Multiple Food Allergies, Help! What Can I Feed My Child?

I am a food educator and teach free cooking classes at an allergen free grocer, Tailor Made Nutrition, in Woodbury, MN. I also write a food blog where you can access, for free, over 130 recipes that are free of every thing your son is allergic to. You will adjust - just be careful with peas and beans as they very commonly cross react with soy. You need to avoid things that contain dairy/casein, wheat/gluten, all tree nuts, peanuts, soy, and garlic is in the Allium family - same as onions.

The blog address is: allergenfreecooking.com

Good luck and blessings to you and yours! And, I am so very happy for your kid that he can be on a healing path now!!! Rejoice in the knowledge (I know it is hard to be thankful right now ... when you see the amazing improvement in your child, you will be overjoyed!).

OKAY, so I am editing my response - the other posters are very well meaning, but you MUST research or consult with a professional ----- spelt is the highest gluten-containing grain period. Cashews are tree nuts. Oat milk is fine as long as it is certified gluten free and does not contain any soy or Vitamin E (soy). Goat milk and sheep milk have the same protein as cow and human milk, casein and are not safe alternatives. Tuna fish often contains dairy (no kidding - and they don't label for it). Buy fresh wild tuna steak if you want to eat tuna. Sesame seed butter is NOT safe for the nut allergic as it commonly cross reacts. Sunflower butter, even the brand SunButter, contain soy in the form of Vitamin E or mixed tocopherals (both soy) - make your own by accessing my blog and searching for nut/seed butter. Hummus is safe only if you make it yourself as Tahini is ground sesame seeds - again look to my food blog for a safe recipe. Rye contains gluten. Tofu is SOY. Also, know that dariy-free is not safe - it must be casein free too. The best cheese substitute I have found is "Daiya" - available at Tailor Made in Woodbury - or you can make your own (easy) - just check my blog.

BEST TO YOU!

2 moms found this helpful

In terms of protein, some protein rich foods include beans, legumes, and meats. Here's one site with a listing:
http://heartspring.net/list_of_high_protein_foods.html

There are great gluten-free opitions out there now for everything from bread (Ezekial bread in the freezer section is a good one to check out) to pasta, to desserts. There are also some great dairy free options as well.

Check out cookbooks and websites for gluten free diets, tinnitus diets, low-iodine diets (this one is free of dairy and soy--one is on www.thyca.org) and diabetic diets. You may find some things that work here.

My mom has tinnitus and she's gotten into really healthy and alternative diets. She now often uses barley and spelt flour instead of regular/wheat flour (tastes the same or bertter!). She and I both go to our respective health food stores and buy in bulk. She also loves to get "healthfood" food on Amazon marketplace. She finds this is cheaper than the stores where she lives.

If you want a "butter" of some kind, you could consider cashew butter. You can also try corn-based things such as tortillas instead of regular bread.

You can also substitute ingredients if there is a recipe you like but something he can't have. For example, barley flour instead of regular flour, oil instead of butter, an egg substitute (see here for the different subs depending on the recipe: http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/f/eggsu..., and soy and dairy free margarines and other spreads instead of "regular" spread.

Unfortunately, a lot of what you give him will probably have to be homemade, but I htink as you look you'll find some great recipes and foods that he loves (including chicken nuggets--self breaded, pizza, pasta, and desserts)!

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

I have rice milkk and a Cinch protein shake every day.

http://K..myshaklee.com

My certified nutritionist gives them to her kids every day because in her words it is "the best breakfast on the planet".

1 mom found this helpful

Most groceries stores have a section for foods that do not contain certain allergens.Not sure if they would avoid everything your son can't have, but they are usually at least gluten and dairy free. I'm sure you will still have to read labels and read them every time. I have a friend who is highly allergic to many things say that it takes her forever to go grocery shopping, since companies constantly change ingredients in prepackaged food. You may be able to make some things from scratch to avoid foods. Good luck to you that is quite a list to stay away from and I'm sure it won't be easy to start out. Are you able to talk to a nutritionist that may be to help and give you some guidance as well?

My advise is to think very basic. I have had children in my daycare with severe allergies and have had to be very careful with the meals that I served. I learned to choose very basic fresh foods. Things like grilled or broiled fresh meats, fresh veggies and fruits. It may initially sound rather boring, but there are so many different fruits and vegetable variations, and fresh meat has so much flavor! You may want to find a good butcher shop or meat market. Good luck and don't panic! Keep looking for good resources.

