December 23, 2007 at 4:48 am (GFCF Diet)
Tags: GFCF
I have actually really enjoyed cooking GFCF this past month. Today, I learned that I love baking GFCF too! I bought a package of GFCF yellow cake mix at the health food store for cupcakes. We’re going to California to see my in-laws for Christmas and I know they’ll have tons of sweets available! I’m hoping to avoid drama when Zack sees all the goodies by having some safe cookies, frosted cupcakes, and marshmallow treats on hand. So, I went to work on the GFCF cupcakes… and they came out great! I mean, really really great! I frosted them with a blend of unsweetened cocoa, powdered sugar, rice milk, and GFCF margarine and they really taste like a non-GFCF treat! Zack is going to love them 
I also broke in my new breadmaker with a GFCF white bread mix. So far, I know it smells delcious but it’s too hot to slice still! I’m hoping it’ll be a hit because Zack really misses his french toast and his PB&J sandwiches.
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December 20, 2007 at 8:31 pm (Autism, GFCF Diet)
Tags: Autism, GFCF
As any mom knows, you have to have some kind of planning in your home or everything just falls apart by lunchtime. This is 100x more true if you have a child with autism. Zack thrives on structure. He has a daily schedule that he truly does well on and I couldn’t imagine our life without it. I wonder if other autie-loving families rely on their magic erase boards as much as I do…
I decided to start planning my meal plans in a more productive manner. It’s just not working very well for us when I go shopping and drop random things in the cart and then we go home and… well, what kind of meal am I going to make with salmon, baked beans, and mandarin oranges? Yuck. So, we wind up eating out a lot. Today, I decided I’m going to sit down and write out all our favorite GFCF meals and then I’ll have a list to look at when I’m planning our weekly menu. The weekly menu will be posted on my kitchen white board and then there’ll be no more “what’s for dinner?” Ummmmm…. hmmmmmmm…. Applesauce and chicken broth?
I’m going to post a page with our favorite meals today. And, I’m planning on a “New Recipe Day” every Monday after the Christmas season is over. We love to try new things but that’s risky with GFCF since half the recipes I try fail. So, once a week is plenty of new-tastes for us!
For breakfast, Zack had scrambled eggs, a banana, and 100% juice. He had a pajama party at school, which included popcorn. I sent a bag of air popped butterless popcorn from home. Lunch was chicken nuggets with crushed Lays Original as breading, baked fries, oranges, and Heinz ketchup. He’ll have some Christmas shaped marshmallows for a snack. And then, he’ll have quinoa pasta and Prego sauce with green beans for dinner.
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December 13, 2007 at 4:38 pm (Accomplishments, Autism, GFCF Diet)
Tags: Autism, GFCF
I am so sorry for my absence! My mother is in town and I haven’t really been on the computer much. But, here’s an update and then I hope to get back to my regular posting. Zack is doing absolutely amazing! His withdrawl symptoms are GONE (knock on wood) and other than his normal screeching when I tell him no about something, he is behaving pretty well too. I’m really happy with him! His language development is on the up and up. We went from a few spontaneous words last week to SO MANY, I’m not able to track how many he uses now! We bought him a tent that we put up in the playroom yesterday because I was told that he might need a private little place to escape to. As soon as he saw it, he grins and says “what’s that?” Words like that just keep popping out of his mouth.
But, I’m having issues with his school again. Zack’s busdriver told me yesterday that his preschool teacher waited until he was strapped down into the bus seat yesterday afternoon and then took a toy from his hand and said “this has to stay here” and walked off the bus. Do you KNOW how much damage that can do to a 3-year-old with autism who has object attachment issues. This is the kind of stuff she just does! The day before that, she called me to pick him up from school because he was throwing a tantrum about the SAME TOY and wouldn’t get on the bus. I told her not to give in and I’d be there in 10 minutes. I’m teaching him to GIVE A TOY UP, not just rip it out of his hands. But when I arrived, she brought him into the office and he was holding the toy she’d been talking about. She says “I give up” and basically walked away. I told her no, she doesn’t and I made him into giving the toy back and then rewarded him with skittles. She looked irritated just being around my son. I hate that he’s not in a class for children with autism… he’s in a special needs preschool and his teacher knows NOTHING about autism.
So, it looks like I have some complaining to do on my son’s behalf.
