seem, it *is* do-able. We've been GF (my husband and son and possibly one of the girls are Celiac) for 1.5 years and for the last 7 mos I've also been CF and soy-free for the baby while she's nursing.

For baked goodies (brownies, cookies, cake etc) and pancake/waffle mixes, I recommend Namaste brand mixes. They're really tasty and easy to make. Enjoy Life brand also makes some decent cookies (Snickerdoodles and chocolate chocolate chip are my favorites) but I think that their breakfast bars and cereals taste like cardboard.

Hormel Naturals make GF/CF lunch meats and there are some good GF/CF breakfast sausges, too--Jones all natural in the freezer section are our favorites.

If you have a bread machine, the make-your-own bread mixes taste the best, but if you're looking for a store brand our favorite is Kinnickinnick brand. They're GF/CF in the organic section's freezer at Hannaford and we've found them in other supermarkets and healthfood stores as well. They also make great English muffins, doughnuts, and pizza shells.

In the summer it's especially easy to do meals if I grill. We buy our meat for the week, throw it in bags with marinades, and every night (except for rainy nights) I grill and steam a few veggies. Very easy!

If your family likes pasta, there are some very good rice pastas availible. We like red sauce and over rice noodles about once a week.

It's also easy to bread and fry chicken or fish with GFCF bread crumbs and seasonings, which we do a bit when we can't grill.

It's easier than it seems at first, but gluten is tricky. There's talk about requiring gluten to be listed on labels like the top 8 allergens, possibly as soon as August of this year, but for now we're on our own. The forbidden list at Celiac.com is a good place to find ingredients that do or may contain gluten. After that, there's an adjustment period while you contact different companies to find out whether their Modified Food Starch (or whatever else) contains gluten. Once you get some basics it gets easier.

Good luck!

Dear D.,
I have my son on the GFCF diet and at first it was hard, but after time it got easier to manage. There's a great web site called www.allergygrocer.com that was helpful. Also Trader Joes has a list of gluten free food and whole foods is a good resource as well. You have to look at the ingerediants carfully at first, but after you set up a routine it gets easier. Just make sure you check in with a Dr. about making sure he gets all the calcium and vitamins he needs.

There is also a local web site with lots of links both locally and otherwise that will be helpful to you. It's from the Framingham Special Education Parents Advisory Council (F-EPAC) and the address is www.f-sepac.org

When your son turns three and transitions into the public schools there are a number of lectures that would be helpful to you to go to and we have an online support group as well. Good luck to you.

Sincerely,
S. Arndt
F-SEPAC Officer

Hi D.,
My daughter is on a Gluten Free diet and has been for 2 years! It was very hard at first but now its getting easier. A couple of great websites to check out, csaceliacs.org celiac.com glutenfree.com Also there is a Good Health Food Store in Hanover that has the largest selection of gluten free products that i have found on the south shore!! Highly recomend it. Its on Route 53 about 2miles south of the Hanover Mall. Also Trader Joes at the Mall has some great gf products. Also Childrens Hosptial in Boston has a great support group. Hope this information helps! Good luck.
S.

We've kept a GF house (but not casein free) for 4 years. You just have to keep experimenting with the GF products ---- some are good, some are basically edible, some are lousy. Keep looking --- try special areas in Shaws & Stop&Shop or look at Whole Foods or Trader Joes. I know it will feel like you're spending half your wallet on foods he may or may not like, but once you find some good ones, the $$ will settle down a bit.

Get some GF and allergy-free cookbooks from your library to try out (don't buy them until you know you like the contents!). I used to buy one new alternative flour every couple weeks, so I didn't feel like I was blowing my budget.

We like the Whole Foods GF bakery breads, although they have to be toasted. (You might have to buy a new toaster, if you use regular bread in your toaster as well because gluten is transferable in such appliances; also make sure you use separate pnut butter, jelly, margarine, etc.) We also like the Whole Foods 365 store-brand baking mixes ---- they look suspiciously like the GF Pantry brand-name mixes and taste good!

