The Longest Birthday Celebration Ever

Big O turned five in September. I spent a lot of time contemplating how to celebrate his big day. When he turned two, we had a party with a handful of friends at Travel Town. For his third and fourth birthdays, we celebrated with friends in our local park. Each year seemed to see the parties expand in size and complexity.

This year, Grandma was going to be in town for Big O's birthday, so I had arrived at a decision to celebrate his birthday with a family excursion to Lego Land, followed by a small gathering for cupcakes and gifts. Just when I'd felt comfortable that this would be a nice, albeit simple (i.e., no large party with tons of children to feed and entertain), way to commemorate his turning five, our neighbor (an invitee to the small cupcake get together) asked Big O what he wanted for his birthday. Big O began talking, clearly not realizing that said neighbor was asking him what kind of gift he wanted. He described bounce houses (two - one smaller one for the little kids, and one bigger one for himself and his pals), bubbles, balloons, etc.

This was about one week before the Lego Land and cupcake gathering were scheduled to occur and my heart was breaking. I realized that I had made a rather selfish decision to save myself the trouble of having to live up the the past years' kid parties and instead of planning a smaller, less complicated kid party, I found an easier way out. After talking it over with the Professor, we decided to take a new easy way out and pay for someone else to do most of the party. I rushed to call The Little Gym and scheduled a mid-afternoon party with them. The timing was perfect - 2:30p.m. to 4:00p.m. The staff entertain the kids for an hour and feed them snacks and cupcakes for me. I supply the snack and cupcakes. A fruit platter, homemade gluten-free, casein-free, egg-free, soy-free chocolate chip muffins with homemade chocolate frosting, compostable plates, napkins and party hats, and I'm done.

And so, the celebrating began one Friday at Lego Land.

Great place!! We loved it and cannot wait to go back. Lego Land even had food we could eat - fresh fruits, Lara Bars, bunless burger and fries.

On that note, I have to say I was very impressed when I saw a sign on the burger kiosk mentioning that gluten-free buns were available. Of course, their GF buns had egg and casein in them, but still, it was impressive to see that so readily displayed. And I can say I've never been more impressed with a food service employee's response to my grand inquisition - he showed me ingredient labels (took bags and boxes right out of the freezer and let me read the label myself) and then offered to call the head chef to confirm. He remembered all four - gluten, dairy, soy, and egg - without even blinking an eye. I've been in rather fancy restaurants with seemingly caring, sincere, well-paid and well-tipped servers who have not been so thorough or concerned with confirming food ingredients. Now, if only Lego Land offered grass-fed, free-range beef burgers and organic fries with sea salt, I'd really be thrilled!

Two days after Lego Land, it was Big O's actual birthday. With Grandma still here, we spent the morning visiting with my cousin and his girlfriend who live nearby. Then, Big O had his first AYSO soccer game. After soccer, our neighbors across the street came over for sweet potato cupcakes with caramel frosting and to shower Big O with gifts, games, and love.

One of Big O's favorite activities is miniature golf, followed of course, by playing arcade games, collecting tickets and winning "prizes" (mostly of the likes of these). Grandma was up for a day of golf and games the day after Big O's birthday, so off we went for another round of birthday celebrating.

Because we were so late in deciding to do a party, we had to opt for our party at The Little Gym to occur the weekend after Big O's actual birthday - weekend number two of Big O's birthday fun.

One of my cousins and his wife live in Escondido and couldn't make it up the previous weekend but wanted to wish Big O a happy birthday as well. So, on Sunday after Big O's second soccer "game" we had yet another birthday celebration with them.

It's funny how what I'd planned to be the simplest birthday celebration for a five year old turned out to be nearly two weeks of birthday fun. It was actually all pretty easy, though. And so very worth it when, after all was said and done, the Professor and I asked Big O what part of his birthday celebration he liked best and he said "All of it!"

