This year, Dylan started kindergarten. Kindergarten. Where did the time go?

With this change came a new school building, a new schedule, a new set of friends, and a new teacher. Unfortunately, the old issue of meltdowns and difficulty with tasks came along for the ride. After speaking with his teacher and with a professional, Dylan was diagnosed as having ADHD. This explains a lot. The doctor didn’t want to start him on medications, but he also different offer any suggestions for mass improvements either. So, I took matters into my own hands.

Enter the GFCF diet.

I’d read numerous studies about the benefits of removing gluten, casein, and dyes from children’s diets, so I figured this was an ideal place to start with my own. The changes were marked and immediate. He went from all negative marks on his behavior chart to 80-100% good – literally overnight. Incidents and meltdowns subsided and became a maybe once-a-week thing versus the prior daily issue. He was completing his work without redirects, and he was showing respect to the teachers and his peers.

Wow.

It has now been four weeks since starting the diet, and we have both adjusted amazingly well. I’ve been surprised how easy it is to work around the restrictions and still keep to our usual meals. We’ve never been big on milk or cheese aside from baking, so subbing in vegan versions has gone mostly unnoticed. I say mostly because he still doesn’t understand why chocolate is out of the picture. (I’ve found a solution for this though!) We tried reincorporating meats and fish. That didn’t last long. And, I am still getting my feet wet with the whole gluten-free bread baking thing.

In the next few weeks, I plan on experimenting with new GFCF recipes. I have some cookies, crackers, and soups all picked out and waiting for a grocery trip. I’ve already successfully replaced my go-to banana bread recipe with its Dylan-friendly cousin. As I work through these recipes, I’m going to try to remember to post about them. I say try because I know myself all too well and because a new (FULL) semester of classes starts on Monday.

My sanity will be questionable for about a dozen weeks.