Feel free to write to me with any GF questions! ____@____.com

Not sure about the diet, but I think it would probably be helpful for you to contact the Austism Support Center in Danvers, Massachusetts. They can link you up with families that may be able to offer advice, support, etc. Maybe they have some tips on getting kids to eat the diet.

Hi D., I've only had experience with nut allergies so can just send you best wishes & say that labeling is getting better and better. I've had great luck at Whole Foods, the staff is pretty helpful. Good luck to you!

I have a friend who does this diet with her son & the difference is like night & day. Trader Joe's has some good GFCF waffles. It's worth shopping around to find good products your son likes.

We are gluten, dairy, soy, and egg free here. Rice Dream has trace gluten in it even though they say gluten free. There is no law on what gluten free means so they are allowed to do it. I would suggest joining the Kids with Celiac Yahoo group. You get lots of information and support there. We also have a decent list of links from companies to find out what they have that is GF and so forth.

I would try your son with rice milk. I use Pacific brand. I would also find a co-op to get stuff as it is way cheaper than buying from the store. You do buy in bulk but you do go through it. Also try making your foods from scratch. They taste way better than the store bought stuff in my opinion. Another good site for recipes I really like is http://karinasrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/09/gfcf-goodness.... She has multiple allergies so you really don't have to edit her recipes to make them work. Namaste is good as long as you don't have an egg allergy.....egg replacer doesn't work well with their mixes. Pamela's and Bob's Red Mill mixes are good. I like Bob's as they have a dedicated GF facility so just look for the GF label and you dont' have to worry about cross contamination. Bette Hagman is my favorite recipe book author.

Hope this all helps. It can be a bit overwhelming at first but it will get better!

Hi D.! My 6 year old was on a casein free diet for years and he also would have nothing to do with soy milk. He did like the enriched rice milk the regular flavor...the unenriched rice milk doesn't have the all the calcium and vitamins. And my other suggestion is to read labels; you'd be surprised at what has casein added to it like, veggie slices (soy cheese) and rice cheese and beware of foods with caseinates and sodium caseinate for "seasonings". Good luck
M. M.
45 year old semi-SAHM of an almost 7 year old

I was told the wood floor section at Shaws is allergy free (not sure if it is the whole section though, so I would still read labels). I look there for my daughter when I go there (she just has a milk protein allergy though).

They make cookbooks especially for this type of diet - they carry them at Barnes & Nobles - maybe you can get some ideas fromt there?

I don't know about the casein diet but gluten free I do. There was alot of helpful info a few weeks back on this subject. Your local health food store is usually the best place to start. They can give you info on products and once you find brands you like you can start to see if your local store can carry it. There are gluten free diet groups and the best thing about them is that you can use their experience to buy the better brands. I wish you luck and try to find the responses from a few weeks ago.

http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.org/index.html
and you can come visit me and sam(he has PDD)at my blog at http://you-leave-me-breadless.blogspot.com/ we are starting one step more in going specific carb diet which is the new DAN! protocol.GF/CF is a good place to start. it is a little overwhelming at first but it get's easier . your child will not starve and it will be ok. two great cook books to look into are special diets for special kids one and two by lisa lewis.
c

We are going to attempt the same diet in our house and for now I am trying out food to see what works for us. We have tried the Rice Dream drink. The original and vanilla didnt work for my kids but they love the chocolate. It comes enriched with all the same vitamins and calcium as regular milk does so thats good. If you go to Hannaford on the shelves they have signs that say gleuten free so that should make it a little easier.

We tried to GFCF diet last summer with or the 3.5 y/o. I did not see enough improvement with it to continue. I do however recommend giving it a try. I have a friend who saw dramatic improvements with her son after using the diet. Whole Foods is a great resource. In the front of the store, they have lists of foods that are either casein or gluten free. You then have to cross reference them. It is difficult to start up. Hang in there. Take care!

Feel free to contact me if you need extra advice. It was strange reading your bio. I too am a stay at home 35 y/o RN with two children.

