Happy Thanksgiving

[Tammy]

With Thanksgiving coming up soon, just a quick reminder. If you are using a self-basting turkey, check it. Some "off-brands" have suger in the "self-basting" part. We found this one year when my one aunt did the shopping for our family meal.
I guess that means all turkeys are NOT created equal.

[kristen]

Tammy,

we will be shopping for T-day this weekend. Turkey & stuffing mix are a worry for me. If you know, can you post safe brands. Also, I'm wondering if squash is safe - veggies are a giant mystery to me at this point.

Any advice you can give would be VERY appreciated!

Thanks,
KJ (mom to Coley 32 mos)

[Tammy]

I usually get a Butterball turkey. It's basting is safe. Just check the label and see what it contains. As far as stuffing, I don't know of any pre-made. You can use a safe bread (some french, some of the "heavy" jewish types are ok, too). Just break it up, I use a little GW broth mix, poultry seasoning, 1 egg, and enough butter to make it wet and stick together. Then just put it in foil and bake for 15 - 30 min. (I usually make stuffing out of "regular" bread for the rest of us)

As for pie, She always has chocolate. None of the squash types are ok. We use sugar-free Jello pudding and sugar free Dream Whip.

Hope this helps.

[kristen]

Thanks Tammy!

What's GW?

Is suah of any type ok as a veggie (w/ butter)?

Thanks,
KJ

[Tammy]

GW is a brand name. I just checked mine, and it's actually GWashington seasoning and broth. It's in a powdered form. I use the Golden flavor for poultry, and Rich Brown for beef. It also makes good gravy when you need some in a hurry.

There aren't any type of squash, that I know of, that is ok.

[kristen]

Tammy,

I know you are the expert here - so I REALLY appreciate any guidance you can give me. This will be my first T-day dinner, we are not having company, so it's only us I have to worry about, but I want to give Coley as much 'typical' T-day as I can. I'm SOOO bummed about pie...but I just keep trying to think about him really not liking it anyway, but it still makes me sad.

Anyway, as it stands at this point, my menu consists of:

butterball turkey
home made stuffing
gravy
mashed potatoes
spinach &/or green beans
biscuits

I've been using this site to help me when the BU diet is unclear...http://www.nutritiondata.com/

And when I look up squash, like hubbard, acorn or zucchini, it seems ok. Is this site not reliable for our situation? I'm SOOO confused about veggies, some say root veggies are ok, others say no. Some say starchy are ok, some say no....the only veggies I am clear on are carrits, tomatoes, corn and onion...please help!

I'm doubly stressed because this will be my first T-day with my husband. We've already made a commitment to eat Coley's diet as a family, so we are trying to make it as variety packed as possible, for everyone.

And then of course I think, if some squashes are ok, why can't I find a way to make a pie, maybe with bisquick crust or something???

Can you please tell me what our veggie options are.

THANK YOU!!!!!!
KJ

[kristen]

Oops, one more question...looking for an idea for desert. I WISH I had ordered the dextrose earlier, but it won't be here befor T-day.

I have mastered pudding , so I thought that I could somehow make a pudding pie, or maybe even use the pudding packets to make a cake. I even thought about using PB and bisquick to make cupcakes or something???

I'm not a baker by any means, so I was wondering if you had any desert ideas (other than pudding that is) that I could serve. Obviously it's not the time to experiment, so a specific recipee would really help!

Thanks a million!
KJ

[Tammy]

I applaud your desire to eat the same as Coley, but I've always felt that my daughter has to survive in the real world, and the best way for that is to learn right from the start that her diet is different from everyone else, including those around her. She always has a very close meal to ours, but she has "hers" and we have "ours". And a lot of times, she's the only one that gets "special" things that the rest of us doesn't get. I think that was the best way because now she is so used to it, as long as she has something, she is happy. Once she was in school, she was already used to eating different, and having school parties and such was much less stressful that way.

Every list of vetables that I've even seen is different. The ones that I've compiled from all the lists are the ones we've followed for the last 20 years. They are all on a limited basis. By limited, I'm talking only once a week, if that much. And then only a spoonful. (only 1 once a week, not all of them once) Potatoes and cucumbers (dill pickles) are the only ones that we pretty much eat all the time unlimited.

We allow:
asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, endive, lettuce, mushrooms, green peppers, potatos, radish, spinach, wax and string beans.

I've always considered parsley an herb, but I have seen it listed as a vege. I do allow parsley.

All other vegtables are no for us. This is basically our first list from 20 yrs ago.

Also, peanuts and all nuts were on the NO list, so I've never allowed them. I think some lists say ok, but we live with the tried and true.

We do NOT allow squash. Again, since this is something that I have never been able to get a diffinate answer on, we avoid it.

I'm sure you'll find any answer you want on everything, if you keep looking hard enough for it, but that doesn't mean it's the correct answer. As you've already found, everything will contradict others.

I know this is very limiting, but it's much better to have her be healthy and feel good than to worry about variety.