An experiment - GF/CF/SF/EF Shepherd's Pie

I had not envisioned doing much talk about cooking on this blog.  I do a lot of it and I usually enjoy it, but I'm no cooking expert.  I wish I had more time to devote to cooking, but I suppose I could make that if I were to give up time spent doing some other things (like trying to write a blog entry now and then...).  =)

Anyway, though I do not expect to be posting "our food" here very often, I sometimes wonder why people feel badly or sad for us when they find out what we do not eat.  The only time it really gets 'in the way' is when we try to eat out, which of course is such a big part of American life.  But I try to not focus on what we cannot eat, and think in terms of what we can eat.  It's a lot easier that way, and seems more positive for the Os as they grow up with our diet.  

If I were to be honest, I do miss cheese.  I do not miss other dairy products really, just cheese. And I have indulged in cheese on occasion the couple of months.  Probably three times.  No, it was probably four.  I have to say, it only lived up to my expectations, my memory of what it was like to enjoy cheese, one of those times.

And I wish we could eat eggs.  It would make gluten-free baking a lot easier and they are such a great source of protein and many other good things.

But, the truth is that I have very little desire to go back to eating gluten, milk/casein, soy, or eggs because I have seen the benefits and improvements in myself and my children.  And, more significantly, I have seen the setbacks and discomforts after an infraction.  My ears are still stuffy and 'bubbly' sounding, I have been tired and grumpier than usual after the last cheese indulgences (two of those aforementioned incidents were in the past few days).  Oh, and, yeah, the bowels have noticed, too.

I digress.  Sometimes I think people really wonder exactly what we eat - as if it were some strange gruel that our food choices have been reduced to.  It is simple, but it's not gruel.  

Fruits, vegetables, chicken, beef, pork, sometimes fish, home made baked treats, rice bread, rice or corn based cereals, coconut milk ice cream. . . various combinations of the above and other items like cocoa/chocolate, corn chips, potato chips, guacamole, salsa, hummus, rice crackers, etc.  We chose to buy organic and/or sustainable products as much as possible and I am continually seeking out ways to affordably acquire humanely raised and organic meats.

Supper can be as simple as bun-free burgers with roasted rosemary potatoes and raw carrot sticks.  Or, on days when I get a little more creative with the meat, potatoes, onions, fresh carrots, and frozen peas, I experiment with things like Shepherd's Pie.  I used the chicken left over from the previous night's roasted chicken.  I got the potatoes into boiling water and then sautéed the onions and carrots a bit, added in some home made chicken stock (à la Nourishing Traditions) that was in my freezer, and stirred in some potato starch to thicken.  I added in the frozen peas and chicken and poured the concoction into a casserole dish.  The potatoes were mashed with olive oil, coconut milk, garlic, and salt, then spread on top. I baked the whole thing a short while and served.  It wasn't bad for gruel.

Sunday Surprise - #2

So, once again, it's rather late, but it's still Sunday!  Today's been a surprise in and of itself around here.  We've spent the bulk of the day in a very unexpected way and we're all exhausted.  I think I will keep things very short and sweet this week.  (Hard to believe I can actually keep an entry short, but here goes. . .)

One might be surprised to know that the term "non-dairy" does not necessarily mean that the item does not contain any dairy components.  Unfortunately, the term "non-dairy" was long ago hijacked by the food industry to describe items which did not contain lactose, a milk sugar.  For many of us, milk proteins such as casein and whey are the more problematic components of dairy, not lactose.  

Most non-dairy creamers, cheese products, yogurts, etc., that I have seen are not fully free of dairy/milk components. They often contain milk protein(s) such as casein and/or whey. 

I imagine that some people who decide to do a trial of a dairy-free diet (for themselves and/or their child) may not realize that non-dairy does not necessarily equate to dairy-free or milk-free or casein-free.  When they do not notice a change for the better, they may erroneously conclude that dairy was not the culprit behind the symptoms they were hoping to resolve by going dairy-free.  

I also know a lot of well-meaning and very considerate parents who have wanted to offer my children a dairy-free alternative at birthday parties or other gatherings, but have ended up offering a "non-dairy" item that is not free of milk protein.  

So, if you are trying to eliminate dairy or are kindly trying to accommodate a friend's casein/milk-free diet - beware the misleading term "non-dairy."   It would not be a surprise to find casein, whey, or other milk proteins in a product labeled non-dairy.  

Arrggh! Gluten! Or was it casein? Maybe it was soy.

