This week I am endeavouring to learn as much as I can about living a gluten-free life.  That means that I’m going to become totally immersed into reading everything I can to understand how to make this lifestyle transition…for my little Grace.  And then the casein-free (otherwise known as dairy free) world if necessary.

Grace has almost always had these dark purple or red circles under her eyes…in fact, when I looked at photos this morning, I realized that the time that she didn’t have them was when she was about 18 months old and I had started using Almond Milk as a substitute for soy milk.  (poor little thing was born lactose intolerant, just like her Momma is now)  Now 5-years-old and about to enter kindergarten, I’m also trying to see if glutens are affecting her listening and direction following.  Or if she’s just evoking her rights to refuse to listen and follow direction. (I’ve known ALOT of kids like that)

I was given the book Healing & Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide, by Jenny McCarthy & Dr. Jerry Kartzinel, fromy my mother…in the hopes that the answers to my questions could be answered in Grace’s diet.  And although I’m only 1/3 thru the book, I am learning so much.  The “Mommy Radar” has been going off for a long time…I’ve always known that she’s been allergic to something.  Those dark circles have never been sleep related.  And the fact that she likes “tune-out” people when they talk to her has caused her teacher to even say that she thought that she might have a highly-functioning level of autism. Yet she hasn’t met the criteria…so I’m still thinking that it’s all allergy related.  We shall see.  If nothing else, these changes could help to make her healthier…and that’s enough reason to make the changes.

The journey began when I first brought her home as a newborn.  My breast milk caused her extreme tummy pains…we’re talking screaming, barely breathing, tear flowing precious baby girl.  And it wasn’t traditional collic.  Even her physician noted that.  Altering my diet didn’t seem to help her at all either.  Thank GOD that my mother had stumbled upon Gripe Water when she was 2-1/2 months old.  This was like manna from heaven!  I would give her the dosage right after feeding her and the tummy trouble would be nonexistant or next-to-nonexistant.  And even when I switched to soy formula, I found that I still needed to have Gripe Water on hand.  To this day, she will still ask me for “drops” when her tummy starts to hurt.  (they are a permanent fixture in our refrigerator)  And although we’ve been a family of “lactose-free” milk (except for Charming), there still seems to be problems that arise.

As she has gotten older I have found that her desire for dairy products has increased like crazy.  Two items in particular…cheese & yogurt.  If I allowed her to, she would eat nothing but cheese all day long.  She LOVES it.  I’ve also noticed that unlike her little sissy, she could sit down to a meal of bread or bagels and be perfectly happy.  Even more so if it were covered in cream cheese.

This is going to be a tricky transformation of our pantry, fridge and eating in general.  Lord give me the strength to endure the changes!

Since I am a baker at heart, I have decided that Elana’s Pantry is going to be my first source to making this transition.  And I’m acutally excited about it after going through all of her recipes.  Guess what’s on my Mother’s Day Wish List?  Yep, her book…Elena’s Pantry:The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook