Celiacs And Multiple Allergies-food Suggestions Please

[learningmom]

hi,

my son is 3 and he was first diagnosed with celiac disease at 14 months and since then we have found out that he is also allergic to many other foods and things, including wheat, peanuts, walnuts, pecans(possibly all nuts), eggs, dustmites, mold, dogs, cats, and a few other things.

We recently found out that he has eosiniphilic esophagitis which the allergists are trying to figure out from what. The testing they've done show that he may be reacting from chicken and pork.

SO, my question is does anyone have any real good suggestions for high calorie, high fat, easy foods to feed my son. he's under weight and small for his age and the suggestion from the dietician to cover all of his food in butter isn't appealing to him. he does like to eat a lot of cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese.

thanks

[Guhlia]

What about frying things in bacon grease? It adds flavor and who doesn't like bacon?

[dbmamaz]

I dont really think coating food in grease of any sort really helps a child grow healthier. He doesnt just need calories, he needs all the parts of nutrition to build cells!

Anyways, cheese does have a lot of fat and nutrition, and i used to be totally addicted to cheese - so you could make wheat-free pizza, grilled cheese on wheat-free bread, wheat-free mac-n-cheese. But then you worry if he's reacting to milk too, which is so common! OH also cheeseburgers! Coconut oil is a very low allergy good tasting fat you can try mixing in to things - like milkshakes, even.

Also, you can try butters made from seeds - tanini and sunflower butter, instead of peanut butter.

But dont forget the fruits and veggies too! And beans, if you can get him to eat them somehow, are a great source of nutrition, tho certianly low fat. Oh, and there's potato chips, on the other end of the spectrum!

good luck on getting your little guy healthy.

[shayesmom]

For snacks, you could try dips like guacamole or hummus. Or even artichoke/spinach dip with gluten-free bread and veggies.

Meatballs, cabbage rolls, hamburgers, meatloaf, pot roast....and how about fish? Is he allergic to fish/shellfish?

Applegate Farms makes hot dogs that are either beef, chicken or turkey and are organic.

Pastas with alfredo sauce (yes, it can be done gluten-free!) are also a good option.

And I agree with the previous poster about the coconut oil. It's a healthy, low allergy addition for cooking....especially at high temperatures. I love using it when making pancakes. And coconut milk works great in gluten-free baking. For some reason, it lends a lot of moisture to them that other milks cannot replicate.

Twice-baked potatoes may also work out quite well for you.

[Crishelle]

He needs nutrition, not just calories. Try making some gluten-free bread and spreading humus on it. If he is not kean on garlic, you can add just about any flavor to it and it has a great texture. It has loads of good fat and some nutrition. Also what about spaghetti? I believe Tinkyada is egg free...Some people don't realize that you can finely chop and add just about any vegetable (including spinach and zuccini) to the sauce and not be able to tast it! that would help with his vitamins alot!

[crittermom]

Our dietician told us the same about Michael, to give him high fat foods to add calories. Michael really liked mixed veggies so I started adding butter to them. He would eat corn on the cob with butter as well.

Not very healthy but potato chips are a good source of fat. As suggested earlier I would cook some of his meat with bacon grease or just give him bacon in general.

The way our dietician explained it was trying to add some high fat things to his normal food, like just adding a small amount of oil to sauces. Or pasta with a butter/oil scampi type sauce.

With Katharine, well she wouldn't eat any meat or veggies so we would purree EVERYTHING together and hide it in pasta sauce. You would be amazed what you can hide in there!

Another thing my MIL used to do with my husband is cook a ton of veggies in a pot with water until they were mush. Cook up some sausage and sautee onions. She would purree the meat onions and veggies in a blender with the liquid from the veggies until it was really smooth and voila "Yellow Soup" was born. Not real high in fat but lots of flavor. I make it every winter, it's really good stuff!

Good luck!

[learningmom]

Thank you for all the suggestions.

I have a question regarding the advice.

i noticed that a lot of you suggested gluten free bread products and bacon grease. he is allergic to eggs and can't eat pork or poultry, so are these breads egg free and is there bacon made of beef?

[Cheri A]

Learningmom,

((hugs)) You've got a lot of restrictions. My daughter has a lot of the same allergies, except for the meat. You said that he has EE. I don't know much about that, but I am a member of another website that is HUGE and has other moms who deal with EE and EG. I think you would get a wealth of helpful information there for that.

Sometimes the board gods don't allow other sites to be listed. If it doesn't work, then I will PM you the site.

Open Original Shared Link

[Izak's Mom]

What about frying things in bacon grease? It adds flavor and who doesn't like bacon?

delicious as that sounds (to my pregnant self!) - wouldn't that count as pork? might not be good for the whole EE issue.

hmmm...what about other meats & fish? lamb chops, steak, meat & bean chili...baked potatoes with cheese & broccoli! & sour cream too, if dairy's not an issue. my 2 1/2 year old loves rices pasta with a little olive oil & parmesan cheese - he'd eat it every night if i let him. i've also made fish cakes for him - canned salmon with some gluten-free breadcrumbs, chopped celery, onion, red/yellow pepper - you could use egg replacer to bind it (i use an egg), then make into little patties, coat with more breadcrumbs & fry in olive oil. or make banana bread with coconut & coconut oil...

[Izak's Mom]

Thank you for all the suggestions.

I have a question regarding the advice.

i noticed that a lot of you suggested gluten free bread products and bacon grease. he is allergic to eggs and can't eat pork or poultry, so are these breads egg free and is there bacon made of beef?

you can always use egg replacer (my vegan friends use it), and turkey bacon is an option (although not sure if he's reacting to chicken if he'd have the same issues with turkey). the avocado suggestion is great - that's definitely high fat (the good kind!) and high calorie, and you could probably hide it in something like a milkshake if he doesn't like it straight up.

[dbmamaz]

are these breads egg free and is there bacon made of beef?

Now that you are dealing with multiple allergies, you will need to make a habit of reading food lables like a maniac! Nothing is safe! I saw a humorous 'you know you're a celiac if' post, and my favorite was "you read the ingredients for green tea - plain green tea".

The point is, dont feed your child anything unless you've read every single ingredient on the box. Ingredients which I thought were safe my first few weeks, I later learned not to trust (malt flavoring, natural flavor, modified food starch). Sure, grocery shopping takes a LITTLE longer

But the health food store (or aisle, of a really good grocery store) or websites like all the links on the side of this forum, have lots of great options, as long as you are careful.

[shan]

Both mine were crazy underweight, and for the older one - 3 this week! - we were actually told by our pediatrician to put her on a dairy only, or mostly, diet. This was before she was diagnosed celiac, and before we realised that dairy caused her exzema to flair up!! Having said that, she ate loads of dairy, she had approx 5 yoghurts a day and loads of milk in either a cup or bottle and she put on loads of weight!! The best diet!!!

[Tiffy]

When I was trying to get healthy again, I would mix tahini(sesame paste, very nutritious) with honey, and a little bit of hot water, then mix in some plain full fat yogurt. It didn't cause me to gain weight but it did make me feel a lot more healthy.