Maybe it was a combination, I have no clue right now.  What I do know is that I'm tired and I'm grumpy. Not the best way to start a post.  

But, I hope to help people understand why I won't give in to just a little bite of this or a tiny smidge of that when it comes to our dietary modifications.  Why I won't just "indulge" once in a while.  Some people have even rolled their eyes at me over this issue, particularly as it relates to the Os.  I get the sense that they think I'm depriving our children of some fantastical version of childhood in which a birthday party without ice cream cones and birthday cake is tantamount to child abuse.

Yes, it would be a LOT easier to not adhere to our dietary modifications.  Heck, it would be  lot easier if we followed only our dietary modifications most of the time.  It would take a lot less planning and cooking and packing for a day at the beach.  It would take a lot less time figuring out clever ways to help my children feel confident about their food choices as they watch their friends eat cheesy fish-shaped crackers and cups of yogurt.  It would take a lot less creativity and energy in distracting them with our own snacks at the library story hour instead of letting them grab a bag of crunchy-munchy-sugary-gluten-thingies like the other kids.

I'll digress more into how we got to our current dietary modifications in a post soon - when I'm out of this food infraction induced haze - but for now, let me share with you a few of the reasons why I will not budge on our dietary restrictions.  

Here are some of the symptoms we can experience after a food infraction:

Little O

• Quite foul and seemingly painful flatulence.
  
• Gastrointestinal distress, including acid reflux, manifest by his writhing and restlessness and the gurgling (boiling?) sounds in his abdomen and throat.
  
• At least one sleepless night with intermittent crying and constant restlessness. Often multiple restless nights.
  
• Constipation.  This kid poops like clockwork - nearly to the hour each day.  When he misses an event, I know we've had one of our banned foods (if, by some miracle, we didn't already spend a sleepless night prior to his skipping a bowel movement).  When he finally does pass a stool, it is painful and much harder than his typical stool.  Often less volume of stool as well.
  
• Scaly scalp.  Some would still call this cradle cap at age 2, I call it "Dammit - we got glutened again!" 
• Patchy red rash. Sometimes on his torso, sometimes on his bottom, sometimes his inner thighs.  Sometimes multiple locations.  The photo below hardly does it justice, but I am a novice photographer and cannot seem to get the settings to align such that the camera can capture the raging redness of the thousands of tiny bumps across his torso.  Maybe it's eczema or other dermatitis.  I don't really care the exact diagnosis because I know it is directly related to a food infraction.
  
  

Big O

• Excessive and foul flatulence.
• Constipation rears its ugly head and can result in a big set back.  He can be sent into the downward spiral of withholding, which can take us weeks to recuperate from.
  
• Cranky, irritable, moody, and at times, tantrumy.
  
• Restless at night.
• Frequent urination; cloudy urine; urine pH is off.
• Night-time bed wetting.  He's 4.5 years old and has been able to stay dry all night for some time now.  I can confidently say that when he wets the bed (our bed. . .) it nearly always correlates to a dietary infraction.
• Nasal congestion. (His persistent nasal congestion disappeared within a week of our eliminating gluten (we'd already been casein-free, egg-free, and soy-free at that point.)
• Mild rash/dry skin on his torso.
• Tiny ulcers in his mouth.
  
• Grinds teeth at night.

Mom (that's me)

• Fatigue.  Extreme fatigue.
• Mental 'fog.' Haziness. Difficulty concentrating.
• Fatigue + mental fog = irritability
• Headache; sometimes migraines
• Digestive discomforts not unlike what the Os experience. 
• pH imbalances
• Acne flare up.
• Depending on the degree of the infraction a cold sore or mouth ulcers may develop.
• Grind teeth.
• Aches and pains, particularly in joints - though this reaction has thankfully diminished excessively over the past year.  This recent infraction has left me with achy knees, but nothing like the total body ache and discomfort I would have experienced a year ago after an infraction.

I am certain these are not the most severe reactions relative to what I've read some children and families endure.  I am thankful each day that we figured this out while the Os are still so young and perhaps spared them some further complications and/or more severe reactions.  

