Day 6 of 7 Days of Healthy Meal Planning for Children by Dr. Robin Russell
Food Allergies/Substitutions: As a Naturopathic Physician who specializes in Pediatrics I can not tell you how often I diagnose food allergies, intolerances or sensitivities as a cause of or contributing cause to a patients’ symptoms/disease. As wonderful as this is in resolving patients’ symptoms, it also makes for some pretty tricky meal planning at home. I spend a lot of time with parents suggesting food substitutions while making sure their child’s diet does not lack in any nutritional requirements.
The most common food allergens I see in the office are dairy, wheat, egg, peanut, tree nuts, corn, citrus, soy and fish. When it comes to dairy, I often times see goat dairy cause problems in patients who have allergies, intolerances or sensitivities to cow dairy. I usually recommend trying goat (if the patient does not have an IgE food allergy to dairy AND they are over 1 years of age) as it is superior in nutrition to the alternative milks but bring it to my patients’ attention that it might not be a suitable replacement as it may not allow for resolution of their symptoms/disease. When it comes to wheat, it’s easiest for patients to look for Gluten Free products. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. When it comes to eggs, duck eggs are usually tolerated pretty well in patients with egg IgG food allergies or sensitivities (I never recommend duck eggs if the patient has an IgE food allergy to chicken eggs).
Substitutions:
Dairy
-Milk: Hemp, oat, hazelnut, almond, rice, coconut, soy
-Yogurt: Coconut, rice, soy
-Butter: Earth’s Balance, olive oil, coconut oil
-Cheese: Daiya,Galaxy Nutritional Foods, Follow Your Heart, Lisanatti Foods
-Ice Cream: So Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream RiceDream, Purely Decadent Soy
-Protein Powder: Hemp seed, rice, pea, soy
Wheat
-Bread: Rudi’s, Udi’s, Kinnikinnick, Any gluten free breads
-Pasta: Brown rice pasta, corn pasta, quinoa pasta, buckwheat pasta
-Flour: Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour, Brown Rice, Buckwheat, Tapioca, Garbanzo, Corn, Millet, Oat, Potato, Quinoa, Sorghum
Eggs
-Cooking: Duck eggs, tofu
-Baking: Ener-G egg replacement, mashed bananas, 1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 1 tbsp warm water to egg consistency, applesauce
-Mayonnaise: Vegenaise
Peanut
-Butters: Sunflower seed, Pumpkin seed, Soy nut, any of the tree nut butters as long as there are no tree nut allergies or concerns
Tree Nuts
-Butters: Sunflower seed, Pumpkin seed, Soy nut, Peanut (if no allergy or concerns)
Corn
-Tortillas: flour, rice
-Chips: Can make flour tortilla chips by frying a flour tortilla in olive oil. Once slightly browned, remove from pan and lay on paper towel. Salt to taste. Once cooled, break into chips.
-Creamed: I’ve substituted creamed spinach in Shepard’s pie before and it was awesome!
-Starch: 1 tbsp of Arrowroot powder = 2 tsp of cornstarch
Citrus:
-Lemon juice: apple cider vinegar
Soy:
-Soy sauce: Soy Sauce Substitute on allrecipes.com
Fish:
-Protein: Poultry, beef, lamb, buffalo
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Recipes blog with Dr. Robin Russell
