This post is a long time coming and I have been putting it off. But I was tired of looking at my ugly braces picture, so I thought I'd better do a new post!
I guess a little explanation is in order. So Dan's sister has had stomach and digestive issues for many years, and they never could figure out what it was. This past summer she got really, really sick. Long story short, she ended up trying a gluten-free diet and it worked! She felt better than she ever had before. So then she thought she should have her two boys tested, to see if they needed the same diet. Gluten intolerance is hereditary. They tested positive for both gluten intolerance and casein (milk protein) intolerance. Then my mother-in-law wanted us to have our kids tested. I resisted. For a long time. I thought, there is nothing wrong with my kids, they are perfectly fine. Well, Andrew has had a lot of issues with stomachaches and constipation, plus he is so dang small and picky too. I just thought he inherited my short genes. I have short parents, and I am short, so what's wrong with being short? Also, last spring, on advice of his pediatrician, we cut back on dairy for him and he was doing much better. We didn't cut it entirely, he could still have cheese, but no liquid milk. Anyway, after many weeks of resisting I basically gave in and let them do the tests. It is a stool test (lots of fun). And it takes a while to get the results back. Just to be sure, we had all three kids tested, and I was fully expecting Bethany and Jorgen to be normal. Jorgen really doesn't have any of the symptoms. Andrew, I wasn't so sure about, I thought maybe he would be positive. Well, we got the test results back last Friday and both boys tested positive for gluten and casein intolerance. I was not completely surprised about Andrew, but for Jorgen I was. I guess you can be intolerant and have no symptoms apparently. Bethany tested normal.
So here comes the fun part. We have to take all gluten and dairy out of our house. Pretty much all of it. Gluten is a protein found mainly in wheat, but also in barley, rye, and most oats. Oats don't naturally have gluten in them, but are transported and stored along with wheat, so they get contaminated. You have to buy gluten free oats. Casein is the protein in dairy, so anything with milk, whey, buttermilk solids, etc. is out. And they show up in unexpected places. For example, while you would think Corn Flakes would be okay (corn is gluten free), the cereal companys all add malt flavoring to the cereal. Malt comes from barley, so it's out. Rice Krispies also have malt flavoring in them. Actually, I think almost every Kellogg's cereal has malt in it, they must have a barley farm or something.
So here is a list of Andrew's favorite foods up until this point: chicken nuggets (gluten in the breading); grilled cheese sandwich (gluten and casein); PB & J on Grandma Sycamore's bread; tomato soup (has wheat flour in it); crackers with cheese, or even just plain crackers; hot dogs - okay they are safe, if you get the right brand; McDonald's happy meals (no!).... I could go on, but you see what I am up against here. Jorgen has a lot of the same favorites as well. Jorgen will eat meat and eggs, however, whereas Andrew will not. MAYBE he will eat some chicken, but not much of it, just a few nibbles.
To be honest, I have shed a few tears over all of this, wondering how fair it is. It's not fair. It stinks. But I am trying to move on and put on a happy face and find some alternatives to their favorites. We have invested a not-so-small sum in an array of gluten free flours (rice, millet, sorghum, gf oat, etc). I have some new cookbooks on the way from Amazon, and I have my sister-in-law's blog with lots of good recipes on it already. By the way, thank goodness for the internet! I don't know how we would do this without it.
We are still working on finding a bread that Andrew really likes. He likes the Udi's as toast, but doesn't like it with a PB & J sandwich (it's "too chewy.") And that is pretty much all I will be able to make for his lunch every day, so I HAVE to find a bread. Andrew has always been very picky about textures and smells of his food. I do have a recipe for a bread that he likes, but it just takes so long to make and I have to plan ahead a lot better than I do. I can't just run to the store for more Grandma Sycamore's anymore :(
Andrew has been dealing with it surprisingly well. On the other hand, Jorgen has been hard. He loves to just open the fridge or pantry and grab something to eat. He loves food! So I realized I have to get rid of anything he would want to grab if he saw it, that he can't have. Even if it's something I or Bethany would eat and like. And guess what I just stocked up my fridge with just last week? Yep, ice cream, yogurt, pudding - cause that's all that I can eat right now until I get used to these braces. Oh, and I just got a tooth extracted today, fun fun.
It will also be harder to go out to eat. Well, pretty much impossible with the kids. Unless I can convince Andrew to eat a steak off the grown-ups menu (hah!) But, honestly, we have been going out too much lately anyway, so it's a good thing. Whatever money we save from not going out to eat we will spend on the gluten free and dairy free items that are way more expensive than their regular counterparts. I just have been realizing how dang lazy I have become. We have gotten in the habit of going out to eat either Friday or Saturday, usually because I am tired of cooking all week and I want a break. So I just need to find some easy alternative I can make at home on a day when I don't really feel like cooking.
In case you are wondering just how much food I have to get rid of, I took pictures. Some of this is from our downstairs storage room, some from the pantry. Some I just bought a couple weeks ago. My mom came and took a bunch of it today, but I still have a lot left. So if anybody who reads this blog wants some free food, come on over. Seriously. I mean it! Come take it. The opened things will be thrown away if nobody takes it. The unopened things we can take to the food bank if necessary. I just realized not all of my pictures made it on here, but you get the idea. I had about 9 large cardboard boxes full of food. I have a lot of cold cereal, crackers, canned soups, and pasta left, plus some other stuff that my mom didn't want.
There's our year's supply of food storage, now gone:
While we were in the process of cleaning out the storage room, we also started the process of de-junking the extra bedroom so Andrew can have his own room. This will take awhile, as you can see. Hopefully he can be in there before his birthday.
I know that we will figure this out and get used to it. I'm sure we will hit bumps along the way, like the next time Andrew gets invited to a Chuck-e-Cheese party. And what are we going to do about scout camp??? And a mission?? Okay, that's a few years down the road, but it's still something we will have to deal with. As far as I can tell from what research I have done, this is a lifelong condition.
One positive from all of this, is that maybe Bethany and I can have some mother/daugther dates once in awhile to get some ice cream. Or a big plate of pasta at Olive Garden.
There is a store in Layton, called Gluten Free Foods, that has a lot of gluten free things. They don't have much of the dairy free things like yogurt and ice cream, but they are fairly close. I've also discovered that Harmon's has the best selection of all the grocery stores in the area, at least of the stores I have been to. I just have to drive to Roy. Not the best, but better than having to drive to Salt Lake! Whole Foods also has a lot of stuff, but they are in Salt Lake.
Sorry for the extra long post. This is mostly for my family, and for me to vent a few frustrations but not in front of the boys. I know we'll figure it all out and be fine!
