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Finding something to feed your child after he has been diagnosed with food allergies can often be a daunting proposition for the overwhelmed parent. These days, it appears that very few children are diagnosed early enough to be confined to a single allergen and if your child is like mine, it may actually seem like there is nothing “normal” for him to eat.
Unless your child is anaphlyactic to a food, like peanuts or shellfish, it may actually be best for you to remove the allergens from his diet one by one. This reduces the inherent rebellion of taking away ALL his favourite foods at once and will also help to contain the withdrawal many children suffer when eliminating their identified allergic foods. Sometimes it is better to continue feeding one allergen while you eliminate another so that the child will be compliant with the dietary changes and can feel that he still has some control over his life.
If, like my eldest son, your child were to be identified with allergies to gluten (the protein found in grains like wheat, rye, barley, spelt and kamut), bovine dairy products (cheese, milk, sour cream, butter and yoghurt), legumes (beans, peas and licorice and unfortunately including soy) it may be necessary for you to remove most of your child’s regular diet. We went cold turkey on all his identified allergens, and we somehow made it through that period, but recent studies have shown that it probably would have been easier on us, and on our son, if we had started by removing dairy or gluten products but not both.
At the time, our only experience with eliminating allergens was based on our history with a child diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease. Because Celiac’s is an auto-immune disorder which affects the lower intestine, it is essential that a person with this disorder completely remove all gluten from her diet as quickly as possible. Given this experience, we did the same with our son’s gluten allergy. Bread, cookies, cakes, biscuits, pancakes, crackers, white sauce, pasta: all eliminated from the diet and replaced with rice crackers, corn taco shells, and red sauces. Rice pasta is an acceptable alternative to wheat pasta, although the child may require a space of a few weeks without any pasta product to permit his palette to “forget” the taste and texture of wheat and to appreciate the fact that he can have pasta of any kind. Other varieties of pasta are available as well, made from grains like quinoa or corn, but one of the biggest complaints with these products is that they are gritty in texture and do not have the nutty taste that wheat based products do. Rice pasta tastes like, well, rice, and in most families, this is a food product that the child will be familiar with.
Removing bovine dairy products can be a challenge as well. Almost all prepared food products contain either wheat or dairy, or both and this is where the real burden may fall on the parent. Most food for children allergic to certain foods, must be prepared from scratch. The market today is responding well to the increased need for allergen free products, but much of these replacement products, while good substitutes, are costly and outside the budget for most middle class families, especially if more than one family member requires a specialized diet. In place of milk, one may choose soy milk, potato milk, rice milk, or nut milks like almond or cashew. Soy milk makers are widely available in small appliance dealerships, and if you are able to use this alternative to cow milk, you may wish to invest in one of these to help keep your costs reduced. Unfortunately, allergy-prone children are frequently given to developing more allergies to foods that they rely on and that makes it a good idea to vary the replacement product used. Recipes are available throughout the internet for making rice milk, potato starch milk, oat milk and so on. If you do purchase a milk maker, try to find one that will permit you to make oat, nut and other milks as well as the soy milk, so that you can rotate the milk product used.
To replace cheese, there are several alternatives, but be certain that when you purchase them they are free of casein and whey. These are two of the most common proteins in cow’s milk and while a label saying casein may look to be dairy-free, it obviously is not. Soy is the most common protein used to make non-dairy cheese, but one can also find products that are rice based. Whey and casein are frequently added to give the product that “cheesy” taste so be absolutely certain that the product you purchase is dairy free. Many mothers of dairy allergic children have been very creative in replacing things like mac & cheese and have come up with delicious recipes using a blend of spices (paprika for instance) and salt which can replace the Kraft Dinner.
For some bovine product allergic children, sheep and goat cheese are different enough in their protein composition that the child can tolerate them. Out of my four dairy allergic children, three can tolerate goat cheese (like feta or chevre) but the eldest cannot. Watch labels carefully again with these products because some goat cheeses are not made solely from goat milk, but may have cow milk added to reduce the goaty taste and to make the cheese more palatable to a wider population. Fine if taste is your only concern, but not if you are fighting an allergy.
One way to insure that products are dairy free is to learn the Jewish (or kosher) system of label marking. Because the Jewish people have some severe dietary laws, companies often pay Rabbis to certified that their product is safe under these rabbinical laws. A product which has a kosher mark with the letter D, on it for example, contains dairy or is made on equipment which also processes dairy products, and this will help you to identify products from which to stay away. Conversely, if the product states pareve (or parve) it is certified to be dairy free.
Keep in mind, that this applies also to vegetable based margarines as casein and whey are, again, frequently added to give that “buttery” taste to the product. Sometimes, if a product claims to lactose free, it will also be casein free or whey free as well.
Unfortunately, food labelling laws do not make it easy for the parent of a food allergic child to identify allergens. Many products are listed under different names and these are usually processed products derived from the whole. For example, hydrolyzed plant protein can be derived from corn, soy or wheat and unless the manufacture is specific, it is best for the child not to have a food containing this product. Another one to watch out for is modified food starch. Starch is, of course, the complex carbohydrate in many vegetables and tubers as well as grains, and again, unless the manufacturer is specific, one cannot tell if the product is derived from a safe source or from an identified allergen.
In the long run, what is required for the child who is diagnosed with allergies, is that the parent prepare him or herself for a whole new approach to food. Very often, the traditional North American diet is laden with gluten-bearing grains, dairy products and prepackaged foods which will pose a hazard to the allergic child. Asian, Mexican, African and other ethnic foods are far more likely to include alternative grains like rice or corn, rather than wheat, and these can provide a viable alternative for a needed dietary change. Vegan recipes also may provide a good source of new meals, as this form of vegetarian eating is free from all animal products including dairy products and eggs, but does tend to rely heavily on gluten (wheat protein) and legumes to replace the animal proteins foregone
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