January 3, 2012

What to do about those kids!

As I have previously shared, and some may already know, our family is no stranger to a somewhat restrictive diet. We have waivered from time to time how strictly we followed, but nonetheless, it was there. For many years our kids ate little to no wheat, minimal amounts of refined or processed sugar, and rarely drank cow's milk. I used to feel very bad about not letting have the "fun" stuff. But, I came to a realization after this summer: it's not fun. After letting my kids chow down on hot dogs and ice cream, candy or summer desserts, their moods changed almost instantly. They would whine and cry over the stupidest things. They became disobedient and rude. My oldest son, who was 7 at the time, would get emotional and then quickly get a headache in his eyes and a constant place on his head. Shortly after telling me his head was hurting, we are talking 20-30 minutes, he would begin to vomit-for hours. In the last year, this has probably happened at least half a dozen times. He would be so sick sometimes, that he would have to have IV fluids. Looking back, I can specifically remember what led up to each episode- eating the "fun" stuff.

We spent some time talking to our kids about how they were feeling. Other than the emotional and behavioral changes, they would also get diarrhea, headaches, and just feel icky. We decided as a family that this wasn't good. The kids agreed and were on board with changing things too.

This week I was trying to come up with some good ideas for the kid's lunchboxes. I stumbled upon this blog. Not only was their family story great, but they were a Christian family just like ours trying to live not only a healthy spiritual life, but a healthy physical life. Plus, she boldly states that her kitchen is rarely clean...I love that!

In her blog, Mrs. Grok has posted over 140 lunchbox posts, which include a picture and list of what she made her two preK girls and sometimes her hubby for lunch. It gave me so many great ideas! Right now we aren't doing dairy, but their family is ok with whole and raw milk cheese and yogurt(I am hoping after another month of cleaning out our bodies we can slowly add this as well). I have taken some of her ideas and tweaked them for my kids the last two days and so far, so good.

The biggest thing I have found for our family, is that we may not eat Paleo/Primal by the textbook at all times, but we are pretty darn close and that is just perfect for me! We will learn as we go along and even if we don't do things perfectly, we are still eating better than we ever have in our lives and if you EVER see me in the grocery store and I have anything that resembles a box or jar or can of processed crap....slap me.
(There is a link to the above mentioned site on my blog list also. Right over there ---->>)

No comments: