Almond Butter, Vinegar and Avocados?

[meaniejean]

So, Calvin is nearly recovered from the fructose test last week. Yesterday and today he is the happiest I have seen him in so long and he is actually going to sleep without screaming and not waking during the night screaming - yay!!!

He does still have diarrhea a couple of times a day. We were still allowing him to have some almond butter on crackers or toast, but now I am wondering if maybe almond butter isn't safe. Also, last night I accidently used apple cider vinegar in a recipe. Is apple cider vinegar okay? What about avocados and gaucamole? Our nutritionist appointment is not until November 10, so we are just going off of the BU website info and whatever I can find on here. You all have such great info!

Thanks a bunch!

[lisa]

Glad to hear things are getting better for your son.

Nate has not done well with almonds, but I think a few people here may eat them on occasion. Watch out for sugar and onions in guacamole. I'm not sure about the apple cider vinegar, but it seems we must've talked about it a time or two in the past. I'd wade through the safe food sources postings to see if there is anything there.

I've only found one or two crackers that do not have some kind of sugar in them. May want to look at the ingredients on those. Even some saltine crackers have sugar in them!

I wouldn't count on the nutritionist for too much useful info. I did get an e-mail address for ours and instead of seeing her in person I send her a quick e-mail when I have a question. It is worth asking if yours is open to doing things that way at all. Then again, maybe you'll be lucky and get one that knows something about HFI...

[millan]

I would also recommend double-checking those crackers and toast.
I avoid all kinds of nuts, but mainly because of allergy.
Guacamole is another thing I avoid, but mainly because I can't eat garlic so don't know what else might be mixed in.

I can eat avocados without any problems.

Apple cider vingerar is okay for me as well, but I have never had large amounts of it in anything.

I hope your nutritionist turns out to be knowledgeable about HFI, or, at the very least, interested in finding out about it.

[Tammy]

Regina can do almonds just fine, she just doesn't care for them.
We've never had a problem with the vinegar, and she eats LOTS of pickles made with it.

I also suggest checking the crackers. You'd be surprised which ones have sugar. And like Lisa said, even some saltines have sugar. Which leads me to say that you need to check EVERY box. Not only do they change by brand, sometimes they change the recipes even when they were ok in the past.

[meaniejean]

Thank you all for your replies. It is so helpful to hear from you all.

I went back and checked the gaucamole. It has onion and garlic, so we are going to stop eating that and just stick to plain avocado.
The almond butter we have says it has 2 grams of sugar in 2 TBSP. I think we will probably just stay away from it for awhile. What kind of sugar would almonds have? I guess I will look that up next.

As for the saltines, I am really confused. The box says that there is 1 gram of sugar in 5 crackers. But, the ingredients only list barley malt. I thought this was okay. Are there those of you who don't do well with barley malt?

The bread that we have is from our grocery store, Hannaford. It lists 0 sugar and doesn't have any sugar in the ingredients.

What do you do if the box says there is a gram of sugar, but there is no sugar of any kind listed anywhere on the label - for example, Barilla angel hair pasta says 1 gram, but there is only semolina, durum flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid

This is so much more confusing that I thought it was going to be - but I think I'll still take it over gluten-free. Gluten-free bread is the worst!

Many thanks - and happy halloween!

[Tammy]

I'm not sure what the rest go by, but I adhere strictly by the ingredient list. I usually don't even look at the grams of sugar since glucose, lactose, dextrose, etc will show up there.

I read the ingredients, and if all is well there, we use it.

I would use the Barilla angel hair pasta that you posted.

And hang in there, it does get easier.

[meaniejean]

Thanks, Tammy, for the encouragement. It really helps.

Your approach makes a lot of sense to me. We have to look out for lactose in addition to the fructose since Calvin is also lactose intolerant, so we often use the sugar count to assess the lactose content of dairy-containing foods that don't have any sugars listed in the ingredients. I think we are getting the hang of it ... somewhat ...

