These are so amazing – no artifical flavours or colours, gluten free, corn free,organic, Kosher Parve, made with fruit extracts and they taste awesome.

I ordered these for my boys because I wanted something gluten free but also without all the crap that normal lollipops (candy in general) seem to have.  Since then, I’ve re-ordered for my office.  I feel really good about sharing these with other people’s children (with permission, of course) because they are a high quality treat.  We have lots of kids through here & I’ve never had a complaint about the flavour yet.  With the “old” kind, we’d find the kids would take about 2 licks and hand it back.

I get mine from www.iherb.com in a bag of 50 for $6.00.  They have packages of assorted flavours, which I recommend until you know which one is your favorite.  Me, I’m partial to Mango Tango and Pomegranate Pucker (don’t you just love the names) but truly, any flavour will do.

For the more “grown-up” kid in your office, Yummy Earth also has individually wrapped candy drops.  So, if you’re a little too old (professional) to have a sucker stick in your mouth, these drops are just as good.  They even look nice in a candy dish on your desk.

As always, first time customers can save $5.00 on their first order by using coupon code MEN348 at check0ut.  (Which would make the first bag $1.00 – just in case I haven’t convinced you to try it yet!)

Then, we were in our local Superstore & they have a whole aisle, with dairy case, dedicated to GF and natural options.  Soy yogurt, frozen entrees, alt. milks, you name it, all there.

I even found a new Lara Bar option I hadn’t tried before – PB and Jelly.  Yup, tastes like it sounds…like the sandwich you remember as a kid, but better.  I don’t think it’ll be in my regular rotation but still very yummy.  (I found it way too sweet for a mid-run snack)

My new fav (though the boys aren’t as excited about it) is the Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip.  I got a box from iherb.com and hoped for the best.  It is so much like dessert but very filling.  I often break it in half and enjoy one half in the morning and one as the afternoon snack.

Keep your chin up GF families.  There is so many more choices than even 2 years ago.  We can do this!

1.  Bulk Barn – I get flours, gf noodles, almond milk and occasionally rice crackers or gf cereal there.  Sales happen on occasion & I use the $3.00 off coupon as much as I can.

2.  www.iherb.com  – I buy a lot of gf foods there.  They do carry Bob’s Red Mill as well as other US brands.  The xanthan gum is usually at least $4.00 (cost of shipping) cheaper than my stores.

3.  Safeway – carries Kinnikinnick products – we like the Tapioca Rice bread, and a line or two of soy ice cream.  It’s about 1 litre for $3.99, comes in chocolate, vanilla and caramel ripple.  They also just started labelling the shelves better, so that helps.

4.  Sobey’s – ours has a GF section, it’s small, but it’s a section!  You can usually find Nature’s Path among other brands.  Mostly it’s dried pasta, cookies and cereal, but sometimes they have ice cream cones too.  (Goes really well with the soy ice cream from Safeway)

5.  Send someone with cash to the States.  We love the General Mills Gluten Free Chex cereal.  Can’t get that here, boo hoo.  The Cinnamon Chex is just like Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  They also have Rice, Corn, Chocolate and Honey Nut.  If you are doing that, get them to also pick up:  Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce (NOT GF in Canada or the UK), and Betty Crocker GF Cake mixes – very good & usually reasonable price.

6.  Shop the perimeter of the store – fresh is best.  Watch for frozen chicken breasts, some of them are marked “Gluten Free”.  Buy whole foods and get cooking. 

7.  Remind yourself that this is totally easy, it’s just grocery shopping.  You will get better at it & faster too.  Don’t forget to read labels, everytime though.  That’s why fresh is best.   No label = super fast!

Happy shopping!

We went to Celebration of Learning (aka Parent-Teacher interviews) last week to discover that any little distraction keeps Nathan from completing even simple math questions.  He simply cannot stay focused when there is anything, exciting or not, happening around him.  He’s been spiraling downwards for a few weeks but it is affecting everything now.  Home, school, Eric.  That’s the hardest part in a way – that his troubles are affecting Eric.  It’s not bad yet, just some misbehaviour, but so unlike Eric to not listen, to back-talk, to whine uncontrollably.

Whatever.

Nathan and I headed to the family doctor (new guy, again) to take a second look at his now-healed ear infection.  Husband asked about ADHD meds at the first appointment & was told “no problem”.  So I went, medical binder in one hand, hope in the other and asked for medication.

The doctor?  His “preference” is to have us go back to the pyschiastrist who originally dx Nathan & have him determine the first cycle.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!  But, I just said “okay” even though I wanted to cry.  I felt about a big as a churchmouse at that point.  Here I am, finally ready to medicate & the answer is “no”.

So, I went through the phone calls that are required to get a pysch appointment.  Fortunately, we have a Goddess of Mental Health on our side.  She helped me get an appointment with our old family doctor, made a pysch appointment (for MAY!) and Thursday next week, we should be on a medication trial.

At this point, I’m not leaving without a prescription.  Either he gets Concerta…….or I get Xanax.