2 Comments
December 8, 2007 at 9:41 pm (GFCF Diet)
Tags: GFCF, Las Vegas
Day 12. My husband seems to be bringing up how Vegas isn’t helping us very much at all when it comes to our son. It’s a rather cold-hearted city where people don’t seem to care about each other much, if at all. We’ve been here since April 2003 and we have only 4 people I would willingly call a friend. Our families are both in other states. I understand his reasoning. He wants to live in a smaller town with a closer-knit community that would join together to care about our son. But, I worry for 2 reasons…
1) We’ve left Las Vegas twice and were back within months because there is NO MONEY anywhere else. Sure, I’m working on my first manuscript and I can write from anywhere, but what about in the mean time?
2) Small towns = less doctors & less therapists. How is this going to help our son?
So, we’ve been butting heads a little bit on top of all this stress and I’m about to explode… or run away. Yep.
Breakfast was an over-easy egg cooked in non-stick spray with lean steak and almond milk. Lunch was chicken breast with brown rice. When Zack wakes up from quiet time, we will have some sliced apples covered in Better Than Cream Cheese. Dinner will be some quinoa pasta with Prego and peas for Zack, a salad for me. Dessert will be marshmallows for Zack and when he’s in bed, I’ll grab a couple of my dark chocolate covered cherries. I cannot be TOTALLY GFCF with him because it’s driving me nuts while he seems to be totally fine with it now. I just eat GFCF when he’s around. Does that make me a bad person?
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December 8, 2007 at 5:02 am (GFCF Diet, IEP)
Tags: GFCF, IEP
Day 11. I left the IEP meeting with a bittersweet smile today. I’m happy that I finally know how to get my son’s diagnosis beyond the school district’s psychologist but I’m sad that there is only one neuropsychologist in the entire state of Nevada and she just happens to have a crazy long waiting list. So, the waiting game begins.
I was told not to expect a clinical diagnosis of Asperger’s. Zack’s language pathologist believes he isn’t as high functioning as that. I’m personally not sure so only time will tell. At least we’re moving ahead with the clincial diagnosis and that will lead to another waiting list… the ABA therapy list. I swear this system doesn’t make any sense. “The earlier the intervention, the better! Oh, but you have to sit on a waiting list for 2 years. Sorry.”
Sighhhhhhhh.
Breakfast was Fruity Pebbles and almond milk. I am so close to not letting my husband feed him anymore LOL. His snack was a banana. Lunch was a GFCF waffle with peanut butter and honey, strawberries, and chocolate almond milk. His snack was a bowl of EnviroKids Frosted Flakes with almond milk. Dinner was a GFCF hotdog, GFCF french fries, green beans, and Heinz ketchup. After that, he had some Skittles at the Festival of Lights. Hey, it kept him from the M&Ms he begged me for!
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December 6, 2007 at 9:52 pm (GFCF Diet, IEP, Preschool)
Tags: GFCF, IEP, school
Day 10. Today is the first day that Zack’s busdriver has had anything negative to say about his behavior on the bus. I’m chalking it up to a long week, a new diet, and a really crabby baby brother that has made things an insy bit harder this week. I was also aghast to discover Zack’s school snack still in his bookbag. I know the teacher occasionally brings goldfish crackers for the kids but I have specifically told her that he is on a special diet and is to eat ONLY what I send with him. I’m irritated. I called her today and she hasn’t called me back yet so I have no idea what my son ate. Perhaps whatever it was is why this was his first bad review on the bus. I’m livid and I cannot wait to ask her tomorrow morning at his IEP meeting.
I sat down and wrote out all of the notes I’ve taken and observances I’ve had since his last IEP meeting 6 months ago. This is only the mid-year review so it’s not the MAJOR let’s-talk meeting but I still plan on bringing anything and everything up. I am going to request that he is moved to a full class with other autism students because it’s just not comfortable for me knowing that my son’s teacher is trained in general special education preschool and just stared blankly at me when I talked to her about autism. *Deep breath… calm down, Elizabeth* Tomorrow, the gloves are coming off.
Ok, I know… maybe someone brought grapes in and that’s what she fed him. But honestly, that’s STILL disobeying my request of he eats only what I send with him. I need his teachers to stay on the same page as me and if they can’t, he’ll need new teachers. Grr.
Breakfast was Fruity Pebbles (we always know when his dad feeds him in the morning) with almond milk. Snack was WHO KNOWS? Lunch was Bush’s baked beans with chopped up GFCF hotdogs. His afternoon snack will be marshmallows and raisins. His dinner will be quinoa pasta with Prego sauce and peas. Our evening snack (if he’s awake) will be popcorn with GFCF butter melted on top. Yum!
