Autism Journey Day 24-Once we had the list of foods she was allergic to we began the elimination diet. First we had to throw away everything that she couldn’t have. Not all of us were eliminating the foods, so we kept a stash of goodies in the laundry room. The other kids could go in there to eat snacks or treats that weren’t allergy-friendly. It was important that Paige could only see foods that she could eat when we opened the pantry. Today we can walk into a store and find prepackaged items she can eat. When we started this diet there was almost nothing we could buy. My mom and I tried to bake bread, cookies and other items. None of them tasted good. At one point I had 12 different types of flour in my kitchen. It was frustrating for Paige, but we moved forward. I opted to make food that was naturally gluten free. We fixed meat and vegetables. Luckily she could still have potato chips, so that was a snack option. It was rough, but months into the diet I could tell an improvement in her behavior. I was a complete control freak about her food. I remember packing her snacks and lunches and saying she couldn’t eat anything that wasn’t from home. All of her teachers at school and church were so incredible. I remember the doctor saying that if she were to ingest any gluten it would take six weeks to get out of her system. I couldn’t imagine going through that trauma again. Well, one Sunday they needed to put a substitute in her Sunday school class after we had dropped her off. The woman had been an assistant in her special education preschool classroom prior to Paige beginning her diet. She was passing out pretzels to the other students and she innocently gave Paige a portion as well. She told me that Paige really seemed to like her pretzels and had eaten a lot of them. I almost collapsed, but kept a smile on my face. I told her Paige had started a diet and could only eat the snacks from home. This kind woman was completely devastated. It wasn’t her fault, but we were starting over.