All Clear

Technically speaking or rather, clinically, Ramam is out of it. The blood test for Ramam has ruled out allergies towards gluten and milk. The floodgates have opened, so as to speak. My daughter has checked and rechecked with me in the last 2-3 days that is it ok for him to have noodles, wheat and milk… in that order. Can he eat dahi chawal is her BIG question. For a boy who loved his rice and curds few years back, he turned it down yesterday after my husband offered it at dinner time. After much cajoling, he hesitatingly tried a spoon of curd and fell in love with it all over again.

                    Does this mean it is the end of GFCF for him and “US “too? Is it time to ring down the curtains   for jowar rotis, akki rottis, and raagi   parathas .Does it mean yes to panner at home? Is it time to watch out for Dominos flyers? Does eating out mean more than dosas, vadas and rice?  Is it ok to have a 5 star, a black forest pastry, pani puri, a gulab jamun occasionally.  And what about ice creams?  Last time Ramam left his orange sorbet from Baskin Robins half finished. Enough is enough is what he seemed to tell us.

                 The answer is both yes and no. We are treading cautiously, almost carefully. We are in the same quandary as when we embarked on the diet. Did GFCF work for him? Yes it did, for sure.  At least that is what we believe. It made life much better. So why would we want to revert back. Two years of reading up on GFCF material, recipes, experiments in the kitchen, maybe all of that would be coming to an end (not this blog! though, that is why I diversified long back, writing everything possible from therapies to teaching methods). But, seriously not being on the diet gives him a better opportunity to socialize. Attending a birthday party, a social function in school, sharing with his class mates.  We don’t want to overdo it either. An occasional indulgence is ok probably when we eat out or socialize. Maybe I would reintroduce buttermilk in his diet though not milk. That reminds me of so many recipes I turned down because they needed buttermilk in the preparation. I would continue to use GFCF flour for baking but probably use butter if the recipe calls for it. PARTIAL  ADHERENCE, that is how I would like to put it.

                     In the last two years we never attributed any of his behavioral issues to his diet. But then questions are already being raised, Is he stimming a little more because he had three spoons dahi last night. Is he constipating because of bread? .Guess we will never be free of these nagging doubts now that we are off the diet. It is a vicious cycle. One doesn’t want to upset the applecart when everything is going fine. One can’t have everything anyway.