We decided to do this special diet because of our son's continued bed wetting and discoloration of his face and ears after eating. Also, both of our adopted children (who are biologically related to each other) seem so irritable and worn out much of the time. We decided that it may be due to food allergies. If their little bodies were constantly fighting with the food they were eating, then perhaps that is why they were having so much trouble maintaining their behavior. Lastly, our youngest has been suffering from gray circles under her eyes which is often linked with food allergies. Well, we are on day 5 of a gluten-free, egg-free, corn-free, chocolate-free and dairy-free diet. For the most part, for years we have avoided food coloring, additives, corn syrup, and preservatives. However, in recent months we had really slipped on these. We are trying to avoid all of these as well. So what are we eating you ask? We are eating rice, nuts, potatoes, beans, meat, vegetables, and lots of fruit. Everything is made from scratch, and as much of the meat and fruit as I can afford is organic. WOW! This is really expensive. The worst part of the diet so far is that I think about food all day long. "How am I going to fill them up?" "We are leaving the house, better take food, because we can't eat fast food." "How are we going to keep affording this?" "Oh, no, snack time again?!!" You get the picture...
On the upside, I have seen improvements already. Tom Sawyer has not changed colors after any meals. His ears are staying a natural color. Even more amazing, his attitude has improved. He is doing what I ask of him the first time with a cheerful attitude. Even the simplest things like asking him to get out the markers for coloring time could have caused stomping around the table just a week ago. He says he is not so tired. He just seems more easygoing. Also, he has been DRY two nights so far and had a normal bowel movement yesterday -- the first we have ever seen in his entire life (6.5 years)!! (Too much information, I know.) Anyway we are very excited to see these improvements.
The girls have had no change yet with the dark circles under theiir eyes, but Goldilocks is not changing color after meals. Her behavior has been worse, but she slept 13 hours last night so I think she is detoxing. Everyone's body cleans itself out in different ways. Also, any changes in routines always are difficult for her. The kids haven't given me any trouble about the diet. They miss hot chocolate and I miss popcorn. It is such an easy snack. I know this will get easier with time. I hope that the cost will come down once I learn to make more of the special foods from scratch, and right now I am letting the kids have treats like safe potato chips to encourage compliance. I also hope that we will get back chocolate and eggs in the next few weeks. I don't have much hope that we will ever get dairy back. I have suspected for awhile that it was causing us problems. Also, we had one mistake this week when a friend gave Tom Sawyer one little piece of oatmeal cereal. His ears turned red and his face got all splotched within minutes. I read the box and saw that it had wheat, oats and BHT. Methinks gluten will not be our friend for a good long time. I am relieved to be seeing improvements but miss the old ways. Oh well, we carry on.
Blessings, Dawn
Glad to hear you are already seeing improvements! I'd be interested to hear updates on the situation. We are also pretty much dye, flavor, preservative, msg free, but something else is causing my son's ears to get hot and red many days. We can't figure it out, but I'm almost positive it's food related.
ReplyDeleteHello Dawn,
ReplyDeleteJust think of the medical cost that you could be saving by changing your diet. Maybe that will help offset the cost. LOL.
I pray all will go well! Food prices are very high! Do you have a farmer's market in the area? Or a local farmer you could buy from? I don't know what size of property you have, perhaps this year, you could make your own garden and can? I'm going to look into doing this because of the cost of food. Its just ridiculous. We have to have it, but it costs so much ,especially to eat healthy. I saw an article that because of the economy, people are choosing cheaper frozen and processed meals because they can afford them. Unfortunately, the nutritution value goes out the window and we're filling our body with all kinds of unnatural materials.
ReplyDeleteooopps, sorry got on a rant there!
Take care adn keep us posted!`
I hope it helps you all. Special diets are tough; it's our way of life here (sigh). Most of the time they are worth it. My daughter has purple under her eyes, which I'm now reading could be circulation (she has cold extremities too) &/or thyroid. So onto more testing most likely...
ReplyDeleteI somehow missed this post! I'm glad that you're seeing immediate results; what a blessing. I laughed about the first normal bowel movement because that's the first thing I said about my daughter after starting the diet. What a relief!
ReplyDeleteI wish for a allergy-free fast food restaurant, just about on a daily basis. I know what you mean about constantly thinking about food; it's about all we do around here.
Our nutritionist now has several of us off of all grains and carbs (temporarily), in addition to the above restrictions. It's getting old in a hurry.
Do you drink rice milk? I make Hot Vanilla instead of hot cocoa. It's been a hit because that's one thing the children really missed, especially after playing outside. I just heat vanilla rice milk with a little ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, and honey or agave syrup.
I'm interested to hear how they progress on the diet.
Denise
I have been hearing alot about "gluten free" diets. I don't know anything about it but it sure sounds beneficial. You can't have organic grown popcorn? Do you guys have a store up there called Earth Fare? It sells organic products. I appreciate you sharing this. You have peeked my interest.
ReplyDeleteHi dawn,
ReplyDeleteI am going to have to find out more about what has gluten in it, etc.. Jordan is soaked EVERY night and soaks through his "night time" underwear as well. I was a bedwetter as well so I know how horrible he feels. Thanks for directing me to the correct post.