By: Dr. Renae Norton   

 What could be worse than to find out that your two year old has celiac disease, right? But don’t give up. If you play your cards right and you feed her the right foods, you can actually significantly minimize the effect, and it’s quite possible you can divert the body and the immune system, and prevent it from developing more fully. 

     There are a few things that you want to be sure s/he gets plenty of that actually will help relieve the celiac. First of all,everything should be organic. Next, you want to make sure that s/he drinks plenty of bone broth. We should all drink bone broth. It is the only thing that seals the gut and since celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disorder it is important to support the gut. You cannot have an autoimmune disorder without a leaky gut. Conversely, if you heal the gut, there’s a good chance you dramatically improve the autoimmune disorder. I have had patients, who no longer have autoimmune disorders because we were able to heal their gut. 

     Homemade bone broth is best. I use only 100% grass fed bones. I will throw in turkey bones which are delicious from an organic turkey, of course and also the occasional organic hambone. But bone broth is the only thing that’s ever been shown to seal the gut. And since autoimmune disease requires a leaky gut we definitely want to seal the gut. 

     Getting a 2 year-old to drink bone broth is not as hard as you may think.  It tastes delicious (at least mine does lol ) And you can tell your little one it’s Super Soup!   Try adding some of his or her favorite veggies. Some kids love bone broth and will just drink it through a straw like it’s cocoa.

     S/he will also need a couple of vitamins and vitamin C is probably one of the most important so let’s start with that. Here’s the thing,  you can’t give her conventional vitamin C supplements and definitely don’t give her vitamin C chewables as those are terrible. They’re usually made from GMO corn. 

     I recommend vitamin C in the form of Camu Camu. You can get it at Whole Foods. But you’ll have to put it in something like juice or hot chocolate because it’s a powder. It doesn’t have much of a taste so it is easy to disguise. I recommend it to everyone but especially to individuals with autoimmune disease, and especially to little ones with celiac because it supports the immune system, bone formation, and iron absorption which are all important issues for a child with autoimmune disease.

     Where to find vitamin C in food: Strawberries, pineapples, tangerines, broccoli, cauliflower, and peppers

VITAMIN E

Vitamin E helps  maintain a healthy nervous system and aids developing cells. I recommend the gels – not gummies

Where to find it vitamin E in foods: Nuts, seeds, and leafy, green vegetables

SELENIUM

Selenium is an antioxidant that supports immune system cells. You can get all you need by eating three Brazil nuts a day…. your little one may not be able to do that yet, so you might need to crush them up and put them in a gluten-free pastry or cookie. 

We also get selenium from fish. The selenium is very important for people with autoimmune disease and especially someone growing. Any kind of fish will do but it has to be wild caught.  So if s/he is into eating fish, that would be great then you don’t need these Brazil nuts.

Where to find selenium in foods: Tuna, Brazil nuts, meat, poultry, beans, mushrooms.

ZINC

Zinc also supports immune function and healthy growth and development in children. The supplements for zinc are small tablets that you can crush up and dissolve and put in something s/he is drinking. Or you can put it in some nut butter. Finally s/he might just be able to chew and swallow it. They’re very small.

Where to find zinc in foods: Red meat, poultry, baked beans, chickpeas, nuts, and pumpkin seeds.

I hope this was helpful. If you have questions or suggestions please reach out to me at office@mindweightwellnesspro.com OR 513-205-6543