We have a similar problem here between me and my daughter. Watch out for coconut milk, b/c if he's allergic to almonds and peanuts he is likely allergic to all nuts that grow on trees. I'm not sure if your dr. was that specific to test for each one. We're about to try rice milk too. Also watch out for the breads and carb products as these often contain nuts or are made in facilities with nuts. The spelt may also cause a reaction, if he is allergic to gluten. We have started making our own bread in the "Breadman" machine but we use wheat. Maybe you can find quinoa or oat flour to substitute. Rice and beans together make a complete protein, and we are considering starting to eat meat to get enough protein. (I've been vegetarian for 18 years and my daughter has not tried meat yet.) I was just talking to my friend about how frustrating this is because she also has allergies, although her children don't so far. My husband likes All-recipes.com where you can type in some ingredients and it will show you a recipe. If I come up with any brilliant recipes I'll let you know!

My good friend has a child with several severe food allergies--like, 18 or the top 20 allergies. It was awful watching her figure out what to feed her child. She found a lot of resources through the Food Allergy Initiative: http://www.faiusa.org/

Assuming you are not vegan, meat is probably the best source of protein. Beans are also a good source. I wish you luck with this. Our son had a lot of allergies. took allergy shots for several years and has now outgrown the allergies. At least as an adult they do not seem to be a problem for him.

What does your child's pediatrician say? I would get a second opinion; he may not be allergic to all those things after all. In fact, while food allergies are real, they are much less common than most parents think.

My son had a little eczema as a baby, had lots of croup, and has been diagnosed with asthma since he was four. He eats everything with no problems whatsoever. His trigger for asthma is being congested, so we focus on keeping away colds and season allergies.

I think you need more information from your doctor. I know that having a child with asthma can be stressful -- I lived through it -- but it's important to strive for the goal of being able to handle it (and motherhood in general) without being tense and worried all the time.

When my son was diagnosed, I was very tense and worried. I handled it by reading as much as I could about asthma, in books and online, and then at a certain point I was able to let go of my stress, and handle the asthma calmly.

Good luck to you.

Quinoa is an awesome, very nutritious gluten free grain. Milk is not actually needed for children. We tend to substitute it, for formula or breast milk, when the child is weaned. It is good for them, sure. However it's not necessary for a balanced diet. He will be fine without it. You might want him to drink something white, so he doesn't feel left out, if other people are drinking milk. In that case, rice milk is great. Coconut water (which is the milk in a coconut. It's called both) is very nutritious. Coconut is the seed of a fruit, it is not in the tree nut (or any nut) family. I have a severe nut allergy and love coconut water!! I also eat sunflower seed butter, from a brand called Sunbutter. They only process sunflower seeds and no other nuts. It's delicious!! Here is a link to a site I use for my son and myself.

www.weelicious.com
(at the top of the page, scroll over the "food groups" tab. They have allergen free recipes, that are very kid friendly.)

Sounds like he can eat meat so he can get protein. Make sure he is gettting a multi vitamin. He can have lots of fruits and veggies. Plus potatoes. I'm not sure about breads and grains- that may be an issue. You will most likely have to make home made foods in that respect. He might be able to have cereals auch as puffed rice or maybe rice crispies (not sure whats all in this?).

I see that you are getting conflicting information in your responses. I am gluten and dairy intolerant so I know what works for me is to try different foods in small amounts and see what happens. Even tried lunch meat that contained something that messed me up. Soy sauce contains wheat (who would guess that?). I eat a lot of brown rice but also meat for protein and fruits and veggies. I do feel so much better now that I know what not to eat.

Visit www.livingwithout.com. It is a good webiste with lots of links to other sites dealing with alergies & sensitivities. It is also a great magazine.

A wise person once told me to concentrate on what you can eat and not on what you can't. You'll need to teach your son to eat a diet that is largely whole fruilts and veggies and lean meat. Brown rice crackers come in all kinds of flavors at the health food stores.

One thing you can feed him is a ground turkey red sauce with plenty of veggies diced up and thrown in there and then penne pasta from Tinkyada. It's awesome and doesn't violate any of these listed allergies. You'll have to avoid tomatoes already processed with garlic.

Are you absolutely certain about the lab that has done this testing? There are some labs people have been talking about on the internet that charge a lot for testing and seem to come up with these multiple sensitivities and there is a difference between mild sensitivities that a person may be able to tolerate in small amounts and actual allergies. True allergies are dangerous in any amount.

Keep researching and don't panic :) Spices should be single whole spices for safety reasons. Spices are often a culprit for getting some gluten through. Don't forget that barley has gluten in it as well.

wow sorry to hear this-ive got no advice-my kids are allergic to nothing-they are now 28 an 29..i fed them everything-from 2 weeks on up-never had a problem...i wish you the best of luck finding a solution.

Dear L., Some ideas for protein sources and other good foods given your above limitations:
Oatmeal milk
Goats milk
Goats milk cheese and yogurt
tuna fish
sesame seed butter
tehina
hummous (ground chick peas)
rye bread
vegetable pasta
rice
lots of fruits have iron (dried apricots, figs I think)
dates
veggies
lentils
tofu

GL
Jilly