Tammy

[Tammy]

I think Fred is probably more of an expert than I am since he himself has to follow the diet and knows how he feels. I just have the biggest mouth. ;D

Your menu looks fine to me. Regina will probably have a broccoli dish of some sort. Probably the cheese broccoli casserole on the recipes.

As for dessert, she always has chcolate pie, since this is her favorite. We will have pumpkin. This is what I was referring to in the last post. We both have pie. She just is the only special one that gets her own special pie. The rest of us will have to eat the regular one. Some pie crust mixes are ok, some are not, you'll just have to check the label for sugar.

Did you look through the recipes I've posted?
I like Fred's idea with the pie crust. I'll have to try that myself for Regina. Maybe even put a little cinnamon on it before I bake it. And then she will most likely want to dip it into cream cheese. (we call that her chip dip, again, her special dip while we eat other dip) Most of the rest of things I can think of will take a small amount of dextrose, so you're probably limited to pudding items.

Our stuffing will be regular, and again, hers will be the only special one there. The other advantage to this is that she grew up knowing to ask what kind it is. We have sugar free chocolate milk at home, but not in school like the other kids. So she would ask if things are her kind before just assuming all things are the same. In the long term picture, I think this is the most fair and easiest way for her to learn and accept the diet as normal for her. She never felt left out from other kids. The only time I really have a hard time with it is when we go for ice cream cones in the summer. She gets chips and diet soda until we get home to get her homemade ice cream.

Tammy

[kristen]

NO NUTS?! I'm SOOOOO confused! UGH!

Fred? How are you with nuts?

Coley's doing SOOOOO much better, even with some iffy stuff in his diet, but I just want to get him clean to know where his best place is, before testing questionable stuff - I'm getting so frustrated with the unclear information!!!

Since he's so little, I really need your expertise here!

Thanks!
KJ

[kristen]

ok. My head is whirling!

I didn't even worry about nuts because the BU diet says they are ok. But looking, they are LOADED with sucrose! HUGE bummer! But if sucrose converts to 50% fructose/50% glucose then they compare pretty similarly to some veggies that are listed above. Particularly when you consider that they are much more filling and you eat much less of them then you would a serving of veggies.

AND, the squashes that show a '~' I thought meant that it was an insignificant amount of fructose, turns out it means the data is not present. But hubbard for example shows 1g fructose in a serving, which is about the same as cabbage or potato.

I'm still confused!!!!

And what about legumes and beans...pinto, kidney, navy, etc all have very little fructose and sucrose (if any).

I know I've gotten WAY off the T-day topic here...I guess I'm just trying to understand. Is it impossible to eliminate fructose? Is it all a matter of how much each individual can handle? Will we ALWAYS be dealing with the effects of fructose, based on the amount we've been able to eliminate? Or is there something I'm missing here? Should I be looking at veggies that have more glucose than fructose or something?

And what's the deal with bran, I'm seeing very small amounts of fructose in whole grain products...I guess I just don't understand why bran is a no-no, but veggies aren't.

Does it all boil down to eliminate where you can, so that you can have it in other places??? based on individual tolerance???

HELP??!

Thanks,
KJ

[Tammy]

Kristen,
I think what you are missing is that you should eliminate as much fructose as possible. period. Forget about trying to get more vegtables in the diet. Get rid of all of them and only have a few of the "limited" ones once in a while. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but if you want the best for your child, this is what it takes.

That basically leaves meats, pastas and dairy. That is the best possible diet for HFI. All the other "limited" things are just that. Very Limited. Just for once in a while.

This isn't a healthy way for "regular diet" people, but it is EXTREMELY healthy for HFI. Remember.....their bodies do NOT react the same as ours. That also seems to include what they need for nutrition.

The rest of the family should eat what is healthy for them, the same as HFI needs to eat healthy for them. That means you can't all do the diet. It would be as bad for you as your diet is for them. You eat your pumpkin (or hubbard squash) pie and make a sugar free pudding pie for your child.

I, being a parent, understand this isn't the way you want to handle it, but it is by far the best way for the entire family. What if you have other children? Are you going to deny them a healthy diet based on their needs? They will need lots of fruits and vegtables, compared to the HFI child needing none. Start right from the beginning and he will not think much of being "different" later. When he hits the teen years, think his friends won't stop for a pizza just because he can't? But by starting now, he won't give it a second thought to just getting something different from them. After all, that is what he will have been doing his whole life, if you start now.

I know this is hard at first. But sometimes being a good parent is hard. It will become easier as you all get used to it.

[kristen]

Thanks Tammy!

Ok, so veggies, actually most plant life is a treat?! UGH! No whole grains either??

Your mealtime process makes a lot of sense, and hopefully we'll be in a position to do that soon. The problem complicating things for us is that Coley has developed an eating disorder from all of this, and probably partly due to his prematurity (specifically his immature neuro system). Many preemies have trouble with eating...we don't know exactly why, but the theory is that there is discomfort due to the immature track, and the whole hunger, satiation, gas information gets 'wired' wrong in infancy. It takes many many many comfortable mealtime experiences to get to normal - or mature.

