School Age Kids..

[elaine33]

Ryan is SO fussy and this is making things extremely stressful for me in terms of getting him to stick to the diet. We are going full force the following week because it is conference week and he will be at home for lunch so that will make things easier. I am trying to plan and stock up for our elimination week. Any helpful ideas would be SO appreciated. Thank you.

[Cheri A]

Elaine ~ we are on a pretty restricted diet. When you say he's fussy, do you mean picky?

Carleigh's typical breakfast ~ grits, fruit, toast (homemade bread). She sometimes also eats some cucumber, green pepper or fresh green beans.

Lunch ~ leftovers reheated in a thermos or plain meat, Glutino pretzels or plain chips, fruit, cucumber or green beans, fruit cups.

Snacks are usually fresh fruit or veggies.

Dinner ~ chicken, beef, pork, potatos, veggies etc.

[celiacgirls]

One of my kids is gluten/casein intolerant and very picky. She does not eat many fruits and vegetables at all. She eats:

Breakfast - usually grits, sometimes pancakes, Perky 0's cereal, Gorilla Munch, Peanut Butter Panda Puffs (she eats them dry since she doesn't like milk subs), orange juice

Lunch - Tyson chicken legs, shrimp, sausage, or Wellshire Farms chicken nuggets, leftover rice, some kind of fruit or veggie, Lays plain potato chips, Tostitos, Stax, popcorn, gluten-free treat like a cookie, muffin, cake, sometimes pizza They have a microwave at school that she can use which makes it easier.

Dinner - plain meats or fish, rice or baked potato, veggie

She likes Pamela's Amazing Wheat-free Bread especially made into rolls.

Also, the fruit snacks by General Mills are gluten-free. Capri Sun is made by Kraft and at least some of them are gluten-free.

Her favorite food used to be macaroni and cheese. She would take a cheese stick and plain cereal for her lunch. She actually eats a lot more variety now.

She didn't have any abdominal symptoms but tested positive by Enterolab. She did have behaviour/mood issues. Before she was gluten-free, I was constantly battling with her to get her to eat healthier foods. When we made the switch to gluten-free, at first, I gave that up because the most important thing for me was that she was gluten-free. I provided lots of naturally gluten-free treats/junk so she would like what she was eating. Even now, I make sure she has plenty of snacks she likes that aren't as healthy as I would like, just so she doesn't cheat.

You could also have ice cream and pudding if he's not casein free.

[Guest nini]

My daughter's typical day

Breakfast: usually cereal w/ milk, lately it's either Nature's Path corn flakes or Health Valley Rice or Corn Crunch Em's or grits with cheese, or scrambled eggs or leftover gluten-free pancakes

Lunches: PB&J sandwich on Kinnikinick bread, Leftovers heated up in the morning and put in thermos, Ian's Allergen Free/gluten-free chicken nuggets or fish sticks, heated up in the morning and wrapped in foil with ketchup to dip in, Hormel Kid's Kitchen Beanie's and Weanies, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, Applegate farms hot dogs heated up in the morning and wrapped in foil, Tacos with leftover taco meat also heated up in morning and wrapped in foil (lately though she's been able to get some of her lunches at school because I met with the county dietician for the school system and the cafeteria manager and found out what regular menu items are gluten-free and we pick out her menu at the beginning of each week to supplement what I send from home.

Snacks: fresh fruit, veggie stix(carrots, celery) and dip, nachos, applesauce, pudding cups, yogurt, smoothies

dinner: spagetti with Tinkyada pasta, baked chicken, tacos, Mrs Leepers Hamburger helper style meals, plain meats and veggies... potatoes...

[Guhlia]

My daughter is relatively picky also, though she's been expanding her tastes a bit lately. Is Ryan just gluten free or is he casein free as well?

