Cream of Wheat?

[meaniejean]

It seems that we are having trouble with Cream of Wheat. I looked at the box and it states that it contains partially defatted wheat germ. Even though wheat germ is supposed to be a no-no, I did some more research anyway and found that sometimes partially defatted wheat germ is also roasted in corn syrup. Anyone else react to partially defatted wheat germ?

I had malt-o-meal today with no problem, so I know we don't have any problems with malted barley or wheat.

We also found out that vanilla is a problem for us - no wonder - 500 mg/tsp. Yikes! Garlic powder experiment Monday night - failed! I just wanted to make sure so that we weren't avoiding certain premade foods for no reason.

Thanks to you all I am feeling like we are really getting a grasp on this. Some trial and a lot of error, but such dramatic improvements!

You all are the best!

[meaniejean]

Ok - just kidding - Malt-O-Meal is not okay for us - particularly not okay for Sawyer. Last night was awful and this morning he is still having belly pain and trouble sleeping - SO irritable. So, I looked into it some more and found that barley malt has been mentioned on this site before. And the Eden Organic site was mentioned:

"The sugar profile of EDEN Organic Barley Malt Syrup is approximately 76.13 percent maltose, 15.81 percent glucose, 6.3 percent sucrose, 2.04 percent fructose and the remainder is lactose."

I am assuming that different manufacturers would have varying levels of sucrose and fructose in their products. The malted barley is the second ingredient in the Malt-O-Meal. I didn't think it would be a problem since we have been using all-purpose flour that has some malted barley flour in it. Oh well.

[meaniejean]

So I just read that malted barley flour is added to all-purpose flour as a source of sugars to feed yeast in baking - so the sugars in the malted barley would be gone by the time we ate the food. But, when it is in something like Malt-O-Meal, there is no yeast and so the sugars are eaten by us - not the yeast - hence a reaction.

Sorry to subject you all to this conversation with myself

[colormist]

LOL, that's okay. It helps to work things out in text sometimes.

As a side note, EDEN Foods is two doors down from my house. I really wish they had a store in their factory. It's a pretty small, cute, neat place--not scary like most factories. I always get geeked when people talk about them and try to buy their products whenever possible.

[meaniejean]

Maybe you should go try and make friends with them!

[julienc]

I used to eat cream of wheat and didn't have any problems that I can remember. I switched to grits a few years back - it filled me up more than the cream of wheat.

[meaniejean]

Hey Julie -
Sawyer loves corn grits. I found the Quaker instant kind - which I think taste horrible, but they are quick and he eats it right up.

I grew up on Corn Meal Mush - it was my all time favorite!

I have always had stomach aches from Cream of Wheat. I thought maybe it was just because I used to add a tsp. of sugar, but now I'm not sure.

[julienc]

I like the Quaker instant kind, too. Yummy with salt and butter.

It may be the cream of wheat that is bothering you. The "germ" thing is confusing to me. I often eat Grape Nuts, and every now and then it seems to upset my stomach a little. Could be something else...tough to know.

[meaniejean]

I am having a bit of trouble with the germ thing too. The last time I bought corn meal I bought some all natural kind from Bob's Red Mill and couldn't figure out why Sawyer was having a hard time with my corn bread. I bought the Quaker stuff this time around - degerminated - much better on our tummies.

I continue to try to eat shredded wheat because it is one of my favorite foods, but it doesn't seem to be agreeing with me lately. Whole wheat and I don't really get along. I have given up on Cream of Wheat and Malt-O-Meal. We also cannot seem to handle puffed rice because it all seems to be made with brown rice which we have major problems with here. I'm thinking we will probably give Cream of Rice a try soon - I think it is made with white rice.

Long story short - it is no wonder my favorite breakfast food growing up was corn meal mush made with the Quaker corn meal ...