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Deinonychus
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02 Mar 2010, 2:04 pm

My daughter has always been a picky (selective) eater. She is also gluten intolerant. From the time she was a baby she would seldom eat fruits and vegetables, only bananas, and some pasta sauces. Initailly I didn't know what gluten was. I knew she was always sicker than her peers so I tried to pump her up with fruits and vegetables in the form of homemade quick breads and muffins (which she loved, but she was steadily getting more sick more frequently.) After going through a very lengthy elimination diet we are now at a point where we are trying to reintroduce foods to her and we now that she is severely gluten intolerant.
This is the hole I have dug for myself.

1) She associates "healthy" food with feeling sick, since for so long I would talk about healthy eating in her hearing range with other parents, and talk alot about how healthy her home made food was while I was trying to understand why she was sick all the time. She also overheard more than enough conversations with doctors and nutritionists where I talked about how "healthy" her diet was, why was she so sick, etc. She now says "Healthy food makes me sick." How can I get her to understand that not all healthy foods will make her sick, just the gluten ones.

2) She will no longer eat as wide a variety of foods as she did before starting the elimination diet. She no longer eats things like pasta sauce, blueberries in her pancakes, bananas, or applesauce. She will also no longer eat home made baked goods even though we now only use gluten free ingredients and keep a strictly gluten free household. How can I encourage her to eat a wider variety of foods? This is particularly important since she will need to maintain a gluten free diet. Is this a temporary thing? Will it get easier or harder as she grows to expand her diet and the food textures / tastes?

3) She will, undrestandably, eat just about any junk food (cereal /granola/ cookies/ breakfast bars) that are labeled gluten free. At first we let her do this quite a bit since we wanted her to establish a trusting relationship with food. This seems to have backfired as she now says things like "healthy foods make me sick, but junk food makes me feel healthy." She will also go on hunger strikes if I keep said junk food in the house, eating nothing but it. I don't want to eliminate junk food altogether (everyone needs a sweet once in a while) but how can I get her to understand that such things are only to be eaten in moderation?

Any ideas about how to introduce new tastes/ textures to her would be appreciated. Right now she will eat cashews, gluten free chips, rice cakes, popcorn, plain gluten free noodles, meat, eggs, frozen peas, and vanilla yogurt. Getting her to drink juice is even a pretty tricky endeavor.

Any thoughts about whether food texture issues get better or worse over time would be appreciated.

Is it possible that her narrowing her diet has nothing to do with gluten issues and / or the lenghty elimination diet but is just plain old 4 year old driver her mom to distraction behavior?
If you think I should just stop obsessing and give it a rest, she'll eat healthy over time, let me now.

If nothing else, thanks for letting me vent. I find managing her diet and sticking to a gluten free lifestyle to be increadibly stressfull.



DW_a_mom
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02 Mar 2010, 2:29 pm

In part, you have bad luck with timing. It is quite common for children your daughter's age to begin to narrow their eating, and that can continue well in through the elementary school years. My AS son at age 12 has been re-expanding his food chocies for a few years now, and my NT daughter age 9 is still pretty hit or miss on being willing to try things, and that includes foods I fed her regulary as a toddler and that she seemed to love back then. So keep that in mind as you try to reintroduce new foods - she's at an age where she is going to be naturally resistant, and it is likely to get worse before it gets better.

As for some of your specific questions:

1) She associates "healthy" food with feeling sick, since for so long I would talk about healthy eating in her hearing range with other parents, and talk alot about how healthy her home made food was while I was trying to understand why she was sick all the time. She also overheard more than enough conversations with doctors and nutritionists where I talked about how "healthy" her diet was, why was she so sick, etc. She now says "Healthy food makes me sick." How can I get her to understand that not all healthy foods will make her sick, just the gluten ones.

I think an idea might be to completely change your vocabulary about food choices. The first thing she needs to learn is that "healthy" food is a broad term that assumes a person can eat the entire spectrum. Since she cannot, what the word means is going to be different for her. I know a man who cannot eat dark leafy greens. For most people, those are healthy; for him, they are not. Sugar, however, isn't great for anyone.

Some nutritionists teach kids about "go" "slow" and "whoa" foods, and maybe you can switch to that vocabulary with her, while making it clear that her list is unique to her. A "go" food is something a person can eat as much of whenever they wish it. A "slow" food is a less frequent food. A "whoa" is a rare occasion food.

2) She will no longer eat as wide a variety of foods as she did before starting the elimination diet. She no longer eats things like pasta sauce, blueberries in her pancakes, bananas, or applesauce. She will also no longer eat home made baked goods even though we now only use gluten free ingredients and keep a strictly gluten free household. How can I encourage her to eat a wider variety of foods? This is particularly important since she will need to maintain a gluten free diet. Is this a temporary thing? Will it get easier or harder as she grows to expand her diet and the food textures / tastes?

