HFI-Friendly Kid Drinks

[ukbill]

It's a pity really that Adam wasn't HFI

My last words on the subject here..

The main reason I have been so stridently posting is because this site was VERY Dangerously sweet based.. I have been trying to provide a balance for both parents and Health professionals who look here for background information on the subject.

I think we would all agree better educated Health professionals (with respect to HFI) can only be a good thing.

I do disagree whole heartedly with your assumption that we with HFI are "Deprived" in any way! Inconvenienced maybe but deprived.. No.

Being Diabetic is FAR more horrible a condition than HFI! They love the foods they cannot eat.

Diabetics also cheat and those who cannot control their cheating go blind, loose their kidneys and eventually die horribly.. like a one of my best friends from school.

So getting the HFI condition in perspective.

HFI is easily controllable.

To live a very long and happy life is not a problem for those of us with HFI.

However our HFI lives are greatly enhanced by being able to tell the difference between safe foods and none safe foods.. which is why eating any sweet tasting foods are a no-no for those of us with HFI.

Learning this is critical skill for an HFI infant or child.

Therefore there are NO safe substitutes that taste sweet.

It really is that simple .

[Tammy]

"My last words on the subject here."

That is the best thing I've heard on here yet. hehehe. If you ever feel the need to debate me, I'd be more than happy to OFF board.

It's now time to get this board back on track. Have you noticed how quiet it's gotten? No one wants in the middle of this. My apologies to everyone else. If there is anyone new out there following along, please believe that this is not the "normal" for this site. Other than Bill and I, everyone is very helpful and courteous. I know they have helped me with my daughter. Again, I'm sorry.

So Laura, how is your holiday weekend going? We could sure use one of your great, humorous stories about now................

[hfimomof3]

I do think it is terribly important that people with HFI, especially kids, be given the opportunity to have interesting taste experiences. We should all try to avoid diabetes but liviing without fruits and most vegetables and sweets is a large burden IMO and I don't think it is fair to expect total asceticism from people who are already living with that burden. You just have to find a way to incorporate taste that does not cause unintended problems.


How about some milk with a couple drops of vanilla in it? Or, Milk warmed with some cardamom and clove will taste a little like chai tea but without the caffeine.

You could also do lime or lemon juice, freshly squeezed, with no added sugar. Some of the craving for sweet things may actually be a craving for vitamin C.

You could also explore other sugar-free options for treats. Homemade cream puffs, whipped cream, milk slushies, cheese straws, sugar-free versions of international food. Every taste variation is an opportunity to feel treated but not all require a sweet taste.

I don't know that there is anything fundamentally wrong with eating pure glucose though I tend to agree with Bill that it helps self-regulate if you keep the purity of flavor that allows you to taste sugar. I agree too that if the amount of fructose is small then it is possible to feel bad without making the connection with the food you ate. There are definitely times I have had a bite of cookie thinking "this is harmless" and later in the day have thought, "Why do I feel so worn out and heavy-armed?" and only in retrospect traced it back to that one bite of cookie.

I don't really know about fructose contamination of commercial glucose sources but you might be able to ask the manufacturers. The other thing you might consider is seeing if your local pharmacist can find you some medical grade glucose. I would think that the kind that would be put into a medical IV drip is likely to be fructose-free because it is government regulated. Maybe your doctor can help you get a prescription for medical grade glucose. It might indeed be good to have some glucose tablets on hand because there are times you may be foodless (eg overnight airport delays) and everyone else manages by getting a soda from the soda machine and you are the one who is feeling faint because there is nothing edible for you in the vending machine.

I think that if you are going to add glucose to things then you shoudl add the minimum amount that allows your child to feel "treated" because it may not take much to satisfy her sweet tooth given that she rarely eats sweet things. And, given that we can only have refined grains and not whole grains, we might be more at risk of diabetes than the average person.

[colormist]

What I find horribly humorous about the whole sweets/no-sweets argument that Bill and Tammy have on again off again is that even though Bill says he adamantly disagrees with Tammy, that he STILL CHEATS. LOL. Onions, Bill. And you make bread with fructose. And some of those other things you write about that just makes me shake my head.

I do lean toward Bill on this argument, but I ate all kinds of dextrose candy as a kid and still knew to avoid fructose like a fiend. I don't find artificial sweeteners particularly delicious, or I might eat some of the things that Regina likes.

Honestly, I think the desire to fit in is far more damaging than any craving of sweets a child might get. All those times I ate cake and ice cream and candy bars and pop and sugary cereals as a kid were because I was feeling some pressure to fit in. Everyone else was excited about the cake, why wasn't I? Clearly it must be delicious and I should eat a whole bunch of it.

As an adult I know better. I definitely had WAY MORE fructose in my system than Regina ever will have.

[julienc]

I guess I'm a little late to the discussion! Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in on the beverages. I only drink milk, water, and iced tea (unsweetened, of course), and oddly enough, I don't get bored at all!

As a kid, I would add lemon juice to my water or make Kool Aid with just the plain packet, no added sugar or sweetener of any kind. It was quite tart, but I loved it! I drink milk like a crazy person (always have), but I haven't had any problems from that.