Please help-me find a cheese my DS can
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| Thu, 10-26-2006 - 3:26pm |
eat. I am looking for gluten-free, casein-free, red-dye free cheese. I am so frustrated. Plenty of gluten-free, but not casein-free, then there is casein-free with maltodextrin or something else. grr.
My DS is being evaluated next month for what degree of ASD he has, but the suspicion is Asperger's. It was a coincidence that we have him on a gluten-free diet (celiac sprue). He was gluten-free and casein-free from age 1 through 2 and 3/4. It was because of GI and developmental problems. Once he could tolerate milk again, we put him back on it. And his behavior got far worse.
We have him on a gluten-free, casein-reduced diet right now and it has made a big difference. The problem is that just in the year since he has had milk, he has really developed a love of cheese, and especially "triangle pizza" (circle cut into wedges). I have yet to find a cheese that is both gluten-free and casein-free. Of course I hope when I do find one that it tastes good; he is such a picky eater I dread the switch.
Anyway, sorry I haven't introduced myself yet. I have a DD(11), DS(3.5), and DD(5 months). We are currently in Utah, but moving to New England next summer (separating from the military). I look forward to any help that you can offer. Thank you so much.
Best wishes,
Michelle

You don't have to have cheese in your diet. My suggestion go to an organic food store if you can Also try kosher products.
And if you must have "cheese" pizza I am told that tofu can make for an interesting substitiute.
Rina
Thank you for the tip. My DS really likes the taste and texture of cheese and that's why I am trying to find a replacement for him. It's very difficult to find foods that he can eat that he likes. But I'll keep looking. Thanks again.
Michelle
My 5 year old has celiac disease.
Wow! Thank you so much for that info! I had no idea. I am also celiac, and found out 2 weeks after my DS, so I'm still very new to this relatively speaking. It was Jan, 2004 when we went gluten-free. I sure do appreciate that and I'll check out that soy cheese then with maltodextrin, because I believe it didn't have any other gluten ingredients.
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
I am not sure I can help. We were on a pretty strict GFCF diet for about 2 yrs. But DS ended up having other GI troubles and we are now on sort of a combination of SCD and GF. Actually, we are what I would call, "specific gluten, low casein." Due to Eric's GI troubles, we went off the GF diet to test for celiac. He didn't have celiac, but while we were off, we discovered he could tolerate spelt and sprouted grain products, but pure whole wheat causes terrible neurological trouble, though he isn't, techically "allergic."
But about the cheese, I can't remember for sure, and you might have tried all these. I know most of the soy cheeses have casein, though small amounts. If trace amounts of casein don't affect him, Tofutti "better than cheese" brand has some nice mozzarella-like cheese and slices. I think the "follow your heart" brand was casein free, it was vegan and soy-based. Here's their website:
http://www.followyourheart.com/cheese_products.php
But none of it tasted that great to me. Though DS just wanted something with the same texture and color and he ate them all.
Some other food for thought. Every child is different. For us it seems to go by trial and error, which I hate. Eric gets diarrhea from cow's milk. Our GI wanted us to try to lower his soy consumption, so he suggested we try goat's milk cheese. It does have casein, but does not seem to affect Eric negatively. Goat's milk itself, to drink, however, does cause him tummy problems. But he seems to handle small amounts of the cheese and the goat yogurt with no trouble.
Our Whole Foods store has a whole goat's milk section. Plus I think it tastes good. We stick to the hard cheeses (cheddar, parmesan) not the chevre, for Eric.
You may not be willing to risk trying it, since it does have casein, but we have found it to be ok and sort of a blessing. Just another thing to consider. You can read about the differences in cow and goat products on the SCD website, pecanbread.com which is also kind of focused on using the diet for children on the spectrum.
Good luck. In our house it is easier to live without bread than cheese!
Katherine
Thank you! It's been wonderful to hear from people who are like us. I had bought a brick of goat's motzarella before I realized it also had casein. I think hearing that your son does okay with goat products is good news. I'm going to try out the stuff I have and see how he does. We picked up a GF pizza crust (Ener-G) today so I'll make a pizza for him tomorrow and see how he likes it. We also bought some tofutti American slices and see how he likes that. Crossing my fingers.
I wish we had a Whole Foods near us here. When we go home to visit family, I just walk through the store and cry. I can't wait to move next summer so that we can have all that awesome food available to us all the time.
Thanks again.
Michelle
Thank you for the warm welcome. Yes, it is very nice to know there are places I can go for info where people already know where I'm coming from and I don't have to explain our whole family history first LOL. I"m glad to be here. :)
Michelle