Sometimes….UgLy MuFfiNs taste the Best!

So we are 6weeks into our little adventure of the GF, DF & EF diet for our little girl.
I have to say mothers are always proud of their little children but Wow, I am so amazed at her strength & determination.

Here is this tiny person, who just grabbed the bull by the horns and never looked back, (yet anyway)

I think most of her friends are used to her having the strange and surprising lunch box so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. In 4th grade when she decided to be a Vegetarian for 6months that was rough. She came home crying a few times because she was tired of everyone asking her “What’s that”, “Eww, is that good?”… You know the questions kids ask everyday about things but to a little girl it was a bit overwhelming when you’re asked everyday about your food.

With this adventure she actually has kids sneaking bits of her food and making requests for the next day.
A tiny little footprint in their taste buds for some new things like brown rice crackers instead of potato chips or fresh raw veggies or fruit instead of fruit snacks.

So in talking with her yesterday we looked back at 6weeks time and she said to me,

“Mom, since I started eating this way I feel amazing! Before I felt tired, achy, itchy & irritated ALL the time. My stomach was so bloated and hurt ALL the time. I don’t feel any of that anymore. I feel like I look so much healthier and I just feel LIGHT! I felt so heavy and weighted down before.”

I really thought that was an interesting way to put her feelings as “Light” and “Weighted down”. I can tell you in 6wks that girl has a big bounce in her step that she was lacking before. Now a lot of people wouldn’t notice this because she has a bubbly happy personality, but at home she was tired, achy, exhausted, had dry skin on her hands and cheeks, she was irritated and always complaining about one or more of these symptoms. The rash kept her up all night scratching and irritated. When it wasn’t itching she just had interrupted sleep and insomnia. She had a very difficult time waking up and getting going which was very unlike her in the past. I remember her telling me many many times. I feel so heavy and bloated.

I know about the skepticism around diet and food allergies, but I am here to tell you. I know that this is going to save my little girl from something that could have developed later on in her life or worse during her growth and development into a woman.

Yes, I could have put her on steroid cream indefinitely for her rash and eczema and “treated “her symptoms of headaches with Tylenol or Motrin. She could have taken Maalox for her tummy aches and maybe it would have covered up the symptoms enough that they could go on unnoticed for another year or two even or until her body said “Ok, your not listening what should I show you next and get your attention!” Of course these were never options for us and thankfully so.

With just a small amount of planning, tweaking and experimentation we have been able to have a simple and life altering effect on her life. Eating a diet at these extremes may not be 100% permanent. We will challenge back in one food at a time from her lists and watch to see what happens after a full 6months.

She made mention yesterday that she felt so good that she doesn’t really see any reason to eat many of these things again. I agree with her 100% and wish I had her level headedness and will power!

Somehow, I see this futuristic version of my life where I am learning from her and following her example. Another joy in being a mother.

Going back to skepticism briefly, if this is something that you have been told you have or that you need to work on. I encourage you to research it more yourself. Find an understanding about what they mean when they say “Food Allergies” I think many people get confused about what is really happening here in the immune system and body around these sensitivities. Holistically the goal is that none of it is permanent. That you heal the root cause of what is happening in your body and life and give your body a break to do the work with you. After some concentrated work the goal is always to be as normal as you can but in hopes that you will now follow some healthier more balanced habits that keep you well and healthy all your life.

Changes like these are good, don’t fool yourself into thinking that it’s too hard and you couldn’t do it because anyone can do this, ANYONE. If you feel like it is too hard then like anything else in life ask someone to help you figure it out.

Ok so I realize now I got sidetracked from my original Ugly Muffin Fiasco. Oops! If you go to the food page they are there. Sad little apple streusel muffins that are outrageously scrumptious and delicious!

 

Hope this finds you happy, healthy & smiling.
LunaMamaP

Awww, a mother’s guilt!

I tell you when I had my first child no one could have ever told me about the overwhelming feelings of love & joy that I would have. Bringing a little child into this world is a gift. A gift that is absolutely priceless. I also could never have imagined the guilt that follows every decision you make. Wondering if it was the right choice, if you did the right thing, should you have gotten that upset over something so small, should you have said NO when you said YES, should you have said YES when you said NO?????
The never ending questions and guilt that can overwhelm a mother is just as unimaginable. My brain tends to over think things and I know this so I really meditate on trying to stay grounded and focused on what I am dealing with at the time.
Currently, as I have been “blogging” about, (“blogging” such a funny word bloggy, blogging, funny right?) it has revolved around food, nutrition and diet.

So you know how people sometimes say. You learn something new everyday?