We realized today that he was getting mayo that had an "insignificant amount of sugar per serving" according to the jar - I went to the FDA website and it stated that it means it has less than .5 grams, but not necessarily zero - so, even more reason to stick to your method - if it says sugar, its not okay. This also happened to us with bacon - said 0 sugar, but sugar was listed as an ingredient. We didn't even notice until we were trying to figure out why he was feeling off.

We are also learning about oatmeal - still doesn't seem to be agreeing with him regardless of the 0 sugar content (which as I have also read on the FDA site, means .5 grams or less).

We are still trying to find a turkey that doesn't have any sugar in it. Even the ones at Whole Foods list <1 gram carbohydrate - so that means .51 to 1 gram per serving - why would turkey have any carb content??? I assume it is added sugar as a preservative? Any ideas or thoughts on this?

Thanks so much. I am sorry to bombard you all with all these questions!

[Tammy]

Dukes Mayo, which only seems to be in the southern US, is the only mayo that I've ever found that was safe. It is sold online on different sites.

Smithfield makes a bacon that is cured without sugar. It may not be the only one, but it's the only one I've found.

Turkey - watch for the self basting ones. Sometimes they have sugar in the basting. I usually get Butterball. They are ok, at least in our area. Again, I really don't know if any grams are listed as I've never looked.

Someone else may know why it has carbs.

[lisa]

Turkey may have carbs if it is prepared with a "solution" to bulk up the moisture content. I have noticed that some of these solutions contain sugar or cane juice.

I get the organic mayo from Trader Joes. Not sure if they are out there in Maine? There are also some recipes on this site for safe mayo and it is pretty easy to make.

Some people have had adverse reactions to barley malt syrup. Calvin may also be overly sensitive and show reactions faster right now since his body is not yet cleaned out. You'll be better able to tell what he is really able to tolerate in a few months.

At first when he went on the diet, Nate would have bad BMs within 10 minutes to an hour of eating something bad. His stomach still feels bad pretty quickly, but for the most part it takes 3 days for the bad BMs to start.

[meaniejean]

Thanks for all the advice.

We ended up getting a Shady Brook Farm turkey. It worked out fine for me - no belly aches, but Calvin didn't like it. For whatever reason he said that it burned his mouth. He says this about turkey deli meat as well, but not ground turkey. No idea on this one?!?!

In other news, we realized that his rice milk was not okay even though it is unsweetened, as it is made from brown rice. Also, his Purely O's by Cascadian Farms were making him sick as well. I thought something was up when Sawyer started refusing them. He is a really good judge of food even though he just turned one. If he refuses to eat something after a couple of feedings, I can usually assume it has sugar. Now if only my 3 year old could do this - he usually wants more of things that make him sick. Grrrr ...

[colormist]

If the turkey deli meat is pre-packaged, it might have been cured with some form of sugar. Poultry is, on occasion, fattened up with a form of sugar broth to make the meat look plumper. You might want to look for organic chicken--and even that you'll have to be careful with.

Purely O's sound like Cherrios. I used to love Cherrios until I got my DX. Now I can tell they have sugar in them. I think until you have them completely off sugar, they won't be able to tell if something makes them sick.

[millan]

Nov 1, 2008 19:55:19 GMT -5 meaniejean said:

We realized today that he was getting mayo that had an "insignificant amount of sugar per serving" according to the jar - I went to the FDA website and it stated that it means it has less than .5 grams, but not necessarily zero - so, even more reason to stick to your method - if it says sugar, its not okay. This also happened to us with bacon - said 0 sugar, but sugar was listed as an ingredient. We didn't even notice until we were trying to figure out why he was feeling off.

Why not make your own mayo?
www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/43/Homemade-Mayonnaise
allrecipes.com/HowTo/Making-Mayonnaise/Detail.aspx

[meaniejean]

Thank you for the mayo recipes - I might try these today. I am waiting for my Duke's mayo to get here. I am so excited!

