Yeast and sugar free diet.. help.. anyone.. please...

[ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands]

Sorry for the multiple posts (well 2) but I thinks this does need to be here too..

I have a 10 year old with various complex needs. Long story short, we are trying him on a yeast/sugar free diet to help (hopefully) with hyperactivity and aggression (due to the known link for many kids with complex needs/ADHD/Autism.. and we have a LOT of violence to deal with..)

I have an appointment with the GP on 9 May.. I have emailed his paediatrician also.. and I have emailed BIBIC an organisation we have had previous dealings with who highlighted his yeast overgrowth (candida) some years ago when we previously attempted this, to ask if we can have a repeat of the nutrition assessment/advice..

I have banana acidophilus (children's pro-biotic)on order..

Everything else I am doing from memory with input from my ex, DS's dad who was with me when we had the assessment years ago.

I am hoping to get to see another nutritionist on the NHS because I am not in a position to have another private assessment for him nor would I be entitled to a bursary this time, hence the request for access to previous advice..

Meanwhile we are struggling. DP and I are cooking things from scratch (but he is very fussy and is in shock because he - admittedly - was eating way too much junk until a few days ago - long story but he is a v v challenging/disabled child).

He is having soda bread - which he likes, but only toasted. And we've cut out sugar to the very best of our ability altho he did have a spoon of lower sugar baked beans on his jacket spud this evening..

There is yeast and sugar in so much!! And so much contradictory advice for yeast/sugar free plans online.. we are having to stick with the less strict ones (ie the ones that allow fruit and potatoes for heavens sake!) or we'd be starving him!

Can anyone advise, to get us through until we can see a professional??

Can he have fructose instead of sugar? My dd1 is a very fussy eater and will only eat junk and homemade pizza (we use flat bread and tinned tomatoes). will he eat cereals (corn flakes, rice crispies ect..)?

I think so Marne,. re Frutose.. i am choosing to ignore the plans that say cut out fruit.. and I'm still giving him dairy..

Can you buy fructose like sugar then? And maybe make a cake using it? I THINK flour is ok.. I am so confused at this stage..

He doesn't really do cereal but I have bought his some plain rice crispies as, because he is getting hungier (no junk) he is sporadically electing to sample other things offered..

Yes, you can buy fructose just like sugar (should be able to get it in larger supermarkets), you can make cakes with it, sprinkle it on your cereal ect, you can buy suger free chocolate and make rice crispy cakes? If you put it in a cake it will make the cake look shinny and slightly more stickier but will taste fine ( i have made fructose brownies and lemon cake).

This isn't a diet I have tackled - dd1 is gf/cf, with low sugar.

Books I have found really helpful are the Marilyn Le Breton ones: Diet, Intervention and Autism, and The AiA Cookbook. These books are set out complete with recipes, and work through how to substitute ingredients, along with what to look out for on labels etc. Well worth a read, imo. The exiles are coded as to what they exclude/cater for as well. You could also take a look at Special Diets for Special Kids, but this can be hard to get hold of (or was when I tried)

Good luck - changing dd1's diet really changed her life.

also worth having a look on here...

www.treatingautism.co.uk

ShinyHappy - just trying to get it straight in my head. Are you trying to drastically reduce the amounts of all types of sugar to prevent 'sugar rush' or are there types of sugar that you are avoiding, or types of food that you are avoiding (sweets/treats)?
DS1 is sucrose and fructose intolerant - and CMP. This means no fruit of any kind - dry or fresh/tin/frozen. There is also no honey etc. There is so much natural sugar in a diet that it is impossible to take it all out, so DS diet is concentrated around taking it out of the sweets/treats/desserts and snacks side of things - the non essentials . I was advised on 'savoury' products to go with a very diabetic approach with aiming for products with no more than 5% sugar in 100g product. You will be amazed at how many products that rules out too.
On the positive side, once you get your head around it, it's very doable, although it can get a bit labour intensive in the kitchen if you're not used to cooking.
Xylitol, for instance, is a simple sugar. It is often used in 'diet' products and dental products. It's very good in cooking, easily digested. There are also websites that let you search using 'sugar free' criteria for treats.
I must admit that when he was dx with the intolerances, i 'weaned' him off the banned products for a while. I gradually replaced them with 'new' products and he doesn't make too much of a fuss about it now. There is still plenty of 'junk' that they can eat that doesn't contain vast amounts of sugar - or yeast.