Well seriously, I can honestly say “I DO”.

Maybe, it is because I am such a nerd and I read everything. I mean if you say to me, “Pam, I read this book about …… and it really had good information about…… you should check it out”

You know what will happen? I will 9 ¾ out of 10 times do it. I will find something new to learn that I can apply to my life.

So when I get asked” how did you learn all that? How did you know that? Where did you learn to do that? I can say without hesitation, “I read about it and tried it out” or “Someone told me about it and I researched it and, wow, it really works” or “ Someone showed me and I actually listened to them”. Something along those lines.

I try to figure everything out all the time. I try to plan everything out all the time.
OK, wait, I think this is starting to sound a little like I am some kind of a control freak or a bit OCD. Maybe I am. I think maybe some may say that it runs in my genes a bit, Ha!

You know what ? That’s OK, because my intentions are all pure of heart and out of love and kindness always.

So now, back to my motherly guilt around the suffering of my children.

As I mentioned before, I have strived to be such a healthy mama. It is making me absolutely nuts that I have these two wonderful healthy eating children suffering over food!

FOOD, I mean no one could have ever told me that I would see this. So, the question,
" What the heck?"
Why are my kids having problems with food?”

“Well after talking in depth with 3 holistic Dr’s I think we may have hit the nail on the head.

Toxins! Yes, well aren’t we all exposed to toxins?
You’re darn right we are. They are all around us. So our bodies are everyday fighting and trying to filter them all thru our poor tired livers, sad livers, and our endocrine systems are taxed to the max.
Hey that kind of rhymes.
But, seriously, they are taxed, we are taxed, our poor human bodies and our poor children’s bodies are taxed. So what else gets added to the plate of toxins in my children’s life? Drum roll please………

A flippin demolition / remodel on our 30+year old home! H E double hockey sticks O!

Yes, here we are doing demolition on our 30+year old house the whole time living through and in it. We still had to walk thru the mess even when we were sleeping and bathing in our guest house, we still were eating around our table in the 40 degree temperature in our kitchen when we had no windows and had drafts blowing through the house and tossing all these tiny particles of God knows what into the air and into our lungs. Then our sad little livers had to find a way to deal. I don’t think the livers liked that very much.

So here we are stressed, tired and out of sorts in the middle of our remodel. Trying to still maintain our “normal” life as much as possible. Doing sports, school, friends, kids stuff, work, cook, eat, sleep, everything you do everyday amongst the chaos and toxic overload in our own home.

Well we might as well have had black mold (which we didn’t, trust me I had everything tested, I paid to have lots of toxic tests run to make sure my children would not be effected by things such as these).

So is it possible that I in some kind of way actually caused this problem without even thinking or knowing it? I think yes. I sad guilty Y E S!!!

What happens when you get too stressed? Too tired, run down, overloaded with toxins, don’t eat a healthy diet and consume too many GMO foods, do not enough fruit or vegetables?
It doesn’t matter what the reason or the cause it can happen to anyone, anytime and many of us don’t recognize it.

So now you have my ramble. I have to reflect and remember to be grateful that I was given the opportunity to fix this, to correct it and turn it around for my children before it caused something much bigger in their life.

So I just had to get it off my chest even if no one is reading my bloggy blog. I feel better, I really do ;)

A day of the GF, DF, EF diet for my girl…..

Please note that what she is eating is specific to her results. She has a few vegetables & fruits that also showed up in her IgG results.

6am~ 2 probiotics, 1 Florastor probiotic

6:45am ~ 1 piece brown rice bread toasted with peanut butter, 1 apple, herbal tea, water
2 digestive enzymes

9am~Homemade garlic hummus with celery & carrots

11:45am~Organic salad greens, grilled chicken, bell pepper, walnuts, & avocado. A handful of Sesame rice crackers.

3pm~ Banana or piece of our allergy free zucchini bread

6pm~1 probiotic, 1 Florastor 25-30mins before dinner.
Brown rice pasta tossed with olive oil & garlic, sautéed onion & zucchini. Steamed halibut or grilled chicken. Small dash of wheat free tamari.

Garlic is one of the number one ways to kill fungi and yeast and has a high affinity towards killing Candida. Olive oil also plays a big part in helping to kill yeast and restore the intestinal lining. For right now she is having fresh organic garlic 2x a day. I do this with the homemade garlic hummus and the garlic salad dressing I make as well. It is just one more way to help her restore balance as quickly as possible.