But can you imagine what Little O's skin would look like if we didn't know gluten, casein, and soy cause him to break out in this red, irritating rash?  If we stopped modifying our diet, I'd bet his skin would become more irritated, drier, and more painful. Doctors would probably recommend various drugs, steroids, and chemical-laden creams to slather all over him. Who knows how many hundred of dollars I would have spent in vain trying to find the most natural creams and oils to soothe his dermatitis? 

No thanks.  We can handle the elimination diet.  The Professor is becoming more supportive and has begun to (I think) better appreciate the ramifications of even a minor infraction for the kids.  My close friends are very considerate and thoughtful - they indulge my frustrations and complaints from time to time when I do get frustrated with our diet and they are always figuring out how to offer the Os foods that fit our modifications.

It is times like this, when I see my children experiencing pain and discomfort that I renew my commitment to the diet, I tell myself not to complain about the difficulties we sometimes face due to the dietary modifications, and I remind myself of just how much better we all can feel when we eat right for us.

Sunday Surprise

It’s a little late, but it’s still Sunday! So here it is – the first “Sunday Surprise” at The Science Mom.

When I first began an elimination diet while breastfeeding Big O, I was entirely unaware of the many secret sources of certain food allergens. (A bit more on that story here.) I remember thinking I’d miss having cream in my coffee – but wait! There’s that powdered non-dairy creamer stuff – I’ll just use that. Then I thought a little more about it. Hmmm, just what the heck is in non-dairy creamer if it is not made from milk or cream? To my surprise, a quick scan of the non-dairy creamer label revealed that, in addition to many ingredients I’d rather not ingest, it indeed had casein, a milk protein, in it.

It was infuriating to think that something could be labeled “non-dairy” if it actually has a milk protein in it! As I began to scrutinize other ingredient labels, I realized there were a lot of unexpected and, sometimes hidden, sources of food allergens.

I’m starting a “Sunday Surprise” entry here each week. I will post information about surprising sources of food allergens – like gluten, milk/casein, egg, soy, corn, etc. I will probably never be able to detail all the hidden food allergens in foods, drugs, and supplements, but, I hope that by sharing a little each week in the Sunday Surprise, others might avoid an unexpected set back due to accidental food allergen exposure.

This week’s “Sunday Surprise” is (drum roll please. . .) soy sauce.

Of course, it is not surprising soy sauce contains soy (which is a problematic food for some of us). But did you know that soy sauce generally contains wheat, and therefore, gluten? Most experienced gluten-free dieters are aware of this. Personally, I was very surprised to learn that soy sauce typically contains wheat/gluten. Wheat-free soy sauce is available (e.g., tamari), but labels must be carefully read to ensure you’re getting a wheat/gluten-free soy sauce. The ingredient list on snack foods that may contain soy sauce (e.g., some versions of rice crackers and Asian-style rice snacks) need to be carefully scrutinized as well.

Another surprise about soy sauce is that it is used in unexpected ways in restaurant cooking - and I’m not talking about just at Asian food restaurants. When we eat out, I ask questions, make special requests, and ask more questions. I research on-line menus and ingredient statements. Of course, looking at a restaurant’s ingredient statements will likely cause anyone to think twice about ingesting the “food” at some establishments – fast food and chain establishments having some of the most, shall we say,  frightening interesting ingredient statements (see, e.g., my first TSM blog entry).  

Back to soy sauce. In my experience, I have found that we can often find foods that meet our requirements at Mexican food restaurants. However, I have also found that soy sauce is used a lot in Mexican food restaurants. Many Mexican food restaurants I’ve been to in Southern California do use soy sauce in their meat marinades – for fajitas, carne asada, etc. You must, of course, ask the right questions to find this out – asking simply about gluten or wheat will not necessarily reveal soy sauce. A lot of people (like myself pre-gluten-free) do not realize soy sauce has gluten in it. For us, we are avoiding soy, too, which is how I’ve come across so much soy sauce usage in Mexican food restaurants.

Really, any restaurant food that is marinated might contain soy sauce in the marinade and it is well worth it to ask about the specific ingredients of the marinade. Even non-marinated items, like a hamburger patty, can contain soy sauce. It’s been surprising learning about restaurant food ingredients – surprising indeed.

So there you have it – the first Sunday Surprise at The Science Mom!