Don’t ask me what I did, I think he just finally figured it out on his own.  My husband rarely uses water to swallow an average sized pill, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

The biggest reason we’ve been pushing Nathan to learn this is we are considering a medication trial for his ADHD.  I know that liquid verisons of some medications are available but there is more choice if can take pills.  He has come so far on the GFCF diet but I fear his lack of focus is really starting to affect his academics.  I’ve held off this long, trying the alternative and behaviour modification route but we knew this day was coming.

Nathan struggles with math and numeracy concepts.  He can’t grasp 1+0 = 1.  Zero doesn’t make sense to him.  He can barely manipulate adding 1 through 5.   His language and reading is on target for his grade level but he still isn’t doing pre-school/kindergarten math.   Could some ADHD meds quiet the clanging in his brain enough for the math to “click”? 

In the meantime, I’m headed back to iherb.com for more Country Life “Gluten-Zyme”.  It’s a capsule and meant to help digest the accidental infractions.  I’m as pleased with it as I was with a Houston product & this baby is only $8 a bottle of 60.  The serving size is 2 per meal so it works out to be a similar price per pill to the Houston’s US price.  Since we don’t get such “good” pricing here in Canada, the Country Life is considerably cheaper.  Plus, you’re not out much if you find it doesn’t work.  The last bottle of Houston’s cost me well over $40.

If you’ve never ordered from iherb.com, use coupon code MEN348 for a $5.00 first timer discount.  Shipping is cheap & reasonably quick to Canada.  (I hear it is very fast in the USA)

We’ve tried burying it in yogurt and now we’re trying to swallow them with juice.  Somedays it works, other days he chews it.  The last two days he’s chewed but he expresses less anger with juice than yogurt.  So, that’s something.

I’m trying to teach him with Country Life Biotin (I get it in 5 mg capsules from www.iherb.com) because they are the smallest ones I’ve ever seen.  We’re also experimenting with a gluten-enzyme which is in a bigger capsule.  I think it must taste awful but he’s motivated to swallow it because then he can try challenging the diet.

So, it isn’t going as well as I had hoped but not the worst either.

The mix has directions to allow you to make as few buns as you want – it is 3 parts mix to 2 parts liquid (water, milk or milk alternative). 3 cups to 2 cups makes 6-8 buns in muffin tins. For us, that’s enough for a week without anything going moldy or stale.

The buns are light, tasty and have a good mouth feel. They take only 3 minutes to mix and 20 minutes to bake, so there’s no excuse for having no bread alternative for your GF kiddo.

Nathan just loves these plain, with peanut butter or as a sandwich. He ate 6 the first time I made them! Poor me, I was SURE I made 8, but when I counted them into the bread bag, there was only 6 left….Hmmmm…

Later on, I noticed him into the bread bag. I asked him what he thought of the buns and his response:

“This is bun 3 mom. I love these. When are you making more?”

Really, do you need any more reason to try it?

Go to www.kinnikinnick.com to purchase or find a retailer near you.

On advice from another mom, we’ve been learning with Country Life Biotin, which comes in really small capsules.  He still chews them, but is getting the hang of it.  They must not taste as bad as the magnesium ones.  He used to hide when we tried learning with those ones….

My sister in law hates all the liquid and chewable medicines we give kids now. She had to give her 10 year old antibiotic in pill form & swore it was the worst kind of torture.  She made a comment about it the other day & I resolved to teach my kids to swallow pills before they  have  to.  Sure, I can just open the biotin into his milk.  But, I’m not helping him down the road much, am I?

Anyone have any neat tricks or in the trenches stories?  Share away, I’m always thrilled to learn a new technique!

It’s not Kirkman, Houston or any of the other expensive brands, but saving a bit here & there means more cash to spend on the specialty stuff.

Our regimine right now:  GF, limited dairy, AFP peptizyde at each meal (mixed in juice), calcium, Nordic Natural’s Children’s DHA and Grapefruit Seed extract or Biotin for yeast control as needed. 

Nathan is doing so well on a slightly more expanded diet (including cheese but not milk) but I’m not sure it isn’t causing other behavioural problems.  Being Christmas, it could also be all the excitement, routine interruptions and changes too.  I am ramping his enzymes up to include some Kids Digest by Enzymedica.  It’s really cool – fizzy in juice – which both my kids like.  It’s more of an all-around enzyme rather than the specialty DPP-IV action of the AFP Peptizyde (Houston’s).  I know it is getting so hard to keep his diet clean & this is my “insurance”.

So, I’m off to shop at iherb.com.  If you haven’t shopped there before you can use coupon code MEN348 to get $5.00 off your first order.  Merry Christmas!

Nathan is getting better, his yeast is starting to be under control, but not easily. He had lots of sneaking snacking over the weekend which is not great, is still tired and grumpy, and generally a pain to live with.  However, when he is in a good mood, he’s still my favorite Nathan.  I’m hopeful we’re moving him back towards his regular happy-go-lucky self.

His teacher let us know that he’s taking to chewing on things at school.  Great.  Another yeast behaviour.  I guess this means it is leaving his body.  But in the meantime, we are all seeing regressions.  I started him on some homeopathic drops as well.  We got a detox kit from a naturopath last year and it seemed to work really well.  I guess everything is worth a shot.  If this one does the trick, I’ll write it up.  Otherwise, it’ll just be another “nope, that doesn’t work”.

That’s it for now.  Keep an eye on this space for more updates.