My first advice is to find a food co-op as soon as possible. First off, the food will most likely cost less than in health food stores and/or grocery stores. I have found members of food co-ops to be very knowledgeable about various diets (esp. this one) without propagandizing (as I have experienced at health food stores). You can also exchange recipes and set up play dates where snacks are not such an issue. I just learned about hemp milk from another mom - so much more nutritious and less constipating than rice milk! READ LABELS! - most rice milk has casein, as does lots of "dairy free" foods. Many children who can't tolerate dairy also can't tolerate soy. Have you tried the flavored milks? We use vanilla milk in cereal. There are terrible health foods out there, but there are also really good ones.
My biggest advice is to get Birth to Three on board as soon as possible. The earlier then intervention, the better the prognosis. B3 workers should be able to advise on diet too. If your B3 case worker isn't a good match, you can request another person - but give it time before going that route.
Good Luck!

My son will be 3 next month and we are doing the GFCF diet and the least amount of soy as possible. It's in everything though. My son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS last March and we are in the thick of everything. Almond milk is really good and high in protein. Trader's Joe Rice milk so far is safer. Soy milk unfortunalty is broken down the same way as Caisen (milk) so it doesn't really help to drink that on this diet. I have found that my sone is benefiting at about 90-95% GFCF, even though people will agrue it hase to be 100% or nothing. But I think it takes a little time, especially if you have other medical issues. My son also has seizure disorder (due to a brain amlformation) some peopel yell do the diet more when I tell them about his seizures. He actaully has a spot that his seizures exist in!
Thank god my son still likes baby food, so he eats a lot of it with his foods. Bells & Evan makes fantastic GF chicken Nuggets. I hope you have good luck and have people to talk to, www.tacanow.org is an awesome website for families dealing with Autism and I would be happy to talk anytime!
Melissa

I have an allergy to wheat and yeast. I like the Van's brand wheat/gluten free waffles and so does my 17 month old. Also my son is allergic to dairy so I have him on rice milk and because he is not 2 yet I have to add 1/3 tsp of olive oil for the healthy fat that he needs until he is 2. He seems to like the rice milk & my picky husband even said it tasted okay. I gave it a try and must say it is so much better than soy milk. Soy milk is so gross even the flavored ones!!! Good luck, I hope I help a little! FYI at Stop and Shop and Shaw's they have the "organic/health food" area and they also have wheat/gluten free pasta's and other foods too!!

Have you tried rice milk. My daughter loves it especially vanilla flavored. We also like Van's blueberry waffles. Keep trying different brands and you are sure to find something he will like. Good luck!

Hi D.
There are lots and lots of wonderful GF products on the market these days and I think it's just going to be trial and error to find out which brands he likes. I can tell you from experience that some of it really does taste like cardboard!!! Try rice milk instead of soy. It's a bit milder tasting. Also try unsweetened soy milk. I've discovered that it tastes more like cream in my iced coffee and teas. He might like that better. The milks are the same as GF products. Trial and error will get you to the brands he likes. They really all taste different. Flavored ones might be a good starting point. My son is 14 and I still get him vanilla because that's the one he likes best.

A good gf cookbook might be in order for you to. The Gluten Free Gourmet has a great line of cookbooks.

Just keep trying. It's going to take a little getting used to for him but he will feel so much better when he finally starts eating that way. I honestly feel like most of us have a gluten allergy of some sort but just don't know it. I know I've felt so much better taking it out of my diet even though I wasn't diagnosed with it.

Hi D.,

My daughter has food allergies so I'm familiar with your dilemma. I had great success with SILK soymilk and the Whole Foods brand, 365, is another good soymilk. The chocolate worked with my son, too. As far as gluten-free products - I experimented making my own waffles, pizza dough, cupcakes, etc. by playing with the different flours (rice, soy, potato) and using xanthum gum. I also found disguising the foods using different toppings/sauces/syrups also helped.

Just as an FYI - I have a business called Sweets for All (www.sweetsforall.com) and I bake custom orders of cupcakes, pizza, cookies, scones, etc. and will work with folks on other items if they need them.

Hope that helps!

Best,

D.