Diet during flare up

In the beginning before I made drastic changes to Liam’s diet I pretty much let him dictate what he wanted to eat within reason. The only area of food I did not budge on was dairy and high fiber foods. Liam’s first “flare up” started July 2010. He was diagnosed October 2, 2010 and after treatment the flare ended December 2010. This flare lasted 6 months. Liam was a great eater before the Ulcerative Colitis started. Little by little he started refusing to eat certain foods that he once loved. He stopped eating all beans, raw vegetables (except for tomatoes and cucumbers) apples with skin, and high fiber breads. All he wanted to eat was instant oatmeal, nitrate free hot dogs, scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage, fruit snacks, smoothies and In and Out Hamburgers. Because he had dropped 7 pounds in 4 weeks, I just fed him whatever he wanted to eat. I worried about the lack of nutrients he was getting, but the doctors kept telling me to give him what he wanted. 

I started tracking his food, per the advice of a friend who lives with Ulcerative Colitis. I started to see a trend. His typical day consisted of:

Breakfast:

Instant Oatmeal or Pancakes with Sausage

Snack:

Banana or Fruit Snack

Lunch:

Hot Dog or Oatmeal

Snack:

1/2 Apple no skin

Dinner:

Hot dog or Chicken with plain rice

Some days I could get him to eat plain chicken legs that were baked or barbecued or some slices of turkey.  These foods must have helped with the pain he was in. I call them his comfort foods. Once his "flare up" ended the oatmeal and hot dogs became a food he refused to eat. He has had two little flares since his very first one and he goes back to the oatmeal and hot dogs. But once he is on the mend he refuses them again. I am not sure if this helps other parents, but if you don't know what to feed your kids during a "flare up", try the foods that I listed above. 

Eliminating Diary

After Liam's first birthday I took him off cheese, ice cream, yogurt and milk. I replaced his milk with lactose free milk, thinking it would do the trick. I removed all cheese, ice cream and yogurt from his diet. I thought, well this is easy. As time went on his tummy was still hurting, so I stopped giving him Lactaid too.  Now I was on the hunt for alternative non-dairy items. First, we tried Almond milk. We did the unsweetened, then sweetened and then vanilla flavor. All of them did not go over  well. He just kept saying "icky mama". Then his GI specialist recommended Coconut Milk. I did not even know they made Coconut Milk, other than the can to cook with. I went to Safeway to buy it and to my surprise they did not carry it. I checked out three other major chain grocery stores and none of them carried it either. 

The next idea I had was our local mom and pop all natural store in town. To my excitement it carried it. To my shock it was $5.99 for a half gallon. I just about died seeing the price. They had three choices, sweetened, original and vanilla. I chose the unsweetened and prayed Liam would like it. I got home gave him a cup and to my surprise he did not say "icky". He was not thrilled about it, but did drink a few sips. Next I gave it to him with some dark chocolate syrup. He drank more this go around, so I was thrilled. Little by little I lessened the amount of chocolate syrup and he eventually was calling it "his milk". Many must be asking "does it taste like coconut?" Surprisingly it does not. I would say the flavor is fine, its just a little on the thick side. Sometimes I put some water in it, to thin it out. The next food to tackle was yogurt. Liam definitely missed his yogurts, so I researched non dairy yogurts and found that the same company made coconut yogurt and ice cream. The yogurt is really good. They have many flavors to choose from. Pina Colada is my favorite while Liam enjoys the chocolate, Savannah loves the raspberry and my husband prefers the vanilla.There ice cream has also become a family favorite, especially the mint. Check out the website http://www.sodeliciousdairyfree.com/ .

Coconut milk has become a savior in our house hold. I use it in place of anything that calls for milk in a recipe. The only recommendation I have is it is thicker than milk, so add water to the recipe if the consistency does not look right. . For example in pancakes I will use the coconut milk exactly how it calls for. After mixing the mixture usually is a little thicker than I want it to be so I add a splash of water at a time until I get the right consistency I want.

Some of you may be thinking what about butter. I don't cook with butter either, since its considered dairy. To replace butter in a recipe I either will use grape seed oil or coconut oil.

