After years of struggling with grumpy/hyper-active kids who I swear are OVERLY emotional and so high strung they are about to pop, I hear from our pediatrician that candida, or yeast, could be causing the issue.
Yeast builds up in your body when certain foods we eat are hard to digest and sit in our colons. Yeast ferments and turns into sugar, which in turn gives the kids a constant source for their jolts of energy. In adults, it causes fatigue, bloating/diarhhea, auto-immune disorders and eventually leads to cancer.
My mom called me the SAME DAY I heard this from the pediatrician and tells me she has lymphoma. What is lymphoma? Caused by auto-immune disorders!!!
It doesn't take much more to convince me...I wrote out a meal plan and went to the grocery immediately. I have the whole family tentatively on board with me. If only I can hold their interest (and the family pocketbook together). The advice we were given is to cut out dairy, gluten, sugar and peanuts. I decided to keep eggs in the mix for now and see how we do....of course I only buy the vegetarian free-range organic eggs anyhow after seeing those PETA videos of all of the chickens stuffed in dark cages...
This week's meal plan:
Breakfast stuff - rice chex, fruit, smoothies with almond milk, gluten free/dairy free toast
Lunches - hard boiled eggs, egg salad with grape seed veganaise, organic/gluten/dairy free soups for the thermos, celery/carrots with hummus, rice crackers, gluten free/nitrite free lunch meat, soy cheese, gluten free pasta salads, and rice/veggie dishes.
Dinner:
Monday: Eggplant parmesan made with cornmeal and brown rice pasta - no cheese just lots of yummy marinara sauce.
Tuesday: Vegetarian Chili with corn tortillas - Dr Weil's recipe with chipotle chili powder
Wednesday: Broccoli and Soy Cheese Stuffed Baked Potatoes
Thursday: Gluten free chicken pot pie bowls
Friday: Black Beans and Rice
TOTAL GROCERY BILL: $182.55 (eeeeks thats sooo much more than I usually spend on processed hot dogs and chicken nuggets! lets hope this works...)
I am really hoping to see a difference in everyone's energy and focus levels....I will blog each day so I can keep track of my son's progress....
Hey, Gina! Love your blog! Such an important step to take... I'm, uh, still working on incorporating healthier food into our diet. We basically take it day by day. Growing up on a diet of red meat and potatoes, weekend cheeseburger and pizza binges, and processed boxed foods, it's been quite an interesting ride trying to go the other (more pure, I guess you could call it?) route. Best of luck to you and your family on this journey! :)
ReplyDeleteLisa
P.S. - I'm very sorry to hear about your mom. Thinking of you guys...