Casein free diet

[AlysWho]

Well we've got the results back from Sunderland, and we're going to start a Casein free diet for 3 weeks and look for results.

I'm concerned it will be hard to judge 'results' as its bahvioural/anxiety we're looking for, and as dd is v hormonal, (started periods in Jan); always has been prone to good spells and bad spells; and as spring has sprung and she hates the winter (dark, windy, wet, muddy, hail, snow, who can blame her?) we're on an up anyway...

Anyway I'm going to try. Sunderland say only rice, coconut or almond milk are really safely casein free.

Any tips gratefully recieved!!

Especially re dairy product replacements eg cheese, icecream, butter. Remember, no soya either!..dont ask me why, cos I havent got a scientific brain and when they explain its like a foriegn language..

thanks x

hi. we switched to goats milk from cow's milk and I saw an improvement...There appears to be no taste difference for goats milk and yoghurt so ds1 didn't notice. I'm not an expert on the science so i don't know how much less casein it has, but maybe it would be good to see what a reduction in casein does before you go the whole hog? If it helps it could spur you on to make the larger and more stressful change to other kinds of milk. my only other suggestion is you could join the biomed yahoo group ABE and see if there are any suggestions on there. Also for icecream you could do frozen goats yoghurt or ice lollies. I found nut butter and honey a good replacement for dairy spreads (ds likes almond butter or peanut butter and honey), its quite pricey but the healthfood shops sell it x

Lucky it's casein only as you should see benefits in 3 weeks (taking into account time of month! may take slightly longer.) DS2 had a small gluten spike and they told us to try it for 6 months! Apparently casein leaves their system much quicker. Good luck, it's not much fun at first and you might get some negative withdrawal behaviour first. Keep original behaviour profile clear in your mind otherwise improvements may get obscured. BTW it made no difference to DS2 but we felt it was worth a try!

I have 2 CF - dx by gastroenterologist, not Sunderland test - so not au fait with the soya issue. The allergy board in the health section will give you the best ideas. I think there have been a few threads recently that ask about foods that are soya and dairy free as well.
Pure sunflower spread is what we use - its fine in cooking too.
Treats - as that's where i found my DS were grumpy - freedom frozen deserts (strawberry, chocolate and vanilla), orgran cake mixes are good too - we like their chocolate cake with dairy free as individual cakes with dairy and soya free choc drops etc are very popular - as is popping their own popcorn and adding sugar/salt as they both like it different!
Still lots of traditional baked puds as well - fruit crumbles, homemade rice puddings/semolina etc with sultanas etc. Making your own steamed sponge puddings with syrup etc.
Basically, it's not all doom and gloom. Most recipes are easily converted.
Companies like goodness direct do a grocery shopping system where you can set the parameters to CF and Soya free and then shop by food type.

surely oatly milk/cream would be ok?

second pure spread - really fab, and easy to cook with.

another thing I use occasionally is coconut oil: it is a solid at room temperature (can use it for anyhitng -I use it as a moisturiser for dd1 as she cannot have anythign with additives in), so can use it instead of butter for sweet things like scones or raisin bread, and can cook with it too - really quite useful.

DS has been totally dairy free from pre-weaning.

Dairy-free cheeses are revolting - stay away if you value your taste buds. I crack an egg over a home made pizza instead of adding cheese just before it goes in the oven, and my lads who can eat dairy still love my pizzas when we have pizza and popcorn nights.

I make muffins etc using sunflower oil instead of butter. Stork block for pastry is dairy free. Trex makes nice white butter icing for those days you've gotta have a cupcake ; ) I like pure for general spreading. Sainsburys has the widest range of decent dairy free stuff of the main supermarkets when you need stuff like an Easter egg, or other essential childhood necessities - I do the occasional order online to get stuff like this from them.

Replace some of the flour when baking with ground almonds - they are seriously high in calcium. Spinach is your friend - it has wonderful calcium levels and is easy to add to stews and casseroles etc when you buy the frozen stuff. Use instead of lettuce in salads. Nut butters are nice, we like cashew (asda is cheapest), almond (calcium) & peanut (cheap & cheerful calories). Learn to love chickpeas.

Look at the fats in his diet. You'll need to increase them but make them good fats. Remember the brain is 90% fat. In this country kids get a LOT of their necessary fat from dairy foods. Fish oils, avocado, flaxseed, a portion of nuts a day etc. Sunflower/pumpkin seeds as a snack. A portion of chips cooked in fresh sunflower oil once or twice a week will do him good ; ) I see so mny try dairy free & they remember the calcium but forget the fat and then wonder why they feel tired all the time. If your child is used to full fat milk you may need to replace some of the fat soluble b vits. Most kids love malt extract - either off a spoon aka wwII or on toast or in cakes etc.

I do a lot of simple japanese dishes learnt from an Aunt whose hubby is a japanese chef as traditionally they eat little dairy. Think of your favourite cuisine where this is the case and learn a little of that culture's repetoire. This last point helped stop me think about the foods I couldn't have when I was Bfing and actually start to enjoy being dairy free instead of seeing it as a chore.

Chinese and Thai tend to be dairy free. Avoid curry!

Sorry got distracted by ds breaking his wrist coming off the skateboard! Thanks for all your advice.

Ellen, I know I was so glad it only came up Casein! 3 weeks v 6 months- phew! Also she doesnt have much of a dairy thing anyway, doesnt drink milk, eat cereals etc, so its really only icecream, yogurts and cheese. And of course hidden dairy/casein in processed and prepared foods.

Gluten free however would be a nightmare, she LOVES toast, cake, spagetti etc etc! Interesting you didnt see any results..! at least you can tick it off yr list tho

Aunt i dont understand the soya issues, but apparently soya has similar peptides to dairy casein so best to cut it out too, at least to begin with. Found a bit on t'internet re GF/CF/SF free diets and ASD! So it does seem to be an issue for some. I do love a bit of baking and have used Pure products before so not too daunted by this. Also we have a bread maker and I always use olive oil, so thats OK too.

Bochead Loads of great tips thanks! Especially re topping up calcium levels with nuts etc, hadnt thought about that. And baking fats too. She's a great healthy eater naturally - phew!- and her fave snack is marmite on toast!

I've decided to spend next couple of weeks planning, cooking and freezing, and start diet in Easter hols, as dd could not bear to have her luchtime ritual trip to the school canteen changed, its a Very Important part of her day

x

Your poor DS! Wanted a bit of the limelight?

We were very pleased our DS didn't have a big gluten spike and we didn't see any improvement TBH. We started eye q fish oils a month after we went back on gluten (with no deterioration) and we saw a big improvement 6 weeks later or so. It could have been coincidence as they do progress in leaps sometimes, but if it was a coincidence we were glad it didn't happen on the GF diet! He's a bread monster! Which is what made us think GF might work for him.

Hope you see a massive improvement as that would be ace and worth the hassle!