SCD,GF, GAPS, pH, or balanced diet?

Rowan is 4 and recently had a proctocolectomy, J-pouch. I am paranoid bc of how many small child's endure this surgery and come out with CD.

If you were in my shoes would you just leave well enough alone and let her eat what she wants? (What my family thinks I should do)

Or would you follow one of these diets? Opinions please.

I don't have children, but I can at least throw out my opinion Im sure it's difficult with a 4 y/o as they are picky eaters as it is. She needs calories and fat as a growing child, so that makes it even more difficult. I am a firm believer of diet playing a MAJOR role in managing UC. I'm assuming she's entering remission since surgery? Or at least tolerating food better? SCD and GAPS seems difficult for a young child. A balanced diet now will help her in the future, and she will be more disciplined in regards to her UC as an adult. Most of my family eats GF, for multiple reasons. Wheat isn't what it used to be. We all feel much better with that eliminated from our diet. And its a lot easier than you think. There are cookbooks for family friendly GF recipes. Many restaurants cater to GF as well. I think SCD and GAPS are too low carb for a youngster. But that is just MY opinion. I honestly think you'll have to do some trial end error with her foods and see what works.

If i had a child who was diagnosed with crohn's or UC and really couldn't understand the disease very well I would absolutely make sure he or she was on a healthy diet, but I am an extreme believer in the power of diet in dealing with this disease. I realize its hard to make that decision for a child but it will help them so much down the road. If she ate whatever she wanted, she will most likely eat whatever she wants in the future and that will not bode well for her when she grows up. Being diagnosed at such a young age is hard because it is that many more years that she has to deal with growing up, if she continues to eat whatever she wants she could possibly have to keep having surgeries and that takes a toll on a body. Looking back, and picturing having this disease at such a young age, I'd rather grow up having my disease under control rather than eating whatever i want and having to take harsh medication and repeated surgeries.

Look in my signature for my opinion on the best diet for crohn's and UC patients. It is important however for a youngster to keep a balanced diet so not all diets you see on this forum will necessarily be in the best interest of your daughter, she still has a lot of growing to do.

I wish you and your daughter the best

Gianni

I vote for "clean eating" diet!:hug:
We all should be eating the best we can. No matter what our health is.

I love this diet because you get to COOK. Make yummy food and feel good afterward.
Some time I cheat and add extra but I'm learning I don't need to.

Grace was up to three shake a day, plus 3 reg. meals with snacks. We did all that JUST to keep her weight up around 35lbs.
Now she's on NO shakes and gained 2lbs. YA!!! I've lost 7 by the way! YA!

Their's my plug for what it's worth.
Any more questions can be directed toward crohnsinct. She does this also.

:ghug:

Hi Mary - new start and she is so young...you can set her up for a lifetime of good nutrition...how exciting! I would also at this point in time vote clean diet. Not necessarily eat what ever she wants. Your family is probably saying that because they love that little angel to death and just want to spoil her to pieces...who wouldn't want to? But you have done all the reading and know full well that a good diet is of such importance in every aspect of life. Now that being said, when you eat clean you can basically eat whatever you want...just make it yourself with non processed ingredients. We have treats such as banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, brownies, chocolate chip muffins, we eat pasta, hamburgers etc. We even have little chocolate protein ball treats that take the place of candy. The clean diet is really not hard at all to follow (basically idiot proof if I can handle it) and it is so much fun experimenting with new foods and ways to cook it and seeing all the energy and positive affects is just the icing on the cake. If you want p.m. me and I can send you a quick write up I did for a few others who were curious.

I would keep a food journal all along though to watch for any offenders.

Good luck with whatever you decide and keep us posted.

It's hard to get children to follow a diet,
My opinion is that if you changed your diet to paleo/gaps then your child would follow with much less trouble than if they see themselves as being restricted.

You can't eat bread and tell her not to, it just won't work

Yes it will be for all of its to be on. I am leaning towards clean diet. I found a grass fed beef source in our area. (25 minutes away) have been thinking if she had bread I would make it myself. This would force us not to eat much of it bc I don't really enjoy making it from scratch. The GF diet isn't really working for us, not that I see a reaction to it. There just seems to be too much corn going in all of us right now. I am not really liking that factor. Never have been a fan of corn and with all the GMO and everything lurking in the processed food it make me question everything.

Myreinhard said:

This would force us not to eat much of it bc I don't really enjoy making it from scratch.
.

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LMAO! That is exactly what happened here! With bread and treats...too much work. So much easier to rinse a piece of fruit or veggies and cut them up.

The grass fed meats are to die for. Addicting really. No one in my family will go back. I also go a little extreme and buy grass fed milk and free range organic eggs. A little more expensive but I am hoping I will save it down the road in healthcare costs.

Good Luck!

