Cooking with Food Sensitive Kids

The latest foray into the land of cooking took us to soups.  My child now has a thing for soups.  It started with chicken noodle and quickly progressed to clam chowder and lobster bisque.  One of the favorites turns out to be broccoli and cheddar soup.  A famous bakery chain restaurant with a lot of soups carries it, but like most of their soups it has wheat in it.  We should not eat wheat, even the amount they use to thicken the broth.  So we made our own.

This version uses gluten free flour as part of the roux that thickens is.  The base is partially milk.  Lactose free milk was used for that.  The hardest part would be to find a lactose free cheddar cheese.  That was impossible in a super market.  We actually did use standard cheeses and just took a lactaid pill, just in case.

It turned out very good.  Now for those of you worried that broccoli is dangerous to those with sensitive digestion, certain foods like broccoli are to be avoided as they may physically irritate the colon due to their shape or roughage, what we used was chopped very fine.  It still had a texture to it but was not the large brush-like shapes that can irritate.

This is a quick, easy dish most any kid can do.  It does have some risk if you are very sensitive thanks to the cheese and broccoli. But if you are able to tolerate those then this is worth trying.

Cooking and kids

Teaching kids to cook makes them aware of what's in the food they are eating.  This is a pizza made by my nine-year-old.  The crust is flaxseed and the cheese is low lactose.  The sauce is organic while the pepperoni has no additives, preservatives.  The meat has no hormones or antibiotics.

He is getting so much better at reading labels on foods.  The ingredients matter, not just the labels.  That happened with learning to cook.  The pizza came from Wheat Belly, by William Davis, MD.  While not specific to celiacs the wheat free diet goes a long way in eliminating the gluten that damages so many who are sensitive to it.

Cooking is another fun activity with the kids, and it imparts insight into food realities.  I'm very proud of my son for stepping up.  He checks labels and ingredients, and now wants to cook more of his own food.

Gluten or other?

One of the hardest parts of living with a good diet is figuring out just what is good.  I went gluten free and so far it is working well, health wise.  I still can't pass a Dunkin Donut without wanting to buy a dozen.  There are still days of dubious comfort but I will say the days are better now compared to last year.

It is the topic for a different post but I imagine that much of this feeling better is a result of having invested so much personally into going gluten free.  I feel better because it would be pointless if I didn't.  Why put myself through all this if nothing changed?  Call it a dietary placebo effect.  It certainly sounds like good grounds for scientific study.  What part of improvement of health comes from actual changes to diet opposed to the believe the changes will improve overall well being?

That will take some thinking, time, and googling to get an opinion.  But when changing diet I was recommended a process I did not follow.  I was supposed to basically cut out anything and everything that could possibly cause a problem; gluten, dairy, eggs, sugar, carbs, you name it.  I should have been sitting in a corner gnawing on some blanched chicken five times a day.  Do that for a month till you're purged then add back one thing at a time for a week at a time and see how it goes.  That would have been very scientific and I am sure very helpful.  It also sounded dreadfully dull and rather painful to do.  So I didn't.  Now I am coming to the conclusion that there may be more than one malefactor in my diet.  The evil Lord Gluten may have a sinister companion, the Lady Lactose.

It could be one, or the other, or both, that creates great discomfort and horrible moods.  The one way to find out is to give up lactose.  No milk, not a big sacrifice as I do not like milk, no cheese (sorry, pizza) or other dairy containing stuff, read ice cream.  After seeing how things work out I can try and add it back in.  Or I can cheat.  Unlike gluten, lactose has a pill.  Its over-the-counter so who know how well it works, but it is a start.

Saying you're allergic to food is like saying you're allergic to every organic molecule.  It is just too much.  So despite all the pain-in-the-(neck) bother narrowing it down is the best thing.  I have my suspicions.  Now it is time to confirm them.  You can't just shove food in your mouth anymore.  Time to think about things, and once the one or two offenders are identified, then shove the rest into your mouth.  (not recommended but after all the experimentation the treat may feel satisfying.)