I Need Food Ideas for My Daughter with Allergies!

I have several food allgeries in my family. I found a cookbook called something like The Kids Allergy Free cookbook. I will see if I can find a link.

found it

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9388941-the-allergy-fr...

I found the book at Half Priced Books.

Hi! Sorry to hear about your daughter's allergies. It's going to be tough taking out wheat (I'm really surprised she didn't test for gluten intolerance, which would be no wheat, rye, or barley) and corn and oat. And no eggs. Which means you will need to homemake/bake her bread. You can substitute flax seed for eggs.

You need to go to your local bookstore or even to their online site and buy/order a subscription to the magazine Living Without. It is a magazine specifically for people with food allergies and intolerances. They have wonderful articles and lots of recipes. The best thing is, the recipes will oftentimes give ideas for subsituting this for that (so you can get rid of your allergen if it happens to be in the recipe) AND they have a wonderful section in the back that offers all types of food substitutions. Every couple months they usually have a section where they'll highlight some food recipe ideas for children. And the Living Without Web site has a ton of recipes--I love going there!

You'll have to start experimenting with different types of flours, like teff, sorghum, amaranth, millet, quinoa flour (also quinoa itself, which tastes really good made as a pilaf with small bits of meat and veges), rice (white and brown; brown rice will give her wholegrain and is better to use, as it won't raise the glycemic index like white rice does), buckwheat (despite the name, it is NOT wheat; it belongs to a grass family), arrowroot flour, almond flour (oops, forgot she can't have tree nuts; delete this one), different types of bean/pea flour (like chickpea/garbanzo), chia flour, hemp flour, potato flour, potato starch flour, tapioca flour. Wild rice is actually a type of grass and is excellent when used in a pilaf.

Basically, given the foods/grains/flours she is allergic to, you pretty much want to stick to the different grains/flours that people with Celiac disease/gluten intolerance use. Just be careful buying prepackaged food/kits, as corn is substituted quite a bit (but not as much as rice. I feel for those who can't have gluten or rice).

I like peanut butter in stuff but not on toast or bread (I was never a good P&B candidate because I hate eating it! LOL). I absolutely love almond butter. I have tried the ones made with sunflower; I don't care for them. A little too salty for me. There are so many different types of nut butters... except she can't have tree nuts. Rats. Yeah, then I'd try to get her to like sunbutter.

I know how you feel. When I was 40 years old, I finally discovered all the foods that were making me sick. The ones that were the most important were gluten intolerance (meaning no wheat, rye, barley; oats if they are gluten free), casein allergy (no cow milk; substituted goat and sheep as well as nut milk alternatives), soy intolerance (no soy). And I also had another 21 intolerances that were mild, moderate, and severe (most of those ended up being to fish that I have never eaten, so that does make it easier. But banana, apple, almonds, black pepper, celery, spinach, etc.--I eat all of them and love them! But after the gut heals, you can, after awhile, usually eat some of these "forbidden" foods on an occasional basis, which is what I do. I miss bananas for their potassium and quick pick-me-up, and apple is, like in every juice imaginable! I no longer drink juice.)

Your daughter will cry and kick and scream and give you a hard time. She's young and doesn't understand that the foods she loves/is eating right now are what are making her sick. She will adapt. Just do the best you can with what you have to work with (without). And visit the Living Without Web site for some recipe inspiration. You might even be able to send them an e-mail and give them the foods your daughter was recently diagnosed as not being able to have. They have professionals on their panels who should answer and give you some food ideas as well. It will just take more time on your part to think/make/put together new meals.

Good luck. I feel for you and your daughter. But it's good to know what she can't have so that you can help her heal. And there are many, many other foods out there to eat. She'll just have to acquire new taste buds.

Did the allergist say she shouldn't have any of those foods? Did he recommend an elimination diet and then adding things back in to see what is truly bothering her? I ask because both of my daughters reacted to many foods on the allergy test, but the allergist told us that the only things to avoid were the ones that they reacted to when actually eating them. So - one of my girls reacted to wheat, corn, eggs, milk and oats, but she still eats them all regularly since they don't cause her problems in real life (just on the blood test). Another reacted to peanuts, eggs and milk on the blood test, but only has a problem with milk in real life. (well - I don't know if she has a problem with peanuts - we avoid that one since the reaction can be so severe). And even most kids with an egg problem can eat small quantities of eggs cooked into things like bread.

Why not call the allergist's office and ask for practical advice on how much of the list you're really supposed to avoid. When we last were there the allergist made a joke about how half the population would react to the top eight foods if they ever took the test, but that it's not like all of them actually have allergies...

Join Yahoo groups "foodlab". Lots of great ideas, recipes and support.

C.:

I am sooo sorry!! I will talk to a couple of my friends who have kids with allergies and see what they say.

Dietician and nutritionist....I think this is going to be one of those life changing moments for her and she will have to broaden her food "spectrum".

I did a quick google search for gluten free bread. Came up with this.
http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreebreads/tp...

