14 Aug Living with Food Intolerances
Sometimes, I think having a child with food intolerances is a blessing in disguise. Having started this journey a couple of years ago now after discovering that our daughter’s health issues were being caused by food intolerances we have completely transitioned the way we eat to a more wholesome way of eating.
Having a child with food intolerances makes you think about what you eat in very fine detail. Going out to eat in a cafe or restaurant is non existent these days for us! We’ve learnt our lesson the hard way with trying to order a meal out, after asking questions we have always been met with blank expressions or just plain irritation! Children’s parties are tough and stressful too (for both of us), Grace is too young to understand why she can’t eat certain foods and it normally ends in major meltdowns. Eating at home is by far the sanest option!
So you might be wondering what is a food intolerance and is it similar to a food allergy?! It can be rather confusing as both can share similar symptoms. However the major difference is that food intolerances don’t involve the immune system and they won’t cause a reaction such as anaphylaxis. However, they can be very difficult to pinpoint as sometimes reactions can take up to 12-24 hours to develop – cue lots of head scratching!
When we were first diagnosed and told to start cutting things out of Gracie’s diet I have to admit I did feel quite panic stricken, I mean it’s hard enough sometimes to get a child to eat something but then to cut out some of the things that she actually enjoyed well that sent me into a real spin! Normally transitioning to a different way of eating you do slowly and baby steps, for us we had to do this immediately once we found out that these foods were actually contributing to her health issues.
I can’t tell you how many hours, days and months I spent researching different ways to cook her food and recipes to ensure she was still having a balanced diet with lots of variety. Trips to the supermarket would take extra long, reading labels, analysing the ingredients – my brain just hurts thinking about it again! However, as the months passed, like any routine it does become easier and I’ve found that we now eat so much more healthier for it, we rarely eat anything out of a packet we just eat real food so every cloud really does have a silver lining!
If you are concerned that your child may have a food intolerance please seek medical advice from a professional GP or health care provider.
About the Author
Healing Gracie’s Gut is a blog which started as an outlet to share our journey to heal our daughter’s gut after being diagnosed with Leaky Gut Syndrome from numerous food intolerances. I share recipes, health tips and interviews along the way.
If you’d like to find out more about our story and how we transitioned to a more wholesome way of eating, recipes, and interviews please check out Healing Gracies Gut.
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