Gluten & Dairy Free

These past 9 months have been a series of experiments for us as we tried to figure out what is best for Mr. B.  Over the last few years he has developed a bit of a “belly” which I couldn’t fully understand due to our organic whole food diet that makes up the majority of our meals.  For a long time I just chalked it up to “that’s his body type” but in the back of my mind it always sort of confounded me.  Then this past summer Mr. B expressed embarrassment over his belly because kids were asking him why he was fat.  I knew then that it was time for me to really dig in and see what was going on.  I had suspected that the problem may have been created by his ADHD medication, Guanfacine, but after taking him off the medication for 6 months there was no change in his body shape or weight.  That ruled out Guanfacine as the culprit, which I am very happy about since he really needs his medicine and it is the only one that works for helping him control his ADHD without making him manic. 

Next AH gathered a list of nutritionist that are part of our insurance network.  Let me just say right now that I really truly believe that God does answer prayers and I have personally had many specific prayers answered, especially when they are about the welfare of my children.  As I sat down with the list from AH I reluctantly called the first number on the list.  Thankfully the person was not at that number because it just didn’t feel right to me.  Then I took a good long look at the list and felt guided to call Susan Gins.  Susan actually answered her phone and proceeded to spend about 30 minutes talking with me about Mr. B, my concerns and how best to help him.  She was warm, listened really well, had great ideas and made me feel really comfortable.  A few days later we went to see her and she was even better in person.  We talked about Mr. B’s ADHD, his diet, body shape and how all these things tie together.  She recommended a temporary gluten and dairy free diet for Mr. B to see if he had sensitivities that would not show up on an allergy test (though we did blood-work as well).  She recommended great foods that he could eat, had actual packaging of brands (so helpful) and recipes for us to try.  I met with her again three weeks later and she walked me through how to start adding foods back in, what to look for that would indicate sensitivity and so forth.  She has been wonderful, not overwhelming, held my hand, called to check in, emailed to check in again and just a pleasure to have help guide me through this process. 

This past week I took AH back in to talk with Susan about the elimination results.  We didn’t notice any sensitivities (behaviorally or physically) as we tested the wheat (gluten) and dairy food items with Mr. B.  I was feeling a bit discouraged because I didn’t know what the next step would be (it seems like we’ve tried everything under the sun) but then we decided to see where Mr. B was at on the scale because Susan said she thought he looked very different to her.  Well to my amazement Mr. B was 13 pounds lighter than he was just two months (nearly to the day) prior.  I never ever expected this because Mr. B has been eating gluten/dairy free macaroni & cheese, pizza, chips, vanilla soy milk, chocolate soy milk, cupcakes, bagels, cream cheese, sour cream . . . stuff we did not eat before!  She and I talked about why this works for his body and she recommended keeping him on a mostly gluten/dairy free diet (he can have a little of one or the other every 3^rd day).  Now that I know this is going to be his “normal” diet I can start getting the gluten free “wheats, etc.” and cooking more from scratch instead of buying premade meals for him.

Through it all Mr. B has been quite the trouper.  He LOVES the soy milk and said that even if he can have regular milk again he wanted to continue with the soy instead.  He understands that in order for his body to be healthy he has to make healthy choices and that for him that means limiting wheat and dairy.  Thankfully we live in an age and an area where I can go into many stores or restaurants and easily find items that fit that bill and taste delicious!