Myreinhard said:

Yes it will be for all of its to be on. I am leaning towards clean diet. I found a grass fed beef source in our area. (25 minutes away) have been thinking if she had bread I would make it myself. This would force us not to eat much of it bc I don't really enjoy making it from scratch. The GF diet isn't really working for us, not that I see a reaction to it. There just seems to be too much corn going in all of us right now. I am not really liking that factor. Never have been a fan of corn and with all the GMO and everything lurking in the processed food it make me question everything.

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If you are going to make bread - which is great exercise if you hand knead it and quite therapeutic - you are best to use something other than wheat. Spelt makes great bread or you might try rye, or another grain or mixture of grains - just NOT wheat.

Well I do have a ton of different flours around here. Tapicoa, Organic soy, Almond, GF, xanthum gum. All of which are very expensive. So I am going to use everything I have until it is gone. I made my first GF zucchini muffins the other day. They were really good lot of sugar and choc chips though. I have to evoke baby steps to get my kids to even put it to their lips. I am going to try to make the next one with honey and no white sugar with less organic brown sugar. Mother may I? Yes you may...

I have still many boxes of easy boxed sides (noodles, rice) still that I will stop buying but I will use minus the seasoning packets. Using fresh fruits and veggies. Now I just need to find an organic source. I wonder if anyone sells organic frozen veggies for this winter.

Next year I can see a very ugly yet functional plastic green house behind my garage. lol. It is going to be awesome. This was the plan for this year but we unfortuantely spent a lot of this summer in the hospital.

Thanks all. Is there a clean diet forum area yet. It seems to be taking off here.

Susan2 said:

If you are going to make bread - which is great exercise if you hand knead it and quite therapeutic - you are best to use something other than wheat. Spelt makes great bread or you might try rye, or another grain or mixture of grains - just NOT wheat.

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My grandmother use to make fresh bread every other day. Yummy cinnamon raisin and regular white.i remember playing with the dough as a child. She was a wiz at it, pounding and kneading.

She was polish and also made homemade egg noodles and perogies. Oh so yummy and sauerkraut is super good for you. Luckily my mother was taught her art of cooking before she died. What more do I need my mom is a hillbilly and taught by an old polish woman.

Now to just find organic sources is my next issue. I hope this doesn't completely break the bank. Hubby will not be very happy.

Yes there are plenty of frozen organic fruits and veggies. Do you have a whole foods near you? My hubby thought the same thing about the expense and I am an extreme couponer and much of that stuff is processed. Well, I just told him pay me now or pay me later but we are very surprised to see that item for item things are more expensive but overall we are spending way less in a month. And that doesn't include all the meals we are not eating out! We do try to incorporate a few meatless nights so that helps.

As for organic fruits and veggies...there was a recent study that said organic eaters were not any healthier than conventional eaters...same rates of heart disease, diabetes, IBD etc HOWEVER, organic eaters had 30% less pesticides in their body than conventional but they said pestisides have't been proven to cause problems. Make of that what you will. I am erring on the side of caution. Won't hurt me to go organic and find out it didn't matter but the other way around could be harmful.

That said, they say to spend your money on the dirty dozen when buying organic. If you are going to peel the skin then buy conventional as the pesticides don't penetrate the skin...or so they say...

The dirtiest category as far as pesticides are concerned is lettuce (all kinds including spinach) oh and strawberries and apples. They also say that broccoli, asparagus and cauliflower crops do not attrack pests so few pesticides are used on them so safe to go conventional.

There are lots of clean eating sites around and a clean eating magazine.

Our whole foods is about 35 minutes away. They are opening a new Better Health really close to me though and are expanding there produce department. Yes I read that article about the organics vs conventional produce. It was all garbage bc it was based on nutritional content not pesticide content. For the most part I buy fruits that are small and hard to wash and anything grown very close to the ground. Blueberries, leafy greens, peaches and melons are the biggest offenders I was told. Melon bc the earth is contaminated usually and the pesticide are pumped inside.

Just made more zucchini bread. Used honey and less brown sugar. Added whey protein and almond flour. Kinda changed the ingredients. 22 more minutes and we can frost them. I call them cupcakes so the kids will eat them. Then one day I will "forget" to buy the frosting and hope they will eat them just for the taste. I threw in a few choc chips again so they would get excited. Lol. Used 2.5 cups of zucchini instead of 2. We shall see.

Sounds yummy to me...you could make the frosting yourself and then the frosting will be clean also! I make one with yogurt cheese...comes out like a cream cheese frosting. In addition to honey I use Sucranat as a sweetner..I think the brand name is Rapadura or something close to that. You could also make a butter based frosting.

Ys the recipe called for Sucranat. I substituted with brown sugar. Big mistake. I threw it all in the trash. So sad, it was so gross and both kids cried I bought two more zucchini a today so maybe tomorrow I will follow my original recipe and go from there.