Laura - what you said about being able to tell there is sugar in something is so interesting and true. Last week I went out to eat and ordered the crab cakes - they put the sauce on the side because they said their mayo has sugar in it. I took a couple of bites of the crab cakes and decided it was not a good idea to continue - they tasted very sweet to me. They didn't say there was sugar in the crab cakes. Sure enough, the nausea started about 30 minutes later. Sometimes I think it was better not knowing why I felt sick all the time ... not a rational thought at all, I know ... and I'm glad to know for my kids' sake, of course.

[colormist]

I tried unsuccessfully to make my own mayo. It must have been my insistence on not using a mixer that caused it to fail. I just ended up with a bowl of oily-eggs.

Crab cakes have went onto my no-no list. I've tried them a few times and each time with failure. I think they must use some type of sweetener with the crab or with imitation crab.
To help with the nausea, drink lots of water and find something that you can eat enough of to combat the sickness. Potato chips and saltines seem to work great, but you might find yourself craving something different. Pixy Stix also seem to work, but aren't as satisfying.

[meaniejean]

It is such a bummer, isn't it. I mean, I don't miss sweets and fruit because I never liked them anyway - well except mint chocolate chip or coffee ice cream. But it is all the foods with hidden sugar that is a bummer. Crab cakes are a huge favorite of mine - maybe I'll have to figure out how to make my own.

I have always craved salt by the truck full when I feel nauseated. I could live on potato chips and tortilla chips Half of my brothers and sisters are addicted to smarties or pixie sticks or fun dip - man, this is all so weird to find out now!

When I met my husband he thought I was really weird because the only food I had in my apartment was some fake hot dogs and some frozen broccoli florets. I have always walked straight through the produce section without a second look- except maybe to grab a cucumber or some chives. He has been on my case for a long time about my diet, so it is somewhat of a relief to know there is a reason for my weird behavior

I have a doc appointment tomorrow to talk about genetic testing. I can't wait to see who out of my 9 siblings is in this with me. I know for sure my little brother must have it as well. It is great to hear what affects you, Laura, because we seem pretty similar. Thanks for all your help!

[rasash2008]

hi all & meaniejean
i am wondering that calvin & his younger one are suspected HFI.calvin does still have a "diarrhea....".pls don't try the experimental food ingridents.you don't know whether they have DFI or HFI(very rare).because i read that in case of HFI,ingested fructose converts into fructose-1-phosphate(toxic chemical substance) and due to the difficiency of enzyme aldolase B ,liver is unable to metabolize(digestion process) this phosphate and further break down of this phosphate does not take place. so this phosphate accumlates(collected) on the liver and affected liver,kidney & small intestine.which is very harmful to the body organs.so at this stage i think firstly sure about fructose,sucrose and sorbitol free diet or ingrident then try it with your kids.as Mr. fred (moderator) replied that completely elimination of fructose is not possible,because fructose is a natural content.but we can try to minimize its amount.
pls check my posted thread about a link of USDA(United States Deptt. of agriculture). i found it during search and have a printouts with me. where u can find "Individual sugar content and total sugar content in all foods".monitor FRUCTOSE & SUCROSE.
--rasash2008
(CAN DO WILL DO)

[meaniejean]

rasash2008-
Thank you for your concern. We are operating under the assumption that Calvin and Sawyer have either HFI or FDPase deficiency. I also am intolerant of even small amounts of fructose or glycerin. We believe that it is HFI or FDPase deficiency because ingestion causes us actual intestinal damage - malabsorption (DFI) does not cause damage. We are currently on a very low fructose diet - less than 15 mg/kg. Originally the GI doc suggested that this was malabsorption so we were being less strict with the diet by allowing things like avocado and broccoli, etc., but we are now on no fruit, no veggies, no sweeteners except dextrose. We have also been buying a new flour for my baking that does not include malted barley flour.
I don't know if your little one has trouble with glycerin also, but we saw a huge improvement when we got rid of glycerin. It is in a lot of the sugar-free vitamin drops and also in toothpaste.
I hope your little guy's health continues to improve.
-Sandra