Revamp

Almost 4 years ago, we realised that something was not right with our oldest son, then our only son, who was just over a year old. He was sleeping more and more, had dark under-eye circles, open sores in his diaper area, an increasingly bad attitude, had stopped reaching verbal milestones, and had dropped from the 95th percentile to the 13th. We discovered that he has Celiac disease, and by keeping him on a gluten-free diet his symptoms reversed and today he is a (generally) happy, healthy, intelligent young boy. When his brother came along we kept a close eye and discovered, to our dismay, that whenever I ate wheat and nursed him that he developed symptoms as well, so he also has been on a gluten-free diet 99% of his life (he has had the occasional accidental gluten item, and paid the price.) Now, it seems that something else just is. not. right. This little guy has chronic diarrhea, and while he is very bright and very strong, he seems clumsier than ever, and his attitude is chaotic, to put it mildly. He has dark circles under his eyes and that slightly peaked appearance his older brother developed, and when he gets sick, which is frequently, he stays ill for weeks rather than the 3-4 days the rest of us suffer. Other than keeping him off of gluten, I have not been sure what else to do. I came across the SCD diet a year or so after learning about Celiac. Starting tomorrow I am going to implement it with him and keep careful record of how it goes. Already he has improved a bit by the addition of cod liver oil and butter/coconut oil to his diet, but his symptoms have only lessened slightly and something needs to change. So tonight I'm cooking up a batch of soup for him and tomorrow morning is Day 1. With pictures! We'll take this one week at a time; the major selling point for this diet has been that it is a gradual reintroduction to food and not a permanent diet; I do not have the heart to entirely deprive him of the joy of fresh-baked bread, especially now that we have such a fantastic GF version. Looking forward to tomorrow and a new (again) adjustment to the way we use and understand our food.

Shana Tova

A new year, and not a minute too soon! I realised once it arrived that I have been ready for the change of seasons, and definitely a change of foods. Throughout this pregnancy I had been trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid gluten and dairy. Well, Malachi does not do well at all when I eat gluten, so suddenly turning these foods down is a lot easier. I just look into his sweet little face and remember the crying and discomfort and I know that slice of cake is not worth my or little dude's health. Not that I am 100% with this yet, but I am getting better. I also came to the conclusion that something is up with Adin, food-wise. Kiddo is just not quite right, has dark circles, and acts the way Asher used to when he was a wheat eating fiend. So I've been researching GAPS and SCD and I made up a list and I was READY to go to the store and reboot the diet, Warp Factor 5, YES. Then I looked in our fridge, and our pantry, and our chest freezer, which are all (thankfully) full of good food, just not the right kind of good food. So I decided that a slow approach is going to have to be the way of it, this time. We are eating through the food, buying only SCD approved foods and not replacing the non-SCD foods once we run out. By the end of the holidays we should be good to go. At least we will be closer. In the meantime I have been giving the boys (and myself) a spoonful of coconut oil every day. It may just be wishful thinking, it may be the kiddo adjusting to the new pace of life around here, but he has seemed better lately. Today I added in cod liver oil (strawberry scented, but flavorless. Why do people complain about this stuff?) and ghee (aka butter oil). This is based on many testimonials, so we shall see if things improve as we go. Today was our first day with all three. Speaking of today, here is our food diary: Breakfast: fried potatoes with ketchup Lunch: an AMAZing salad: salmon, figs and spinach sauteed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar over butter lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes (homegrown); dressed with the remaining oil and vinegar. It was amazing. Dinner: Quesadillas (with brown rice & teff tortillas), black bean and corn salad, shredded kale and carrot salad (both salads from New Seasons). I also had a slice of cheese pizza, because I was impatient and tired and hungry and overwhelmed and really need more willpower. Ugh. Drinks: water, apple cider at the farmer's market, and I had santa cruz cherry lemonade. The boys had more apple cider at home. At least, I think they did, but I'm not sure how much they actually drank since they spilled so much on the floor ($8 a gallon holy moly only water for them forever and ever.)(yeah right, who am I kidding.) Snack: blackberries and blueberries from the farmer's market. Only 1 month left! I realise I did not cook a single thing today. Thank you Milt! (and New Seasons) We also did and will be doing some holiday food celebrating, so recipes and less boring entries to come, possibly even with pictures!