I think this is very much an age thing, as I mentioned above. I never found a solution that worked; we just went with it. I generally cook a meal that my husband and I will enjoy, making sure there are enough things in it that my kids like for them to eat reasonably well. Veggies I generally get in my kids about an hour before dinner as a snack. Every so often they look at what we're eating and decide to try it. Other times, I'm sure they would love a dish, but no matter how hard I push they won't try it. It can seem really fickle, but I figure that by keeping a variety of foods on the table, even if they are not being asked to eat them, they at least have the opportunity. Slowly they are expanding their palates.

3) She will, undrestandably, eat just about any junk food (cereal /granola/ cookies/ breakfast bars) that are labeled gluten free. At first we let her do this quite a bit since we wanted her to establish a trusting relationship with food. This seems to have backfired as she now says things like "healthy foods make me sick, but junk food makes me feel healthy." She will also go on hunger strikes if I keep said junk food in the house, eating nothing but it. I don't want to eliminate junk food altogether (everyone needs a sweet once in a while) but how can I get her to understand that such things are only to be eaten in moderation?

I think putting some of these things on a slow or whoa list may help with that. Maybe create a chart with pictures, and have her help you make it. Talk about eating in balance, and how that balance may be a little different for each person, because each person is unique, and note that the chart you are making is what you believe is the right balance for her, given what you now know about her needs.

Otherwise ... I have terrible eating habits and it's been a tough road for me, trying to keep my kids eating healthy. They were both wonderful as toddlers, but then they went to school and discovered what other kids were eating ... or something, lol. It all changed, that is the only thing I am certain of! Still both kids really respond to the little talks they get at school, and really engage when we all go shopping together.


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Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).


Tracker
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02 Mar 2010, 2:45 pm

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Many people underestimate the bodies ability to break down foods and recombine the ingredients to be usable in the body. For much of human history people generally only ate 1 crop, along with some meat and eggs. Have you ever heard of the great potato famine? The reason that 1 crop failing was so problematic is that entire nations ate nothing but potatoes and some meat occasionally.

Your child's body is perfectly capable of functioning just fine with a very limited range of foods. If you are worried about her missing out on some vitamins or minerals then one of those daily vitamin supplements should be more then enough. They come in chewy and fruity flavors for the kids.

As it is your daughter is only 4, so you don't need to worry about her moving out and living off junk food for the rest of her life any time soon. Perhaps when she gets older and has a better idea of what 'healthy' really means you can start reintroducing more foods.



angelbear
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02 Mar 2010, 4:33 pm

I agree with Tracker. Fortunately, I have been very lucky with my son so far on eating. I, on the other hand, am NT, and I was a terribly picky eater growing up. I hated vegetables... I would barely try anything new. I did not start trying new foods until my late 20's. Now I am willing to eat quite a variety of stuff.

I think if you just try presenting a variety of different foods with different textures and don't act like it is that big of a deal, then maybe she will be willing to try small bites of it. Maybe you could offer one of the cereal bars or something she likes as a reward for trying other things.

Oh, the other thing I thought of was fruit smoothies. Will she try those? I know you said she didn't really like fruit juice, but maybe she would like those?



Hethera
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02 Mar 2010, 5:08 pm

Tracker is right -- as long as your child is getting a multivitamin, there's no enormous harm in having a not-very-balanced diet. She'll probably move on from the food hang-up eventually. My son gets "stuck" on certain foods for months at a time (he seriously lived on bananas and cheddar bunnies for the better part of a year!!) and then boom, one day he moves on to a more "acceptable" diet. Just don't mention it for awhile and don't say anything when she starts eating healthy foods again.



matrixluver
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02 Mar 2010, 6:59 pm

has your daughter been gluten-free? Did you have bloodwork done to determine if it's celiac disease or is it just gluten intolerance? If she has celiac disease, then her body may be going through withdrawal. It's not just a craving, it's an actual withdrawal. gluten breaks down into an opiate-like substance in a celiac. Think about withdrawal from opium, that's what a celiac goes through for up to 6 weeks after going gluten free.

And I'm sorry. I'm gluten intolerant and most gluten free breads made with substitute flours are not good.

As long as you can get a variety of fruits and veggies down your child, i wouldn't worry. Otherwise, you need to go to a feeding clinic. Some picky eating can be okay nutritionally, some can't be. And while multi-vitamins are okay, they are not a substitute for healthy eating.