Herbal tea like Slippery elm. Slippery Elm loves to nourish and heal any mucous lining. It is very good for you and has many wonderful uses. She also drinks a hepatonic tea which is a blend of herbs that I make and serve iced for her. This tea is wonderful for hormone balance, and it helps the liver and endocrine system to function optimally.

We are also limiting sugar as much as possible which includes fruit. So we are emphasizing vegetable and lean protein as much as possible.

Food, life, little ones & some surprises

Isn’t it funny how things happen in life?

Sometimes my mind can’t help but get stuck thinking about why things arise as they do.
Our family is always embarking on something new and exciting it seems. Sometimes that means a new sport, sometimes a new project on our little farm & sometimes a new healthy addition to our daily diet.

Currently it is the latter and in a more extreme way than we have experienced before.

Our daughter has recently been Dx with a leaky gut. " Hypermeable intestinal damage or a leaky gut. LGS (Leaky Gut Syndrome) adversely affects the immune system and is classified as an autoimmune disease..(Pagano,2008).

Now for me this was hard for many reasons as you can imagine.
I am a mother, a conscious and aware mother and here my child is suffering from something that is related to what she is eating! I am partially in shock and wondering what the heck!I have spent my entire life “in motherhood” researching and executing the healthiest organic diet possible.

It is the foundation of my belief system that at the root of everything medical and health related is the diet. What you eat has profound effects on everything that happens in your body and therefore you’re LIFE. Food truly is medicine or poison depending on what you choose to eat.

Food, health & nutrition have been such a big part of our life. My kids eat so healthy and enjoy almost every fruit and vegetable out there.
We talk extensively on health & eating right and what that means in terms that they understand. This has been going since they were little ones.

So here we are embracing for 6months, hand in hand, a Gluten Free (GF), Dairy Free(DF), & Egg free (EF) diet for our 11 yr old daughter.

So how did it come to this?
On and off, until recently, our daughter has had unexplainable symptoms which included. An itchy rash on arms, legs, stomach and under her arms, fatigue, headaches, unexplainable stomach aches and intense craving for sugar that is unlike her. These symptoms would come and go. Sometimes she would present a few of them at once and other times not.
In the past 4months the symptoms have become more consistent. Typically showing up together as well as showing up after she would eat certain foods. I started to note and watch this carefully.

Now many people say, "well didn’t you take her to the pediatrician?" Yes, I actually did, at one point, to cover all my bases;
I can give you one guess what he wanted me to do….
Steroid cream for the rash that he could not explain, Maalox or Tums for her tummy & Motrin for her headaches. So you can imagine what I did with that information.

I then found two different Doctors (Naturopathic, one that is an MD but has gone onto practice naturopathically as well) who did really extensive testing including evaluating all the normal blood panels, physical exams, extensive diet and nutrition review & doing extensive intestinal flora testing.
These all proved to be very informative.

What we found was that Candida, which occurs normally in our bodies, was at levels in her that were basically through the roof. Her good flora was almost non existent because of this. That is a recipe for total disaster as far as our intestinal health is concerned! Our intestinal health is where it all begins and ends if you are not careful. The other thing we found was that her white blood cells were low and had been trying really hard to fight off something for a while now.

When we are off balance, that’s an important word BALANCE, our bodies go haywire.
Candida ( which occurs naturally in our gut) was able to take a hold of her system after a bad run with a flu virus almost 2yrs ago. At the time I would have never known. Until symptoms starting presenting themselves regularly in droves and I could not tie them to any one thing, I started to realize there was something bigger happening here.

So flash forward to 4 weeks ago, we are at the Dr. getting these results and this information.
My daughter, who is just simply amazing, said to the Dr. “Ok, tell me what to do, I’ll do it. I do not want to have problems later in my life”.
This is an 11yr old little girl embracing her health, I was speechless. She is so strong .

But, she is still a child, a baby really only on this earth for a mere 11yrs, and
not too many days into her new diet I found her a little mopey.
She was also starting to do a little detox with the Candida dying off and the good flora taking back its rightful territory so it can do its job and heal her tummy, but still she was feeling down. I asked why and she said
“I just realized I can’t really have any fun treats ever and that’s fine mom but I would really like a piece of zucchini bread maybe or a muffin sometimes.”

Little did she know I was already on this? Day 1 I came home and ordered a bunch of books & cookbooks. I don’t do anything half ass so of course I was going to find a way to make her a darn muffin!
Avoiding sugar in all forms as much as possible , especially in this first month is on the docket, but something small and overall so healthy is definitely a possibility to help a young girl work through this really big situation with a smile.

So here it is folks… baking day 1~ Successful, scrumptious GF, DF, & EF blueberry muffins. Healthy & delicious what more can you ask for!