Due to my son's issues I need to remove Gluten and Dairy out of our family's diet.
I was wondering if there is anyone else out there that is doing Atkins successfully without Gluten and Dairy? I was on the Kimkins diet for a little over 2 months and my symptoms started to lift but I stopped and now have to figure out where to go from here.
I know the induction will be easy for me since there is no need for gluten but the dairy is a bit different since I won't be able to have cheese. What do I do?
Thanks in advance.

Can YOU have cheese? Or can it simply not be in the house?

Do you just keep all of those foods out of the house because of your son? I agree with sjm, are YOU able to have cheese?

I don't eat high casien dairy (milk, soft cheese, cream, etc.) - although I do eat whey protein powder and now and then have some parmesan cheese. You can do low carb without dairy I did it for 4 months for some health reasons and I am back doing it again these past three weeks.

I take a calcium supplement and make sure I eat plenty of leafy greens too.

Some things I use instead: unsweetened almond milk from Blue Diamond (yummy - three flavors), I eat more nuts in general, and tend to snack on meats and veggies. Tahini (sesame paste) can be used to makes a good dressing that has a sort of creamy taste, nut butter based dressings are good to. There are some soy cheeses and soy milks wihtout sweetener but I don't eat unfermented soy either as I believe that it has its own health dangers.

Desserts can be a problem but you can make muffins and sweet pound cake type things with nut-based flours, coconut, eggs, sugar free sweetener, etc. There are some nut flour based cookie recipes floating around as well.


I'm not sure you can make a substitute for everything, but there is a lot of room for invention and there is a ton of great food. You'll find that ditching those gluten based carbs and dairy may free up more room in your low carb way of eating for reasonable portions of things like higher carb fruits, and higher carb veggies like sweet potato or winter squash.


Jen

Limited dairy (cheese, cream) is on the list of *allowed* foods. It's permitted but not necessary for success.

I do Atkins by the book and don't care for pork or shellfish. <shrug>

The list of allowed foods is the boundary line; you pick what works best *for you*, for whatever reason, from within that boundary. That's where the Quest starts.

My kiddo is GFCF too. I am gluten-free, which is waaaaaaayyyy easy on Atkins. The dairy free part is a bit more of a challenge, but certainly doable. As mentioned above, there are milk substitutes, the nut milks having more fat and protein. For me, that would mean cutting out cream in my coffee and cheese. Cheese is just another habit to break.

Is your whole family on Atkins? If not, one of my favorite cookbooks for my son is Carol Fenster's "Cooking Free" which has lots of recipes and a fabulous list of substitutions. Anything labeled "vegan" will be milk free, but might have wheat.

The specific carbohydrate diet without the yogurt may be a way for you to go. Lots of recipes using almond flour. You can just skip anything with butternut squash. www.scdrecipe.com

If there are any delay issues, check out pecanbread.com. My kid has PDD.

HI
I am gluten free, with limited dairy
Celiac.com has alot of infor and a great forum. I get alot of help there.
It is harder to do it, but it beats being sick all the time
How old is your son?
Is he old enough to understand?

sandi

I don't do dairy well because I have IBS, so I stay away from milk, cheese and ice cream. If I have ice cream I usually have soylicious because It is dairy free and doesn't make me have to go run to the bathroom right after eating it.
My son is 2 1/2 and he has always been on Soy milk or used soy cheeses. It was his choice at a very young age. We tried to give him the dairy based formula but be refused and would only drink soy formula and later it was only soy milk, tofu, tempe, veggie cheese and vegetables. We did try to give him regular organic milk and after drinking it for a couple of days I notived he broke out in little bumps all over.
He wasn't a very big meat eater either. He does love his vegetables though.
My DH is on board with the lifestyle changes because he wants to get as healthy as possible.

Jill ~ You posted on my other topic about the yeast and I think we have decided to go with the specific Carb diet and just ad the gluten free breads, pastas and snacks to my sons diet.

Sandi~ I have joined Celiac.com and get updates now and again but haven't really had a lot of time to visit lately to get recipes and such. I like that the people have so much experience with recipes and what tastes the best.

Jen~ Thanks for the suggestions. I don't do artificial anything though. Especially sweeteners. I tried it while on Kimkins because I was feeling deprived and everyone else had their little snacks like the Stallone Puddings, or the crystal light. So I tried an artifical sweetened drink and it made me sick. Not only that but my weight loss stopped. I guess I am just one of those people that is very sensitive to that sort of thing.


I really want to get all the processed foods out of our life and get my family to eat only whole foods and I guess it is just going to take a bit more time for me to get to that point. It is all a learning process for me.

I think I really need to go with my instincts here and just have meats, veggies, use good fats (I use earth balance spread and olive oils), take my multi (all the other supplements I take) and drink my water.

I am not going to focus so much on the counting of the carbs but make sure that the carbs that I get are from healthy sources (veggies).I know I felt better when on Kimkins (I did the K/E) except it irritated my IBS symptoms due to not getting enough fiber in my diet from veggies and possibly enough fat.
So I will do a simpler version of Atkins and see how it goes.
I still would love any suggestions or information.
Thanks everyone.

eating whole foods is always better
Eating less processed foods even better.
just becareful of low carb and gluten free foods, they are loaded with cal. and processed junk. I would buy a bread maker, and make home made bread. I don't need or eat bread at all, but for a little one that will be going to school once day (and that will be fun with food related issues there)
sandi

Sandi~ I do plan on home schooling but they make gluten free bread mixes that taste very satisfying and he loves them. I don't need a bread maker for them either which is great because I am not very good in the kitchen (at the moment, that is!! I am getting better). I haven't had a complete kitchen for the past 5 years so my cooking skills are lacking but we are in the process of finishing out kitchen and I now have an oven so I am cooking a lot more than I used to.

