"CAN List"

Last month Derek had an allergy test ran, this was his first we had been able to have done. We knew from trial and error that gluten and casein proteins are not good for his system, and I suspected that the little amounts of soy he does get probably wasn't either.

I certainly wasn't expecting the list of allergens we got back though:

All dairy
Garlic
Cucumber
White Onion
Pumpkin
Radish
Zucchini Squash
Almonds
Amaranth Flour
Kidney beans
Lima beans
Pinto beans
Soy beans (or any soy for that matter)
String beans
Coconut
Lentils
Oats
Green peas
Peanuts
Sesame
Wheat/Grains
Honey
Eggs (white and yolks)


A lot of it was a bit of a shocker. It probably took me a good 24 hours to process this, I felt pretty defeated at the time, that the gluten and casein hadn't been the only key all along. I roamed around the house, digging through kitchen cupboards and the fridge saying "he can't have _____ anymore, he LOVES ____! What am I going to do now?"

So after my little pity party, I realized the list of "can'ts" in my head was the issue, I was focusing on what he can't have anymore. Instead I opened up a notepad and started writing his Can List. I went through his foods and started finding replacements, or finding stuff he currently ate that was still ok. The list keeps growing and I feel much better about this.

I am so thankful too that the two years of gfcf have helped him so much with food, and other treatments and time have made food adversions to taste, texture and color disappear. To replace his peanut butter I bought hazelnut and cashew butters. He also always had honey on his sandwich, which I replaced with three different kinds of pure all fruit spread. He ate a hazelnut and strawberry spread sandwich last night without issue. Then asked for another :)

We'll have some rough days ahead, a few favorites are on that list, and just cannot be replaced. He loves black and pinto beans with rice. No suitable replacement for that. It will work out though, it has in the past.

My advice to parents just starting out on a gfcf (or whatever free) diet : Rotation, Rotation, Rotation! Do not end up in the same spot as we have here. Much of this has come with little rotation. I've been giving honey on his sandwiches for two year, only rarely have I given him jelly. I was too concerned about phenols. He eats a lot of legumes, hence why black beans, pinto beans and peanuts are up there, I used that as a protein source because he ate such little meat. I should have been offering the meat more often than I do. We settled into a food pattern with him, so happy that he would eat more than just the 4 foods he ate two years ago. We worked so hard the first 6-12 months on getting him to try new things that when it seemed like he had a more balanced diet (anything more than milk, yogurt, applesauce, banana and french toast is balanced!) we stopped trying so hard.

Now we know better. The good news is that hopefully we'll be able to add some of these foods back in, slowly, on rotation. I've learned to rotate what he will be eating. Instead of all rice bread, rotate in tapioca based breads too. He's drinking all rice milks, so I'll use a potato based milk as well. I also bought two different pancake mixes last night, one is mostly rice based, the other is corn and tapioca based. I cannot stress this enough, because you don't want to end up here!

Cooking is going to get interesting, seems garlic and onion is in everything! I want to make chicken tonight, and all my spices are blends or have the above in them. Curry powder has onion and red pepper. Lemon pepper has garlic. All the Mrs Dash have garlic or onion in them. I need to get creative (any suggestions from anyone?).

For now I need to go add to the "Can" list, afterall, its so much more important than "can't".