LOW PROTEIN COOKERY LESSON

At the weekend, we went along to an organised Low Protein Diet Cookery Lesson in our local area. It was organised by the NHS dietician and the the company called Nutricia Metabolics which produces the PKU brand Loprofin. A chef came out to show how to cook Low Protein food for the PKU children to the parents, siblings and the PKU children themselves. It was a great event. We met new people in our local area with PKU condition .

We went as a whole family so  we took our 4 year old daughter E with us too. She does not have PKU. We let her take charge of the messy dough making, plaiting bread rolls etc. She really enjoyed it. She also loved the taste of the food. We felt so happy and relieved  that the food was actually very palatable and tasty.

On the day, the chef showed us how to make:
Bread (which was very fluffy and had a very good texture)
Vegetable Pizza
Savoury Pancakes
Muffins
Cookies

This looked all good fun. I then spotted a worktop with some substitute products lined up. This was a wake up call. Don't forget the substitutes! Food making is all fun but it is only one part of it as there is measuring, calculating exchanges and getting the child take their substitutes every meal time. I wanted to find out more so I asked the dieticians about the different types of the substitutes and tried some of them. I tried a substitute pouch flavoured in blueberry. It was strong tasting and it tasted very medicinal like a cough syrup. It was bitter and very sweet at the same time. I only tried a tiny drop less than 2.5 ml but the taste lingered. I understand now why they have the substitutes before their meals. I believe it was an 85g in the pouch which the child will need to finish. It's rather alot but I am hoping K won't mind the taste. Fingers cross. I was talking to one of the PKU kids who was a teenager, she did mention that she doesn't like her substitutes withour really complaining about it. She tried alternating different brands and flavours but it wasn't making any difference. I admired her courage and keeping with her diet even though she didn't like her substitutes.

In summary, the day was good fun. It was a great chance to see the food, taste it, meet other children and their parents (strangely all mums), take away Low Protein recipes and finally involve our daughter in the process so she understands her little brother's special diet.