Breakfast: eggs & bacon or ham, banana pictures (I cut bananas up and arrange them into pictures and decorate with cinnamon or colored sugar), pumpkin pancakes (I have a great recipe, just PM me if you want it), Perky-O's and fruit

Lunch: Wrap sandwiches w/ Mission corn tortillas (I love sweet bologna and cheese), Mac & Cheese, Hot dogs and fruit, ham and applesauce, chicken nuggets (easy to make your own) and fruit, veggie wedges & ranch dressing w/ chicken

Dinner: Meatloaf using gluten free rice/corn cereal instead of breadcrumbs and veggies in cheese sauce, fish sticks (easy to make yourself), hamburgers (no bun, seasoned at home), fruit salad (use fruit juice rather than syrup and sneak some cooked carrots in)

Snacks: Popsicles (I use carrots, berries, fruit juice, green beans, other veggies and freeze them, she doesn't know the difference), cheese cubes, veggie strips w/ dipping sauces (carrots and BBQ is a hit with my daughter), try mixing tomato or carrot juice in w/ their regular juices for added nutrition.

[elaine33]

My daughter is relatively picky also, though she's been expanding her tastes a bit lately. Is Ryan just gluten free or is he casein free as well?

We are both casein and gluten free. Thanks so much for the great ideas!!.

Nini, I am so hopeful about the Ian's chicken nuggets. Nuggets have been a favorite of his for a while and thinking of taking them away from him has been a major hurdle for me. Are they any good? I looked on their website and it says Acme and Shop-Rite have them so I will have to check that out. Are you having to go to a specialty store to find them in your area?

Ryan is a very, very picky eater and has been since infancy. I have often thought he has some sensory and texture issues because he turned down a good deal of baby food as a baby. Even the smells of foods gross him out. My older daughter is 16 and she ate EVERYTHING so this was a new experience for me. It was really difficult for me to just get him to expand his menu when I didn't know he had dietary restrictions (other than the milk, which we knew about but he was tolerating yogurt and cheese okay but the nutritionist says no to all dairy/casein).

This is going to be a major battle. We are thinking that starting next week we are going to have no gluten in the house and offer him his breakfast, lunch and dinner which will mostly all be new foods to him as everything he would eat before was breaded. If he doesn't eat, he will have to wait until the next snack/meal.

Anyone have any helpful advice? I should say more helpful advice.

[Nic]

We are both casein and gluten free. Thanks so much for the great ideas!!.

Nini, I am so hopeful about the Ian's chicken nuggets. Nuggets have been a favorite of his for a while and thinking of taking them away from him has been a major hurdle for me. Are they any good? I looked on their website and it says Acme and Shop-Rite have them so I will have to check that out. Are you having to go to a specialty store to find them in your area?

Ryan is a very, very picky eater and has been since infancy. I have often thought he has some sensory and texture issues because he turned down a good deal of baby food as a baby. Even the smells of foods gross him out. My older daughter is 16 and she ate EVERYTHING so this was a new experience for me. It was really difficult for me to just get him to expand his menu when I didn't know he had dietary restrictions (other than the milk, which we knew about but he was tolerating yogurt and cheese okay but the nutritionist says no to all dairy/casein).

This is going to be a major battle. We are thinking that starting next week we are going to have no gluten in the house and offer him his breakfast, lunch and dinner which will mostly all be new foods to him as everything he would eat before was breaded. If he doesn't eat, he will have to wait until the next snack/meal.

Anyone have any helpful advice? I should say more helpful advice.

We have had the Ian's and the Wellshire Farms chicken nuggets and both are good. But I just discovered Ener G Foods gluten free bread crumbs and when you follow the recipe for fried chicken it tastes pretty much like the real thing. I was so excited. In the past 2 weeks I have breaded both chicken and fish and made a meatloaf. I can't wait to make meatballs. I am going to start making my own nuggets as well. I know the excitment sounds silly but it really makes me so happy for him to be able to eat some of the things we used to eat before the diet.

Nicole

[Guest nini]

I get the Ian's at the health food store my hubby works at... I've seen the Wellshire brand nuggets at Whole Foods and the Ian's nuggets there too. Do you have a Whole Foods near you?

[Cheri A]

My dd likes the Ians' fishsticks, but doesn't like the chicken nuggets. I also have a chicken nugget recipe that is pretty good. I make a bunch and then freeze them in individual portions for her. Much less expensive that way too!

[Izak's Mom]

I've tried the Ian's chicken nuggets and quite honestly thought they were gross - tasted like paper. I've heard better things about the fishsticks but haven't tried them myself. Though I'm sure you could make homemade versions without too much effort that would be a hundred times better testing.