Reintroducing gluten or dairy?

[ashley]

Has anyone experimented with adding gluten or dairy back into their child's diet to see if it is really making a difference? And if so, how did you do it?

 

My DS has been totally gluten and diary free for 6 weeks and he is definitely doing better. BUT we don't know if he is doing better because of the antibiotics, the diet, or both. We would very much like to know if the diet is making a difference. I know with traditional allergy elimination we would flood his system with the possible offending food to see if there is any reaction, but I'm not sure with intolerances and inflammation if you would see a result quickly or if there would be a delay.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[3bmom]

I suggest you read the posts regarding gluten and dairy. Issues are not always related to allergies. The food contains heavy levels of pesticides, and gut altering DNA which contributes to getting and keeping chronic infections. If you have improvement and have been able to go off, (great job,a difficult task) I would stay away.

 

Watch on Netflix "Genetic Roulette" and you will understand rising health issues including diabetes, obesity etc.

[ashley]

Thanks, 3bmom. It has not been easy to eliminate gluten and dairy, especially since my son is vegetarian, but I do not think we will ever go fully back to our old ways. However, it is very hard for a 10 year old to say no to every birthday cake, etc.

 

I have not been able to find information through old posts on reintroducing to try and figure out if something is really helping or not. I do know there are plenty of people on this board who say their children have gotten better without going gluten or dairy free. Surely there is someone before me who has eliminated and then done an experimental reintroduction?

[smartyjones]

hi Ashley. please don't be offended by anything I say -- it's all just my opinion, so take it FWIW. I think 6 weeks is a short time to be GF/DF. you can search back through old posts of mine to find out story. when ds was first diagnosed with pandas, we also saw a naturopath who ran blood panels. he came out with off the chart igg to over 15 foods -- all dairy and glutens. we took him off all cold turkey. he also went on Keflex at this time. in about 3 days on Keflex, he had 100% remission. I credit abx, not diet. however, I kept him on a strict GF/DF for definitely 1 year, perhaps 2. he was about 5 yrs old at the time. yes, the social times were the toughest -- bringing something for him to eat while everyone had pizza at a party; he'd have a chocolate bar while everyone had cake.

as his health improved - like I said, probably after 2 yrs - we began adding one thing a day. first, it was likely one thing, then wait 3 days -- very gradual. I actually never believed the diet was the major issue -- during the time of the strict diet, he had both bad exacerbations and complete remissions. we saw no changes when adding foods.

when we took off all restrictions, he seemed to have trouble regulating eating -- he'd eat a whole meal and then say he was still hungry. he gained a lot of weight in a short time -- 10 lbs in a month or something - ?

he now eats like an average 10 year old. he never ate fruits and veggies. I actually think for any person, a GF/DF diet is the healthiest -- not processed, but rice, meat, veggies and fruit.

as I said, I didn't keep him on that diet b/c I thought it was specifically something to pinpoint changes -- it was more that I thought his whole system was in such a state of disarray that any little bit would be helpful -- just that much less to challenge him.

good luck.

[SSS]

I have, I originally started my dd, now 9, to 100% gluten free, dairy free, and then quickly soy free (when she started demanding and begging for soy yogurts and soy cheese 4 weeks after removal of gluten and dairy)

 

when she was 4 years old. In the past 5 years, we went off the restrictions twice.

We are now back fully to 100% GF/CF and soy protein free, so that should tell you how it went ;-)

 

Dairy leaves the body fully in 3 days, so dairy you should know fairly soon if it's an issue.

Gluten is more insidious - can take months- 3-4 months,

and, it's sneaky in products- when you think you are totally gluten free,

you'll realize the Heinz ketchup your kids been using every day isn't really gluten free...

 

The last time we re-introduced dairy and gluten, I did it with Trienza enzymes, which have DDPV enzyme which is suppose to help digest the dairy and gluten proteins.

It seemed 'okay' for awhile... we went some months---

but we noticed school work was brain fogged. Then, she really was getting to eat crap.

 

Back to 100% we went (and no fight from her! She agreed)

And we saw clearer thinking, and the diet is so much healthier now.

Ridiculously expensive to eat well, but better nourishing for her this way.

[ashley]

Thanks, smartyjones. That is very helpful information. My son is very small for his age (10yo, 53" and only weighs 53 pounds) and he has lost 3 pounds over the past 6 weeks on this diet. I'm worried, even though the pediatrician is not. I would just like to know if the GF/DF diet is helping or hurting at this point . . .

[ashley]

Thank you, sss, your story helps a lot! If the dairy clears from the system that quickly, then perhaps experimenting there would be easiest.

 

Also, are there things I should be looking for on labels that indicate hidden gluten?

[SSS]

Things have gotten a lot better as far as products now be labeled in the tiny print on the back-

if it doesn't actually say 'gluten free' I usually don't buy it, or look it up on the Internet.

 

I bake items from the website 'Elana's Pantry' and own a few of her cookbooks- I find her recipes kid friendly and easy/ not a ton of ingredients. She uses a lot of coconut oil, almond flour-

 

Also, Udi's bread products from the grocery store for dd.