We have noticed a HUGE improvement in his attitude toward food since we've changed his diet - but it's still a struggle for us. At this point many of our meals are spent eating off the same plate. I think this has to do with a distrust for the food, and who'd blame him given the HFI. I know that doesn''t sound like a good scenario to you (or anyone else reading) but believe me when I tell you this is a MAJOR improvement. It's to bad the Drs didn't listen to me when he was projectile vomiting all over the house for his first 15 mos of his life! GRRRR! Plus, he's only 2.5yo so he doesn't quite understand why he can't have things that we have...coffee is a fight ALL the time.

What we could do, however, is eat behind his back for a little while. And thank you...because I have been feeling horrible, I need some veggies big time!

I guess I need to reprogram myself - Fruit/Veggies bad! Man that's a switch!

Thank you Tammy. Sorry for getting so far off the T-day topic! I think I get it now.
KJ

[kerrynz]

Hi Tammy.
Many thanks for your paragraph, yes it's the best advice to follow. My mind set has changed.

Hi Fred

Thanks for the bread, now we at 2 1/4 yrs have a sandwhich. Yippee

Hi kristen,

The night sleep probalem is just like charlie described, but we have found that it went away with-in a week of following all of the above good advice.

We are having trouble with hypo's at the moment because { I think} if she doesn't have proten for breakfast she just runs out of puff. Any idea's please.??

I found a butcher who makes sauaages for us with chicken mince, olive oil and our flour only they look great we tatse them tonight.

I allways underestimate my daughter. The other week i decided she needed to start hearing the word Fructose. So after the sqaubble at meal time i just said You know we don't let you eat carrots because they have fructose in them and that is what makes your tummy sore.

She looked at me and said WHY? Thsi is remarkable because she doesnot talk Much.

I said. when you were born inside your tummy something happened that made you a little different. That means if some food has fructose in it you get a sore tummy so we give you other things to eat you don't want a sore tummy do you.

She just smiled and walked off

Now when she asks i just say this has fructose and she stops.

Can you please explain in more detail what you see when you say your child can't procees i think we have the same thing so i'd love to hear your obsevations.

We jumped in with both feet and are preparing and training the preschool for Zanoah next year. If you see Australia turn grey on the map over night you'll know it is us worrying.

Thanks for being there

Best Regards
Kerryn

[Tammy]

hi Kerryn
I think your explaination was a very good one. You're right, the sooner she starts to understand in her terms, the better.

I run off at the mouth so much on here that I'm not real sure what you are referring to when you mentioned that I said my daughter doesn't process. Was it when I was talking about her being mentally handicapped? I know I say a lot of times that she has a slow processor. It takes her a while to answer a question. At one time they tried to tell me that she was having very minor seizures. I didn't believe that from the start. But her school teachers tried to say that because when you ask her a question, she just stares at you sometimes. But it isn't a siezure, she's just thinking about it. We now give her options which helps her choose an answer. Exp: Do you want to do "whatever", tell me yes or no. Or..What do you want to eat. Hot dog or spaghetti?. This isn't all the time, just sometimes and its not nearly as bad as it was years ago. But once in awhile I still see it. If I ask her a question without giving her options, "What do you want to eat?" She will just look at me until I even forget I asked, and about a half hour later she will come and answer me. It's like she has to formulate what you are asking and formulate an answer.

She also talks real slow. Word by word. Like she has to formulate what she is saying.

She understands everything said to her very quickly. Like if you tell her to do something, she does it instantly. She just has trouble expressing herself back.

If this isn't what you were referring to, just refresh this leaky old brain and I'll see if I can answer better next time.

Good luck with the preschool. I'm sure there will be some mistakes made, but just try to make the best of the situation. Like if she gets sick from something accidental, it'll help her understand that's what happens. Hopefully you'll never have it happen, but I try to live in the real world.

[Tammy]

Kristen
I'm so glad to hear that you get it.

Eating behind his back is ok to start. Whatever it takes. Of course you have to adjust all this for each individual. Maybe you can also start by you having 2 small plates instead of 1 big plate. Then you can share off one of Mommy's plates, and the other one will be Mommy's only. I'm sure he will not be happy, just like with the coffee, but it may be a place to start.

Kerryn had a good explanation, maybe you can try that.

Tammy

[kristen]

Kerryn, since this has gotten so far of the T-day topic, I responded over in the Toddler forum.

KJ

[kerrynz]

Hi KJ
Don't worry where you respond

I'm just glad you are all so helpfull.

I use oatmeal porrage as a meal last thing at night it settles her tummy and shortens any rough ride
If she wakes around the 11pm i give milk and or cheese that puts her back to sleep pretty fast. I await your metabolic visit, with keen interest.

Regards Kerryn

[Tammy]

Are you all aware that if you go to the bottom of this site home page, under the info center, you can "view 10 most recent posts" of this forum?
If you just check that, you will get every new post no matter where it's posted. And when you respond, it'll still put it under the right heading.
I find this the most handy place to find everything new quickly.

[kristen]

Yeah, but I was just trying to keep specific info/responses in the right category.

It probably doesn't matter too much with the size of this group, but for future reference it will.

just a thought...
KJ