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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]P.S. My kids are strict gluten free and dairy free and everyone everywhere comments that they're the sweetest and most well behaved kids they've ever seen. Purely anecdotal of course but I do think their great diet (we give them no processed food in addition to no gluten/dairy/soy) contributes a lot. It certainly can't hurt your child and in my opinion it's a wonderful idea to try it![/quote]

OP here - I'm impressed!  How do you handle when you are out of the house, traveling, etc when it comes to such a strict diet?[/quote]

It's a lifestyle adjustment, that's for sure. I had to learn to cook. We had to spend a lot more money on food and a TON more time in the kitchen.

Generally, we take food with us. Packed lunch whenever we're out for the day. You can do anything like that - beach trips, theme parks, museums. We can usually find a bench somewhere to sit the kids and have our packed food. Kids are fine with it, they love the food. Lots of options. Left overs from the night before (e.g. kids' fave snack is bacon, which they're very happy to eat cold), any fruit (fave is berries), even gluten-free sandwiches. Sardines from a can are also a good option although can be hit or miss depending on the day for us. We pack wipes and things to clean up so we don't leave a mess anywhere.

We try to plan vacations around food. We get apartments with kitchens so we can cook, and rent a car if it's somewhere that we fly to, and we make sure that the stores nearby have decent food available. The food thing makes life a bit more complicated but most things are still possible.

We have ordered things from restaurants before (obviously telling them about the gluten allergies), and just been very specific about it. e.g. ask the chef for steaks with nothing except salt (because they'll often put a spice mix on that contains gluten or other mystery ingredients), yams with no topping and steamed veggies like brocoli, cauli, maybe carrots.

As for friends, it's true that it's hard to maintain regular friendships with normal people. We've moved around a bit recently but once we settle down, we will be joining groups focussed around food (paleo groups, for example, would be the best fit for us) to try to meet people whose diets are similar to ours. The worst thing for us isn't that people eat different food, it's that they eat it all day long. So many parents are literally stuffing junk food into their kids all day long, and it's hard to work around that. We stick to a fairly stable schedule each day and the kids know they can last until the next meal because they always get real food rather than white processed sugary chemical stuff that makes them high and then hungry again in a few minutes. Our kids eat four times a day, and we keep that schedule as much as possible even when traveling.

Generally, it's just a lot of planning. Worth it though, for us. My health is a ton better and some medical things are also getting better for the kids and DH too.

Good luck :)[/quote]

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