It's been a while, I know! We have been all consumed with our school days and I have been trying to keep up our home, while keeping current on appointments, fully potty-learning our 20 month old, and baby preparation. And sneaking in a bit of rest! I think we may have gotten into a groove here and just as I say that, I am sure things will change again!
The other thing I have been working diligently and researching on is our diet. For the most part, we ate what I would consider a better than Standard American Diet (SAD). Mostly organic when available and little meat, whole grains, and little dairy. Yet despite my children not being chronically sick, something had never seemed right. Particularly with my middle, X. I knew I was dairy allergic and have been off dairy for quite some time. When I have trace amounts, I suffer immensely for it with terrible belly aches and feeling sickly for days. However, recently, after eating, especially bread, I would being the same type of suffering. I knew I wasn't eating dairy, I was baking myself. But somehow I was still experiencing these symptoms of allergy. Or at least intolerance. Nothing I needed an EpiPen for! (Unless bees are involved!) So I began researching probiotics. I found the brand I would be happy getting for our family. I have pretty high standards when it comes to supplements. They were $65 for 90 capsules and you had to take 2 per day. That is only a 45 day supply for one person. I have five, almost six people. Spending $325-390 per month on just probiotics seemed insane to me. I want the best for my family, really honest, I do. But I just can't justify that financially.
By the grace of God, Husband came home and brought an invitation to gluten and allergen expo and along with two wonderful ladies from church, we went to learn more and find companies catering to this growing populous of people with these allergies. I needed to do something for my family. We listened to a speaking who spoke on Healing Foods. She is from a company called GRUB out of Charlotte, NC and she helps people who need information on healing their bodies with food. She showcased her Water Kefir kit and explained the probiotic value in it. She talked about her children and how she knew she needed to make changes. She talked about the tell-tale signs of allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities to foods. A light bulb went off in my head! I have been inadvertently poisoning my children because of my own ignorance and lack of knowledge. No one has ever told me these things. All along I have been focused on meat as the main aggressor to the body and eliminating our meat intake when really, we should be eliminating what is hurting us! I bought the kit, began our kefir journey, and the following week, cleaned our kitchen and pantry of all dairy and gluten products and am slowly restocking our shelves. I am learning along this process.
The evidence of the necessity is making this lifestyle change so worth it. My middle child, who I suspected had some things going on, has been my proof and feeling great after eating myself, has made it all the better. I have always described X as having sensory issues. He hated sheets, clothes, socks, shoes, water, anything that might cause his skin any amount of discomfort. The simplest things would drive him crazy and he has a personality that feeds it too. One day he could eat carrots, not problem. The next the sound of chewing carrots made him not want to eat them. He has never in his life had a solid bowel movement. And he bites his nails until they bleed. All of these things could easily be thought of as sensory disorder and I know that if I brought it to our pediatrician, she would have diagnosed him with that very thing. In just a bit over a week of eliminating dairy and gluten from our diet and consuming the water kefir, that my children call "Magic Spicy Drink" and would drink entire jars of if I would allow it, I have noticed a HUGE change in my body. I feel cleaner and lighter. I feel more awake and able to function clearly. I don't hurt after every meal! In X, I notice so many changes. He is sleeping all night. He is sleeping with pajamas and blankets. He is much more agreeable and joyful, which has been my prayer for a long time. He has eaten so many new foods, finding he loves sauerkraut and tacos for the first time! What I noticed just yesterday as he was bragging on himself, the child has stopped biting his nails! I didn't even really put the two together. I looked it up online and found that it is one of the signs of Celiac Disease. I told him about a year ago, if he would stop biting his nails, I would paint them. I am not a person who allows or thinks boys should pain their nails, but I made the promise because I never thought I would see the day. Last night, after baths, I had to actually clip his nails for the first time and then I painted them his chosen blue color. That will be taken off before his sleep over at his ultra-conservative grandparents' house on Friday or I will never hear the end of my insanity! I am just so proud of him! He played with a large group of children yesterday and showed kindness and compassion and love. This is a new child! Last night I made a HUGE offense! I allowed them a coconut milk ice cream sandwich as a special treat. They loved them! X woke this morning with a hurting tummy and such incontinence in his bowels that he actually had a pooping accident and was mortified. I feel terrible because when I looked at the box, it clearly said "Contains Wheat." What have I done? I got comfortable not checking labels at Whole Foods and slipped and now we suffer for it and begin again! The great thing from this is I know for sure what the problem has been this entire time! For almost 4 years I have been hurting my baby and didn't even realize. I have been nourishing their bodies with what I thought was healthy food, never allowing candy or commerical dairy but all along, putting toxins in through offenders of the over-processed life we lead for convenience sake. At this point, we will remain dairy and gluten free. Husband thought it would be terrible because he loves cheese and bread since we cannot eat out, I have been cooking wonderful meals, simple but wonderful, and he is in food Heaven. He said if I continue to cook like this, he wills stay gluten and dairy free forever. Not only at home but even when he is eating out with co-workers, he is following the lifestyle change.
Many people look at this move as drastic or over the top. Many see it as jumping on some new craze bandwagon. Many just think it's ridiculous! In the South, it's usually the latter. This comes from a place of uneducation and ignorance. No one is setting out to offend you with their food choices. What I have found is this is the line of eating to live or living to eat. In our home, we choose to Glorify our Creator and in doing that, have always said that food is our biggest expense as food is the source of health and glory to the King in keeping the temple of the Holy Spirit clean. God did say that all food was clean that you could find on the earth. However, I challenge you to explore the source of the foods you eat. Are they from the earth or from a factory? Are they in their natural state or altered for faster production and fiscal gain? Are they as God created them in the first 7 days of the world's existence or have they been genetically, hormonally, and unnaturally altered? If we could find raw dairy and raw dairy products, we would happily consume dairy because I know with my allergy, I can easily consume raw forms of dairy just fine. But we live in a state where raw dairy sale is illegal so we omit it! If I could grow my own wheat from a non-GMO source, soak it as it once was done, and be sure that the handling process was done as it was 100 years ago, we would eat bread. But I can't do that at this point so we omit it. We can find organic, grass fed beef and chicken so we consume those things!
The bottom line is this: I live for my family. They are my full time job. You do your best work at your job to keep your job. If I am not doing my best work here, then I should lose my job! I love my job and I feel it's the best job on the planet and there is NOTHING I would rather do. I research a lot to be sure I have the best information and am applying it the best ways. Gluten and Dairy free is not for everyone. I don't think you should eliminate things from your diet unless they are aggressors to your body. I happen to believe that anything processed is an aggressor to any one's body and we truly don't know what it feels like to feel healthy and good because from the womb, we have been poisoned unknowingly. I do feel, however, that everyone should do an elimination diet for 21 days and slowly add foods back in to find out if they have been feeling sick and never truly knew. For every person, this process will look different. For us, it's been easy to go cold turkey. If we have cheats, we'll never make the entire jump. For some it may be a slow process. Clearly, I am making mistakes along the way and we are learning from them. This is what life is all about. Be an advocate for yourself! Stand up and be proud of your choices and knowing that you are doing what is going to give you the best life possible. As a mother, no one is going to advocate for my child but me and I must defend them in all ways possible. I have been entrusted with these little souls and the responsibility to raise them in the ways they should go. I happen to believe this is the way to a healthy life for my family and I educate my children on the reasons why. Just so you know, they don't feel they are missing anything so far. But we haven't been to eat at any one's house yet. We may have to decline any invitations for some time!
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