As of the start of today our gluten elimination trial has begun. I am not jumping on the new craze of eliminating gluten just for fun. In fact, I am not extremely excited about this new journey. However, we decided after constant discipline problems at home along with attention difficulty of our oldest daughter, Addison (age 7) we would give it a try. Honestly, we were at our wits end of constantly having to get onto her and the tantrums that should have dissipated about 3 years ago.
My turning point occurred after a day of extreme annoyance and getting in trouble. Addison is a spunky girl and has a lot of wonderful traits. However, she also has some sensory integration issues that we have been aware of for a long time. She often gets upset and tells us that she "can't help from being bad" or "can't control herself". I often times find that as an excuse, but also often time don't believe that she has control of her actions until it is too late. On this particular day, she was sent to bed early secondary to her behavior. I went down to discuss her actions for the day and why she was sent to bed. As I calmly talked to her, her sweet little blue eyes began to fill with tears. She could no longer hold the tears in and began to cry. As I held her and asked why she was crying she told me, "I feel like the stupidest one in the family". My heart broke, we are hard on her, but in no way want to make her feel like less of a person.
After this day, I began to think of options that we had to help her in her life. I think she also has ADD/ADHD issues and considered taking her to the doctor to get medication, but who wants to stick their kid on a stimulant if there is another option. She does not have many issues in school either so, to me, that was another reason to explore other options. However, recently one of her computer based tested scores dropped from September to January and that to me was a red flag. After a particularly bad tantrum about homework last week (and a lot of research), I decided we were trying the gluten free diet. I had a long discussion with her about it and let her know why we were doing it and she was ready to start that day.
So, this is day 1 of operation gluten elimination. I will keep you updated on how this process goes. I really dread the upkeep (especially with parties and going out to eat) and the increased grocery cost. We are giving it a month and based on results, will decide from there. If you have any tips to pass along to make this transition cheaper/easier I would love to hear.
I eliminated gluten from my diet almost 2 years ago. For me it was an intolerance thing. It really isn't that difficult. There are a lot of restaurants that either have an allergy menu there or online. There is a gluten free app (I think it's called find me gluten free) that will find local places that have a gfree menu. It is getting cheaper at the grocery store, because a lot of popular brands are either now labeling stuff that was already gfree or offering gfree products (such as barilla pasta). Mostly we just don't eat a lot of stuff that may have it anyway, cause we got used to pretty much eliminating all grains when we started and it was harder to find gfree products. I'm sure it will be harder with kids, but totally doable. I have friends who have done gfree for behavior as well, and they make their own snacks, granola etc. Pinterest is a huge help to this as well. A month is a good litmus test, we did 60 days as a test...and then I had two muffins and was sick for a week. keep an eye out for off brand canned goods, they use gluten as a filler, and any condensed soup...except progresso does make a mushroom soup that is gfree. Just get used to reading labels. Most of them now say CONTAINS WHEAT...and then you know to put it right back. You'll just have to teach her..which will be a challenge but hopefully it works out for you. It's def easier for us both to eat that way so we don't have to make multiple meals. good luck!
ReplyDeleteGood luck! I have many, many students who are gluten free and have seen a major change with attention.
ReplyDeleteLove your honesty and your family commitment to helping one of your own. I think you will find so much of it is pretty natural. And without an actual intolerance, maybe an occasional treat can be worked in. If there are bakeries near you, they are pros at making gf treats actually taste good :)
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