I have not found a substitute for cheese for him. He seems to be doing just fine with out it, so I have not pursued it. 

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Liam's cookies

Liam's Cookies:

Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free and Dairy Free

Ingredients:

3 1/2 c. almond flour

1/2 c. coconut oil or Grape Seed oil if you don't like the coconut flavor

1/2 c.  agave nectar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. Dark Chocolate Chips or Vegan chocolate chips from organic and fair trade


*Peanut Butter is not Paleo, but sometimes my kiddos miss peanut butter cookies. Occasionally I will add 1/4 cup Organic all natural Peanut butter. 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a Silpat non-stick silicon baking liner found either online or bed bath beyond. 

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.  In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat the eggs, agave, and vanilla extract with a mixer. I use my kitchen aide instead of a hand mixer and it works great. 

Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and beat with mixer until combined.  Add the melted coconut oil or grape seed oil which ever you prefer into the batter. Be careful the oil tends to fly out until it combines with the batter.   Add chocolate chips then scoop a ball of dough and drop cookie dough onto cookie sheet. Sometimes I make mickey mouse shapes or snowman. Be creative the kids will love it. 

Bake for  8 minutes and let cool on cookie sheet to let cook a tad longer. 

Store in a plastic air tight container if not eaten in one sitting or store in the freezer. These are super good frozen. This recipe came from Everyday Paleo. I tweaked it just a bit to my kiddos liking :)

Where would I be without Trader Joe’s Almond Meal? A 16 oz. bag costs $3.99 and makes life so much easier for people who are on a gluten free diet. Other companies like Bobs Red Mill make almond flour, but its anywhere from 10.99-12.99 for a small bag in the stores. Something that works great is to put the almond Meal in the food processor at home for a smoother texture. Myself I prefer the original texture, but some people like it a little lighter. Almond Flour is great for muffins, cookies, cakes, breads, and a nutty crust on chicken or fish. I posted one recipe called Liam's cookies. Check it out. 

Trader Joe's Almond Meal

Gluten Free Banana Pancakes

My friend Becky sent me this recipe. We have made one similar to it. Give it a try and tell me what you think! 

The recipe can be found on Norcal Strength and Conditioning website. I agree with the suggestion of adding baking soda. Almond Flour definitely does not rise on its own. 

Ingredients needed: 

2 Ripe Bananas
4 Eggs
1 Cup almond flour
1 Cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 Tablespoon of vanilla
1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon 

Directions:


Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Heat coconut oil on medium/low.  Pour 1/4 cup of batter into pan and cook pancake till bottom is browned, then flip.  Be sure to watch these–they can burn easily!

Top with more coconut oil, almond butter, butter, mashed strawberries, or maple syrup.

Liam's Story

Liam is my three year old son, who is living with Ulcerative Colitis. This story is about everything he has gone through in just three short years.


Liam was born 6 1/2 weeks early. He beat all the odds and surprised everyone by being a healthy 6 pound 1 oz baby boy. He spent very little time in the NICU and got to come home with me three days after his birth.  Everything was great until he got his first cold at 8 weeks old and ended up on his first round of antibiotics for a sinus infection. The youngest by far his pediatrician had ever treated. Little did we know at the time this would be the norm for Liam.

He was colic for a good 10 months screaming for hours on end, projectile vomiting due to acid reflux and was constipated all the time. We had him on medication for the reflux as well as the constipation. I changed my diet and nothing seemed to work. One day I went to my chiropractor for lower back pain.  She was asking about Liam and I told her how he was doing. She asked me if she could check him out? After examining his spine she said he was out of alignment in two places. I was a little nervous having my 10 month old adjusted, but I trusted her very much. After she adjusted him, he began to giggle. I could not believe it, he was actually happy.  He had the most normal bowel movement we had ever seen that night and slept. We were thrilled with the results. We took him two more times and the constipation stopped. Even though the constipation was over, he was still fussy.

By his first birthday a friend suggested taking him off all dairy and seeing if his crying and upset tummy's would stop. To this day I am so grateful for her suggestion. Liam was lactose intolerant and in just two days he turned a corner.  Liam was finally the happy 1 year old he was suppose to be. 