I do have a question for anyone that may know the answer.
For children are carbs necessary? I mean does my son really NEED bread or can he follow a diet high in veggies, meats and fats?
My son hasn't been sick since birth and is very healthy but I would love to know if he can do without the breads or carbs that he is having now.
TIA to anyone that can give me some information on this subject.

I guess it matters what the "carbs are
http://www.uhhospitals.org/tabid/390/newsi...20/Default.aspx
sandi

He doesn't need bread per se, but good carbs like sweet potatoes deliver a hefty phtonutrient punch.

Sandi~ That is a great article. Thanks. I guess he does need those carbs he is getting. I just have to make sure they are gluten free and that he eats his veggies.

Jill~ He loves it when I make mashed sweet potatoes using the earth balance spread and a little soy milk.

Thanks for the great info.

OK, let's just make this question even more challenging: suppose the non-dairy, non-gluten person is also a vegetarian?

I have a friend who is a vegetarian on moral grounds and simply won't budge on this. He used to eat fish and shellfish occasionally but decided that was a moral compromise and has scaled that back considerably.

He claims to be lactose-intolerant, but I am not sure he's ever been diagnosed by a doctor. Now he thinks he has celiac, and I have to confess, his symptoms are enough to make me think he should spring for the celiac antibody test.

He's also at least 100 lbs, maybe even 150 lbs, overweight. I'd love for him to do a low-carb diet, but as he put it, given that he can't eat dairy and probably can't eat gluten and won't eat meat, it's "eggs in the morning, eggs in the evening, eggs at suppertime."

In a twisted way, I'm hoping for a celiac diagnosis, because I have heard that a lot of people with celiac initially think that they are lactose intolerant. (He claims cheese bothers him, but cheese doesn't have much lactose ... I keep wondering if he has ever tried cheese without bread.) I think it would be great if it turned out that he could eat dairy, because then maybe there would be some low-carb hope for him.

Anybody have any thoughts?

Vegetarian Low Carb looks like a good resource, especially their Lowcarb Vegetarian Protein Sources.

The data are very strong that meat and especially fatty meat is the healthiest and most effective foundation for the LC WOE, but everyone has to start somewhere, so there you go, Psipsina! I hope your friend gets some help there.

Psipsina~ I am not sure what to make of your friend. I also thought I was lactose intolerant but am now finding that the reasons I have such symptoms is caused by yeast overgrowth.
I am now removing all processed foods and dairy and anything with vinegar in it, in order to starve the yeast and then I will be taking an antifungul supplement to kill the yeast (As soon as my order gets here).
You can read about yeast overgrowth just about anywhere and it does cause food allergies and sensitivities to foods (especially wheat gluten,dairy and sugars). It causes lots of the major disorders these days such as depression, fibromyalgia,chronic fatigue, MS, Lupus etc.... The problem is that doctors will not diagnose people with yeast overgrowth because it would be admiting that they contributed to the problem with overuse of antibiotics.
In any case I have only been on my special LC, high fat, no gluten, no processed foods, no dairy except egg diet since last Monday. I have been feeling better. It is slow but I know it is working.
Check out the thread about Yeast (I think it is in the "educate" section) and see if any of the information there is applicable to your friend. There are links that I found to be my saving grace and led me to the diet I am doing now. There is what is called the "spit test" to determine if yeast is a problem. Lots to discover.
I have IBS but am finding that the yeast can be a contributing factor to that as well.
Also I just thought I would mention that a majority of the celiac sufferers are underweight (basically malnourished) due to the inability to get nutrition from their foods caused by damage to the lining of the intestines from the disease.
What are his symptoms?
I, too, thought I may have celiac or sensitivity to it and joined the website celiac.com but then found that yeast was the more likely culprit.
There is a lot of information out there on both subjects. It is always a good idea to remove the gluten out of foods IMHO because of the health benefits of not eating a food that can be made into glue. I hope that some of this info helped. I certainly hope that your friend finds what works for him and starts feeling better and getting healthier. It is a long road but it can be done.
I know that my journey to become yeast free could take up to or even more than a year but it will be so much better than living with all the symptoms I have been dealing with for years and being unhappy.
It is so worth doing.
I hope this helped.
When it comes to the vegetarian thing there are a lot of alternatives to meat. Check out "Quorn" brand products. I am not sure what the carbs are in them but it is a microprotein made from mushroom or fungus sources. I cannot eat it because it is a form of fungus and would contribute to my yeast problem but I used to eat it and they offer a variety of foods (crumbles, "fake" chicken pieces, patties etc...). Tofu is a great source of protein and is very versitile as well. There are also the Shiritaki Miracel noodles that can be used to make a soy macaroni and cheese.
Just a few ideas. If I think of anything else I will let you know.

I found I had both problems too, I got rid of the gluten and still had S+S and when I got rid of most of the yeast, I finally felt better,
sandi