“Leave me alone!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. I walked away from her but she followed me and continued to scream, “Get back here,” she grabbed onto my arm and pulled on it… “I said, get back here!”
I wiggled out of her grasp and locked myself in the bathroom while telling her that I needed to go pee. She pounded on the locked door, demanding that I open it.
She has been screaming and flailing and yelling nonsense at me for over an hour. While she’s having these fits, her eyes glaze over and there’s no way of talking to her or getting through to her. I felt broken.
Where did my sweet little girl go? What is wrong with her? What is wrong with me? This must be MY fault! My four year old has been having these fits on a daily basis for a few months now… what is going on?
I wracked my brain and finally had an epiphany.
That evening I told my husband my observations; within an hour of my daughter eating wheat, she would have a temper tantrum.
Over a month ago she had a series of allergy tests and the doctor indicated she appeared to have an allergy to wheat. We hadn’t noticed any rashes or diarrhea, so he said to continue to feed it to her and not to worry about it.
However, over a month later, I was beginning to think that maybe an allergic reaction could manifest itself in the way a child behaves.
I “Googled” wheat allergy and child behaviour. I was stunned by how many links I found which indicated that wheat allergies can lead to tantrums and behavioural issues in young children.
That was all we needed.
My husband and I decided to eliminate wheat for two months and see if there were any changes in my daughter’s behaviour.
Within a couple days, our sweet little girl returned. No more epic temper tantrums. No more screaming and yelling. It’s been over six months since we made these dietary changes and our daughter is once again the happy child we knew. She has an occasional fit… that’s typical to see in children… the difference is, the fit is short and we can at least talk her through it.
Over two weeks ago, I started reading the book Wheat Belly
- Over the past fifty years, wheat has been genetically modified.
- The genetic changes made to wheat have not been clinically “tested” on human beings.
- Elimination of wheat from one’s diet could lead to positive health affects such as weight loss, alleviation of type 2 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as improvement of intestinal issues.
So, I have joined my daughter and I have eliminated wheat from my diet as well. I am not doing gluten-free cooking… just wheat-free. It’s been two weeks and the biggest change I’ve noticed is how well I’ve been sleeping at night. It’s a deep, heavy sleep. A type of sleep I don’t recall having for years! I have also noticed that I never feel “sickeningly full” after eating.
I want to live completely wheat-free for at least eight weeks and see how much of an impact that this “diet” has on my overall health and well-being. In the meantime, I’ve found the motivation to create delicious wheat-free foods for the entire family to enjoy.
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Had to do the same. –Try adding more probiotics into diet too and it will help the mind/body connection. Just made kefir and saurkraut from scratch in order to do so.
Kefir and saurkraut… interesting!
Yes, and Kombucha, Kimchi, or Yogurt… Foods with live cultures in them replenish the “good’ bacteria in the gut which in turn helps the mind. I read it in the GAPS diet book.
That is so awesome! I feel my best when I’m off wheat. In fact, this week I was thinking of getting my daughter off wheat as well to see if there is a difference in her behavior. She, too, has been having unreasonable tantrums (But she’s 7). Anyway, this post has now confirmed it – I’m going to take her off wheat for awhile and see if it makes a difference! Thanks, Jennifer! I also am due to make a new batch of sauerkraut. And, of course, the best fermented salsa in the world ;) It’s nice to have you all to give me a kick in the pants to get these things going!! haha….
Glad to be of assistance :)
I would love to hear if getting her off the wheat helps her behaviours as well. Please come back and update us.
That’s very interesting. So happy to hear that your daughter is feeling so much better! How exactly did you eliminate wheat? I’m quite curious!
We just stopped eating it. We’ve been experimenting with other flours (rice, quinoa, coconut, etc.). Mostly our diet is fresh foods (veggies, fruit, meat/fish and whole grain rice, lentils, quinoa or couscous.
It’s going great so far!