We were thrilled to have discovered the lactose problem, but we still had not gotten a handle on him getting sick so often.  By the time Liam was 15 months old he had been on 22 antibiotics. Yes I said 22. My mama gut just kept thinking that something else was wrong.  Finally we ran tests and he was diagnosed with a low immune system....DUH! I kept him isolated as much as I could for a mom who also had a 4 year old daughter to entertain. I took him off tap water, started washing him with sulfate free body wash, gave him garlic and probiotics everyday. I started putting flax seed in his food and hiding the veggies he would not eat in his meals. I wanted to build his immune system up as much as I could. We stopped taking Liam to stores and homes with lots of kids. Everyone had to wash their hands before handling him and if they were sick they had to stay away from him. He still got sick, but it was not as bad as the year prior. At his 2 1/2 year check up he got a clean bill of health. We were all so very excited to be able to do things as a family and not be so isolated.

Things were going great. Liam was antibiotic free for 16 weeks, the longest he had ever gone. It had been three months since he was given a clean bill of health. Things were starting to look up until be got back from a family camping trip in July. Liam started having diarrhea. At first I thought it was from all the summer fruit he was eating. I took him off all fruit and there was no change. He started looking very pale and was eliminating foods. I took him to his pediatrician who decided to treat him for Giardia. He immediately started feeling better.  Unfortunately as soon as he finished the antibiotic, the diarrhea came back. Three doctors researched if Giardia could come back and they said that the antibiotic does not kill the eggs, so the eggs may have hatched. This time Liam was put on the antibiotic for two weeks. Well same thing happened. After two unsuccessful treatments and Liam losing 7 pounds, we were off to a specialist. Liam had a colonoscopy, endoscopy, many biopsy's and blood work done the day after the appointment. The doctor called three days later with a diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis. 


Once we got the diagnosis his doctor put him immediately on 20 mg of prednisone.  For three months we gave him this drug. He had extreme bouts of roid rage, which was difficult on him as well as us.  He became extremely sensitive to touch, and clothing textures. He would have lots of energy, which was uncontrollable at times. It was very hard to watch and not be able to take it away. He started to grow dark hair down the spine of his back. Eventually Liam started to eat again, have some normal bowel movements and gain weight. This drug that turned him into a different kid, was actually working. 

Since the diagnosis I have spent endless hours researching this autoimmune disease, which is incurable. The one thing I keep noticing is there is very little information about children (especially toddlers) living with UC, and very little about preventive measures. Every story I read is about what drug or drugs the doctors have put each person on and what side effects they are experiencing. After reading many similar stories and watching my son deal with the affects of prednisone,  I decided I was going to research alternative ways to help Liam. This is not my disease, its his and he is going to have to learn how to manage it as he gets older. But, for now I can do everything in my power to help him. 

My husband and I kept thinking diet had to be a key component. Liam was eliminating certain foods on his own. I started listening to his requests, even if it was the same food over and over again. I swear there were days, when he only ate instant oatmeal and nitrate free hot dogs. I tried asking his doctors about what foods I could give him. At first they were no help, and just kept saying" give him the drug, its working". After we weaned him off the prednisone, we met with his specialist for a follow up. I told her that I took Liam off all dairy, high fiber foods, raw veggies, and beans. She was impressed that I did that on my own. She suggested also taking him off sugar. Along with that I decided to only eat organic food and eliminate gluten, nitrates, corn products, and corn fed animals. It has been quite the journey so far. At first I only changed Liam's diet, but it got to difficult giving his sister things he could not have. I decided that we were going to all do it together. Some things have been easier than others, but overall it is going well.


 This is Liam's journey, but also our families journey. I am hoping this blog can help other families out there dealing with this disease. I hope I can be support to other moms, dads, grandparents or just anyone who has a child living with this disease. Maybe some of the things I do with Liam can help others and help them to get their UC under control. Liam has had only one other "flare up" since his first big one. He was put on only 5mg of prednisone for two weeks. The specialist was extremely pleased and impressed he got off it so quickly. She thinks the change in diet may have helped. Only time will tell, but so far so good!