It was hard enough for my husband and I to become mostly
wheat free. But our change also affected
our children, who were 7 and 5 at the time.
Since we eat as a family for most meals, and I make one meal for everyone,
the kids naturally started to eat less wheat.
To make the shift to wheat free easier it was best not to have any wheat
products in the house. We no longer
bought bread (including waffles, bagels, and donuts), crackers, or pasta. Instead we stocked up on veggies, nuts,
fruits, and other whole foods. Rice
cakes and popcorn became snack staples early on. As our kids eventually ate more vegetables,
nuts, and fruits they stopped asking for cereal, goldfish, or other processed
snacks and foods they used to love. The rule
in our house became if you are hungry between meals you can have as many
vegetables and nuts that you want. We
have since refined this a little to be most vegetables, and a small amount of
nuts – as we have learned it is possible to have too many nuts. If there is something that they want – like
banana bread – we now make it in healthier way using almond or coconut flour.
One of the biggest challenges in the beginning was
breakfast. Cereal and toast were so
easy. Now what? When we stopped buying cereal the kids would
search and search for something that they recognized as breakfast. There would even be frequent outburst of “I
wish you guys didn't read that stupid book!”
At times I wondered why we were doing this, and if it would make a
difference for them. From what we had learned, eating less when was
the right thing, so we pushed on. Breakfast
became a rice cake topped with peanut butter, banana, and a sprinkle of
cinnamon, or a bowl of oatmeal with berries, nuts, and a drizzle of honey. While those are better choices compared to
cereal and toast, they got boring quickly.
We soon began to think out of the box.
Breakfast has become more about what do we feel like eating. Some days breakfast is eggs and bacon or
oatmeal, other days it’s a salad with lunch meat, or celery sticks with peanut
butter. Our kids think it’s fun to have
other foods for breakfast – and not stick with the traditional breakfast foods.
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| My son's lunch |
Lunch was also a challenge at first too. Our kids liked to have grilled cheese, peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches, or macaroni and cheese for lunch. Our daughter even got hooked on Ramen noodles
– this was the food item she asked for the longest. Packing school lunch was easy with these
quick convenience foods; even the Ramen noodles went to school in a
thermos. When we stopped buying bread
and noodles there was some resistance for reading that “stupid book”. In the beginning lunch was fruit and a
granola bar like usual, but getting some protein in there seemed harder. Cheese sticks, yogurt, and beans became part
of their normal lunches. On the weekends
and no-school days lunch wasn't much easier, and once again I had to remember
why we made this change, and look to the Internet and Pinterest for help. Today lunches are still the most difficult
for me, but include many more choices.
Our kids eat tuna or egg salad, other various salads, fruit, carrots,
nuts, protein bars, rolled up lunch meat, soup, or beans for lunch. There is still as occasional request for Ramen
noodles, but not a fight over them. She
even loves spaghetti squash with meat sauce now, and takes this for lunch on occasion.
It’s been two and a half years since we got rid of most of
the wheat. Over time we all noticed
differences in how we felt that we didn't realize were connected to the foods
we ate. Over the past year we realized
that our daughter has a sensitivity to milk products. After cutting out wheat we began to see a
pattern of stomach pain, bloating, and congestion after she ate dairy. Yogurt was great as a snack, cheese sticks
were good for packing lunches, and of course many meals are just better when
topped with cheese. Realizing that
dairy might be causing some of what our daughter was feeling we deiced to
remove all milk products as well. Now
our daughter does not have belly pains or stomach bloat and could not be
happier. She knows what she feels like
when she has dairy – so much so that she self-regulates when it comes to dairy
products. She does eat some dairy at
time, but not very often. We are not concerned about her bone health
because she gets a lot of calcium and vitamin D from eating vegetables, beans,
and fish.
Another notable time when our kids notice a difference in
how food makes them feel is when they visit grandma’s house. We realize not everyone is wheat free, and do
not rule with an iron fist when it comes to what the kids eat when not at
home. However, they have learned on
their own. A few times after visiting
grandma and having a donut, cookies, or pizza they have had an upset stomach, headache,
or became moody. We gently remind them
of how they ate differently, and now they feel this way. While they don’t want to believe us they test
this theory on occasion. However, they
are starting to see the connection and choose to either avoid the foods
completely or not over-indulge and be satisfied with just one or two bites.
While it seemed like hell at times, we made it through. There is still an occasional outburst of “I
wish you guys didn't read that stupid book!”
But as a family we have come a long way.
Sticking to what we learned and enforcing the mostly wheat free
lifestyle has paid off, and it has become second nature to grab a handful of
baby carrots, snow peas, or celery with nut butter as a snack. Our kids have
adjusted just fine, and actually choose vegetables, fruits, and nuts on their
own. We feel better than we have in the
past now that we have made the connection between what we put in our mouths and
how it makes us feel.
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