How to enjoy Easter on a PKU diet
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| Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash |
As Easter time approaches, I realise that I have quite a few readers of my blog who
are new parents to a child with PKU and so they will be experiencing this holiday in a different way perhaps for the very first time. Easter,
particularly for young children, is a time mostly associated with indulging in
chocolate eggs and other sweet treats. No doubt you will be wondering (and worrying) whether your child will ever be able to experience this holiday
in the most ‘normal’ sense possible. I would like to reassure you that they
absolutely can. (This, of course, goes for adults too!)
When I was younger I often had Vitaflo’s chocolate 'Duobar'and
at Easter my Dad would use this to make me my very own low- protein Easter
eggs. At this time we weren’t aware of any other low- protein chocolate eggs that were available. (There are definitely now many low- protein products available
that offer alternative choices). He used the plastic casing of a regular Easter
egg as a mould to melt my chocolate into. Once he had made the two shells he simply stuck them together. My parents reminded me of a rather amusing story from one
Easter time when I was very little involving these Easter eggs, which I think
is worth sharing here. Apparently I seemed to be enjoying my low- protein
chocolate a little too much – in fact my Dad warned me against eating the
entire Easter egg. My Mum and Nanna however, allowed me to continue to indulge,
probably just happy at the fact that for once I could enjoy myself without the
worry of exchanges. You have probably already guessed how this ended, but let
me clarify anyway, that it didn’t end well. Although I can’t remember as I was
so young, I no doubt immediately regretted my decision to eat that much
chocolate when I brought it back up soon afterwards. We all laugh at this memory now and
my Dad always relishes at being reminded of a time when he was once again
right. But this memory also makes me happy because it shows that I did
experience Easter in a ‘normal’ sense – what child hasn’t thrown up from eating
too much chocolate? I’m not encouraging you to follow in my footsteps, but my
point here is that, your child can still experience Easter even on a PKU diet.
When I got a little older and my protein allowance increased
to around 8/10 grams per day, I began to have ‘real’ chocolate Easter eggs
which I remember as being an exciting time. Although I couldn’t indulge as
freely as I could with the low- protein alternative, I had to save up my
exchanges in order to have a satisfying amount of chocolate. I probably didn’t
eat too well on Easter Sunday because of this, but it was always worth it.
Below is a link from NSPKU, which lists some great
alternative Easter ideas, so do have a look! (Please note though this is from last year)
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