Health Series-Part 2--the food!

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

I begin with this quote because I believe it is the only way we could have come as far as we have with our eating. I could not have started out thinking that I would never eat pizza or ice cream again.  And the boys could only handle one meal at a time, one day at a time.  I could go out to eat and say to myself, at this meal, "I will not have the yummy bread or dessert."

Having said that, when we first eliminated dairy, wheat, soy and gluten from our diets, it was complete.  We did not eat ANY (that we knew of) for about one solid year.  We did not eat out much and we did not "cheat."  I think that was necessary for two reasons.  One was to see if the food we were eating was really making us feel bad (it was). Also, we really needed to change the way our bodies craved and processed food.  We also had to kind of clean up our bodies.  Now, we can have a occasional piece of pizza (last night).  We do suffer consequences. Will gets a stuffy nose and the grumpies, Harry has digestive problems and I get nerve inflammation. But we don't crave those foods much anymore and we know what we will deal with after.

There is so much information to squeeze in here that I will begin with lists.

What we don't eat (most of the time):

wheat products

cow's milk 

soy

gluten

dairy

So we don't eat breads, cakes, cookies, pancakes, pasta, pop-tarts, pretzels, ice cream etc. unless they are gluten -free. We do have these foods on occasion (vacations, birthdays).

What we do eat:

fruit 

vegetables

fish 

meat

potatoes

rice milk

goat cheese

eggs

beans

goat milk (Kate)

Millet and Flax bread

Meals for us are usually some sort of protein (meat, chicken or fish) a veggie and salad or rice/potato/bean. Snacks are often fruit. However, I have found over the years some very good gluten free snacks. I have listed them below. They can be found at Whole Foods or other health food stores.

Some of the best gluten free food I have found:

Rice Dream Ice Cream 

Whole Foods Organic Potato chips

Envirokidz  gluten free cereal (Gorillla Munch, Koala Crisp and Amazon flakes)

Envirokidz also makes great cereal/snack bars

 Van's Organic gluten free waffles (blueberry, apple cinnamon and regular).  

Nana's cookies--These are good for anyone as they have no hydrogenated fats, no refined sugars.

Glutino pretzels and crackers

In stead of syrup we use Organic Agave Nectar.  Let me tell you a little about agave nectar.  It is really a fabulous low glycemic all natural sweetener.  I used to put two teaspoons of sugar in my coffee.  Now I use this and I do not even taste the difference.

Glutano pasta is my favorite but DeBoles is also very good.

Bell and Evans GF chicken tenders--these are so good and they are perfect for when I need a quick dinner before Judo or if they kids are having a baby sitter.  The chicken in antibiotic, hormone free white meat.  They also have a regular variety.  I highly recommend these for a healthy, quick option for kids.

We also buy all of our lunch meat (turkey, ham etc) at Whole Foods.  Yes, it is expensive but it is gluten free and minimally processed and preservative free.

We LOVE bacon (I know it is BAD) so we also buy the nitrate free, organic, low salt, minimally processed bacon from Whole Foods for our occasional fix.  It is SO good!

Applegate Farms makes a really good all beef, no nitrate, gluten free, organic hot dog that is delicious.

A few notes:

~Yes, eating this way is VERY expensive. It was a shock to our bank account when we started shopping at Whole Foods and other places like that.  But, it is what we put in our body and it is what makes us function in a healthy manner.  So, we do it. I feel very fortunate that we can afford to eat this way.  I am incredibly thankful for that.

~ It takes a long time to see the changes and it takes a lot of discipline and commitment. Supplements helped us see results a little quicker.  But think about how long we ate the other way.  It takes our bodies a long time to adjust.  It is definitely worth it though.

~I used to LOVE junk food.  In college, I ate a Philly cheese steak every single day (with a soft pretzel that I dipped in processed meted cheese). So, if I can do this anyone can.

~Now I could not nor would I want to eat that way.  Once your body gets used to good and healthy food, it cannot tolerate junk.  I won't get too graphic here but a McDonalds burger would not even stay in my system for a half hour if I ate one.  I could not eat a bowl of regular pasta without feeling  dizzy and nauseous and I would get a headache.  I used to LOVE pasta.  I still like it and I make GF lasagna and other pastas.

~ The year I changed our eating my cholesterol went down 30 points!  It was 184 and it is now 154.  The good cholesterol stayed exactly the same but the bad cholesterol went down tremendously!  I never expected that since it wasn't bad to begin with and I still eat red meat.  My triglycerides went down 4o points from 89 to 49. Again, they were not bad before but they are great now.

~Allergy testing is very tricky.  Will and Harry have had their blood sent off for the most comprehensive allergy testing available (at the Mayo clinic). The tests came back saying that neither of them were allergic to anything!  Well, we know that Will has an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts and he has a severe allergy to dogs.  Harry has had a stomach biopsy to confirm his milk and soy allergy as a baby.  My point is that allergy testing is not very reliable in kids.  So, I will never know if they have a "true allergy" to all of this stuff.  But I do know these symptoms have virtually disappeared from us since we changed the way we eat:

constipation, diarrhea, anger rages, learning disability, ADD type behavior, eczema, asthma, constant stuffy nose, MS symptoms, megacolon and many more.  These foods affected us all completely differently but eliminating them made us all better.

I really hope that all of this information can help one person out there who is wondering if food sensitivities are hurting them or their child.  As I said, I am not an expert and I am not trying to change anyone's mind.  I am just willing to share what our story is.  I know that for years, every teacher we had thought one of my kids might have ADD (we had him tested) when he changed the way he ate (and took a GREAT supplement  that I will post about next) he changed.  No one EVER thinks that about him now.  In fact, the year we changed our diet his teacher said,  "In the beginning of the year, I did not know what I was going to do with him.  I kept moving his seat next to the calm kids.  By the end of the year, he was the calm kid that I moved other kids next to!"

I am happy to answer anyone's questions about all of this.  If you ask a question, I'll respond in the comments.  Next, I talk about supplements!