I wish I could help out more. I will call you with more information as I get it.

Sunflower Seed butter is a great substitute for PB. It's creamy and smooth and tastes pretty similar to the real thing. It may take a bit of getting used to, but she'll be ok with it soon.

Amy's brand foods may work for you, though I'm not sure about the wheat. They make mac & cheese, pizzas, and even a tofu scramble that is similar to a breakfast egg scramble.

When you're baking, use the following mixture to replace eggs:
1.5 TBSP oil
1.5 TBSP water
1 tsp baking powder
Mix the three ingredients together, then add to the recipe when you normally would add the egg. This works well for replacing 1-2 eggs, but doesn't work as well when you need three or more eggs. Double the above if you're doing two eggs.

Many gluten free breads will also be egg free, so you should be able to find bread that she can eat for sandwiches.

Dinners should still be pretty easy - any meat, paired with rice or potatoes if you want a starch, and vegetables and/or fruit on the side.

Check out Food Allergy Mama for some good recipes.

1) "Soba" which is a type of Japanese noodles, are made from Buckwheat. It is actually not a "wheat" and is gluten free.
It is very common here in my city and at restaurants. It is very good and healthy.
Here is a link about it:
http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/theglutenfreediet/qt/Bu...

2) Also, you can use brown rice. This is also VERY healthy and full of vitamins and fiber.

3) Quinoa. This is also gluten free and is highly valued for its nutritional value and also has lots of fiber in it.
Many good recipes. Just look online.

4) Lentils or beans. Again, very healthy and full of vitamins

5) You can make her soups. Soups do not have to have anything from her allergic list.

6) She can eat fish/chicken/beef/pork

7) Tofu

8) Veggies. None of that is on her allergic list. And most kids don't like garlic or onions either anyway.

9) Sandwiches: for bread, just go to Whole Foods or any natural food stores and they have wheat free/egg free, breads.

10) Rice Cakes

11) She can eat fruits, just not any bananas. So that leaves lots of options.

12) Squash. Again, very good and can be made into lots of different recipes. Look online.

Whole Foods by the way, has ALL kinds of wheat free, gluten free, nut free foods etc. foods.

I suggest that you get him to refer you to a nutritionist who will help you with this. It should be covered by insurance since it's a medical issue.

I have many food allergies and did the elimination diet. What worked for me was to use foods in their basic form at first. Gradually I learned by keeping track which combinations were alright. As Everley said, often what we actually respond to is different than what the test says.

The most difficult ones on your list are eggs and wheat. There are good egg substitutes to be found at the grocery store. The gluten free foods are expensive and we haven't found a good gluten free bread at the supermarket. My daughter is gluten sensitive. She's found gluten free breads at a couple of bakeries but they are expensive.

As for the peanut butter - I consider myself a peanut butter aficionado. Soy butter takes just like it. Sunbutter tastes like the more distinctive flavor of sunflower seeds - definitely not a substitute for peanut butter if you know what it tastes like.

We only needed to eliminate egg for a short time but I do know from that time that EnerG makes something called "egg replacer". You could try using it in recipes as a substitute for eggs.

Wow Butter (soy) on rice cakes.

If I were you, go for whole foods for now. Lots of fruits and veggies (avoid the bananas of course)

I had to do the same thing, and when it was all done I didn't have to avoid ALL of the things on my list, just about 3 of them. The others I have to avoid eating large quantities of, or eating them on consecutive days. It takes about 4 days for an allergen to be eliminated from your body, so some things I can eat once a week. It's not as bad as it sounds now.

For the next 2 weeks she should eat a good portion of fruits and veggies and meats. You can try spaghetti with spaghetti squash instead of noodles. It's actually very good! Does she eat regular meat? You can just do meat, potato, vegetable.

Good luck! There are a lot of great recipes out there, and great books.

In addition to your "second mom", I think that you should ask your pediatrician to refer you to a pediatric nutritionist. As you know, the little ones' needs differ from ours, and a pediatric nutritionist who is currently practicing will have updated information.

One of the students I work with is gf..... he uses the rice cakes (like the Quaker rice cakes) for his pb&J..... I would think that sunflower butter would be a decent substitute for pb....

And yes, you will need to be VERY careful about reading labels..... if a label says "modified food starch" you don't know WHAT kind of starch.... especially since she is allergic to both wheat and corn.

I agree that you need to see a nutritionist to give you ideas on what to cook. Maybe start involving her in meal prep? She might be more willing to try new foods in that case.

ETA: I just remembered that Flaxseed meal is gluten free, AND can be used to substitute for eggs in baking. To replace an egg in baking, for every egg being replaces, mix 1 TBSP flaxseed meal with 3 TBSP water and let it sit for 10 minutes. The mixture will become gel-like. Add to your recipe as you would an egg.

Hi, C.:
If you have a health food store near you, ask the nutritionist there.
If not, go to your local hospital dietary department.

Look at some digestive aids too:
www.enzymedica.com

Good luck.
D.