2 Comments
December 6, 2007 at 5:55 am (GFCF Diet)
Tags: GFCF
Days 8 & 9. I didn’t mean to miss a day of posting. It’s crazy during my husband’s “weekends.” We’ve been doing great though! Zack’s preschool teacher’s assistant told me that Zack is still screeching in school but I informed her that she must ignore it. Turn her back on him even and as soon as he stops, give him positive attention for stopping. We’ll see how it’s going on Friday during his IEP meeting.
Yesterday, Zackary had EnviroKids Frosted Flakes with almond milk for breakfast, EnviroKids peanut butter rice bar for a snack, a hot dog and rice with corn for lunch, and some marshmallows for a snack. At dinner time, I made some quinoa pasta with prego sauce and he was too tired for dessert. Today, he had a GFCF banana waffle with peanut butter and honey on it for breakfast. Snack was another rice bar. Lunch was some grilled chicken and rice. Dinner was leftover lunch plus some “cheese” and a banana. And again, he was really tired and just wanted to go to bed after dinner.
Now that I have the whole “this is approved” and “this isn’t approved” list down, I am going to start concentrating on the 5 foodgroups again!
3 Comments
December 4, 2007 at 2:16 am (Accomplishments, GFCF Diet)
Tags: GFCF
Day 7. Another day… another word! His English vocabulary has gone from zero initiated words to 3 this week! Zack grabbed a forkful of his quinoa spaghetti and brought it to my husband and said “bite.” This is incredible.
Breakfast was some Fruity Pebbles with original almond milk. Snack was an EnviroKids peanut butter bar. Lunch was chicken with rice. For a snack, he had Betty Crocker fruit snacks. Dinner was quinoa pasta with Prego and watermelon. Dessert was a GFCF peanut butter cookie.
We’ve had an awesome day! We went to Mount Charleston for sledding and Zack loved it.
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December 2, 2007 at 11:03 pm (Accomplishments, GFCF Diet)
Tags: GFCF
Day 6. Zack’s mood has done a total 180 today. He’s been an angel child! I cannot believe this is the same kid as yesterday! He’s really been great.
At lunch, he brought me his empty cup and said “more.” Just like that… MORE! No screech to get some. No incoherent “inganingainga” sounds. More. In ENGLISH! I couldn’t believe it!! I am so proud of the progress I’ve seen this week. could it really be this diet?
Breakfast was an egg and some GFCF bacon… at 9! He slept in this morning, which was an awesome break for me. He had some chocolate almond milk and a banana with that. His lunch was some homemade chicken nugget (recipe on recipe page), baked potato, and corn. He then helped himslef to 2 peanut butter cookies (also on recipe page). By the way, those cookies ROCK!
His dinner will be some GFCF cereal with almond milk and fruit. My husband’s at work today so we’re on out own. He’ll have some marshmallows and dried cherries for dessert. I can’t believe we’re actually doing this… successfully!
6 Comments
December 1, 2007 at 11:33 pm (Autism, GFCF Diet)
Tags: asd, asperger's, Autism, GFCF
Day 5. I take it back. Yesterday was NOT the worst day of my life. Today beats it by far. Argh!!!
We woke up early to head to the book store so I could research more about the GFCF diet and autism. I found an incredibly interesting book about the diet, why it works, and how to survive it. Guess what? The book swears that his bad behavior right now is a good thing. It says that his behavior changing like this is a sign that the gluten and casein proteins were somehow affecting his behavior before and once this withdrawl phase ends, we should see some positive results. So, that’s good.
But, Zack’s back to throwing things across the room, screeching, and intentionally breaking my rules. I’m almost afraid to send him to preschool on Monday because he might hurt someone. How long is this withdrawl phase supposed to be? I miss the Zack I had a week ago.
His IEP review is coming up next week and I cannot wait for this meeting. I am going to demand an official diagnosis. The OFFICIAL diagnosis will help us tremendously because I can then get him on the long waiting list for ABA and possibly SSI. Eek. Wish us luck.
Breakfast: Fruity Pebbles w/almond milk, banana
Snack: Smooshed Grape Frutable
Lunch: White rice w/GFCF teriyaki. Didn’t really eat much of that and didn’t want anything to do with meat.
Dinner: Brown rice noodles with Prego sauce and skinless chicken breast, peas
Dessert: I’m trying the peanut butter cookie recipe I posted before tonight!
Once I finish reading the book I mentioned earlier, I will add my recommendation.
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