Adjusting

A couple of months ago Lucas stopped eating.  Seriously just stopped.  We worked hard at pushing food, getting him a little cup of grapes or some crackers.  We tried everything we could to make sure that he was eating at least 1 thing during the day.  We could get him to drink chocolate milk and occasionally he would eat his chicken nuggets for breakfast, but then nothing the rest of the day.  We did this for about a week before I finally decided that I needed to try something else.  I wracked my brain for a reason.  He didn't have any symptoms of being sick and he never complained so w were kind of at a loss.

 

Then something dawned on me.  I had recently read an article about gluten intolerance in kids.  I went back and read some more and decided that it might be worth a try, plus my mom is gluten intolerant....so we tried it.  We cut all gluten out of his diet, that meant no more chicken nuggets, no crackers, no spaghetti-o's or ramen, no more of the easy stuff to cook.  Almost immediately his diet improved.  He began eating better and gaining weight and just started to become more like himself.

 

A few times I thought maybe  it was just a fluke and it might have been a temporary thing, but every time we slip and give him something that he really wants like a cupcake, he stops eating for 2 days and he gets sick to his stomach.

 

I'm not going to lie, its been a challenge.  We are the family that eats bread with every meal.  We use to eat pasta 3 times a week, soft tacos, etc.  All that has changed.  We decided as a family that for the most part it is easier to adjust the entire menu instead of try to make 2 meals, one for us and one for Lucas.  We eat a lot more potatoes and rice and chicken and fruit and veggies.  We've all lost weight and we are doing great.  I still like a nice sandwich once in a while and we have found a great gluten free pizza crust for Lucas so the rest of us can eat a normal pizza.  We have some new recipes that we are trying and over all we are doing great.  This isn't the lifestyle that I would have chosen, but I have so say we are all adjusting well.  And Lucas is doing great!!