food for thought

I've been wanting to write a blog about diet/nutrition/health for a while and found it quite ironic that it was decided RIGHT after posting a picture of a giant, greasy hamburger and bragging about how (with the help from my daughter), that entire thing was devoured in one sitting. Yep….this blog may seem a bit contradictory, but here it is. :)

I recently took Andrew to a GI specialist and nutritionist. My head was filled with an abundance of knowledge pertaining to the gluten/dairy free diets along with eating ORGANIC fruits and vegetables, one specific brand of turkey sausage (I won't advertise that brand on my blog because I honestly don't find it any better than others we have tried), and 2 very specific brands of vitamins and probiotics. I may sound like a conspiracy theorist…but after speaking with another parent,  I found it odd that the exact same brand names/types of vitamins and foods were recommended by a completely different nutritionist. Right on the box of the recommended probiotic, it says something along the lines of, "#1 probiotic recommended by pediatricians!" Which if I'm being honest, seems more like a marketing scheme than something I'm going to run out and buy. I guess what I'm trying to get at is this: If I'm going to run out and spend bundles of money on foods/supplements I've never tried, I need to speak with actual parents of children that have witnessed the results. I've been giving my kids a probiotic for a while now (not the "#1 recommended by pediatricians"), but it's one I researched and decided it was best for my kids. It is also refrigerated versus the other being in individual packets. The one we've been using seems to be working pretty well, but I'm no expert.

What I'm trying to get at is this: I want to hear the success stories from real people. So with that said, let's talk organic foods. Now, my husband is quite the skeptic when it comes to overly priced items that are promised to be "better for you." I was too until recently. I haven't seen "huge results" with buying organically, but with all the chemicals/modifications/processing happening to our "fresh produce," and all the food we put into our body, I started wondering.  What we can't see MIGHT actually be slowly hurting us. As I said- I'm no expert and definitely need to live by my words as far as eating better, but I really really want the evidence. Does organic food really make you feel better? Will it prevent disease/illness in the future? hmm…I've made lots of changes in what we are eating, but I haven't been buying everything organic just yet. And I'm still cheating quite a bit when it comes to "eating better" (as evidenced by my previous blog).  I need evidence…from real people. So that's food for thought.

A girl's gotta eat!!

One of the things I've missed the most about Texas is the Tex Mex! Kinda sad…I know, but Mexican food here is awful. People that live in the north have no idea how delicious it can truly be. Now I'm not the best cook in the world, but the Mexican food dishes I make are twice as good as the restaurants around here. Maybe I could open up my own business…hmm…nope. Not happening. :)

Another interesting thing about food here- there are not even a third as many fast food restaurants here as there are in Texas. I actually think this is a good thing. I was a pretty bad fast food junkie in my younger days, and it's nice that the temptation is not even available (unless you want McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts all the time….those 2 chains are definitely found at every corner around here). And restaurants- not many choices either. Unless you are up for making the trek to the heart of Boston…there are not near as many options here as there were in Texas. I've always loved eating out in a nice restaurant. Everything about it makes me happy.  We have saved a lot of money by not eating out (which is a must when we are living on 1 income), but I do want to make a point to eat out pretty often when we go home for Christmas.  :)

Just yesterday, I randomly ordered this between a 2nd doctor appointment and picking up Andrew from school

Guess what the name of this bad boy was: The Texas burger!! :) I couldn't resist ordering it when I saw it on the menu. It was very reasonably priced for the size too, and was hands down the best hamburger I've had in a long time. And of all the places to get it- it was a hole in the wall Roast Beef sandwich restaurant. I have no shame- Abby and I shared that entire burger while sitting in the parking lot of the restaurant. :) What can I say- it had been a pretty rough day (and I will say, my daughter had already had 2 breakfasts, lunch, snacks while I was at the doctor and was shouting from the backseat, "BITE!!!!!".. whoa can that baby girl eat!!) 

 So while some people dream of traveling up to Maine to get a nice serving of something that might look like this: 

I would much rather drive through a chick fil a or What a burger or eat chips and salsa until I thought I might bust. 

(*my husband and mother-in-law put most of this fancy meal together...I can't take credit nor was I too excited to break those puppies open)...

What's a Texas girl to do. :) 

silver and gold friendships

Todd and I have been joking a lot about how making new friends is a lot like dating (even though ironically we have been together for 15 years THIS week, so we didn't really date much). :) You don't want to come across as too persistent or desperate by asking for their phone number right away, but you want to let them know you are interested in being their friend….wow that sounds corny!! :) HA! Since we've moved to the Boston area, we have met some really great people. Living in the dorm last year made it really easy to meet people.  Sadly, most of our dorm friends all moved to other places all over the US (and some even in other countries), so we don't see them much. It's so cool to have made friends from all walks of life that have lived and experienced so much. I have seriously learned more about myself this year than I could have ever imagined had I stayed in my "comfort zone."

  Living in a town that we are just now becoming familiar/comfortable with (Woburn, MA- pronounced WOOburn by all the Bostonians: I refuse to call it that), has made it a lot more challenging to make friends. I don't see moms playing on the community play ground everyday or run into them while running to the community laundry room.  I don't have play dates right next door, friends bringing me goodies all the time, or birthday parties to attend at least once a month. Don't get me wrong- I LOVE our new house! It's actually a really awesome fit for us right now (aside from the stairs that are SUPER steep and scary). And here lately, I'm starting to find a pretty nice group of women that I can text now and then about meeting at a park, having a play date that week, or just to ask for local advice. I met a wonderful woman who is Andrew's classmate's mom. She is a fitness instructor who co-owns her own gym with some other women. I liked her right off the bat at Meet the teacher night. But like I said- you can't jump right into a friendship, so it's been a process. :) She referred me to a photographer who was hosting a mini-holiday photo shoot for families. It was awesome! My kids have never smiled so much for pictures EVER!! And yesterday she picked Andrew up from school for me and then we went to their house to have a play date. Even Sadie got to go play with their labs! :) God works in mysterious ways, and I have absolutely loved meeting so many fabulous women who have taught me so much about my faith, abilities to be a "Super Mom," healthy eating habits, fitness, and so much more. It makes me think of the song from girl scouts, "Make new friends but keep the old: one is silver and the other's gold." Again- a little corny…but TRUE! I made some of the best friends in the dorm last year that I still text, email, or even plan to meet up with soon! And these new friendships that are developing are something we will hopefully keep forever (even when we move BACK to Texas). :) Cherish the people in your life-that's what makes life worth living! :)  I randomly found these pictures and thought I would add them.. Just a few of our "golden friends"  that we will always have. :) Wow…kids sure have aged me. :) ha!

     

                       

                             And a few of our silver (new friendships) from this year! 

                           

                   

These are the days

As I sit here typing a blog, playing around with my layout, trying to figure out how to make my blog look nicer, I realize I'm still in my pajamas…and it's after 1:00...opps. Oh well. It's been an off week with Veteran's Day on Monday and no school today or yesterday (there was only half a day of school today so Andrew was off). I decided today would be our laundry/clean/play day and so we have ended up in our pajamas all day. :)

This is usually "my time" because Abby naps until about 2 and Andrew is in school until 2:20, so I figured it would be ok to sit on the computer for a while to myself while Andrew keeps himself entertained (he's actually WAY better at that than my daughter).  Some days I miss the daily routine when I had a job…getting up early, getting dressed up for work, having my morning coffee/tea on the drive to work, dropping off Andrew and then heading to where I was expected to be everyday. But then again, I have really enjoyed making my kids' breakfast/lunch at home everyday (or maybe having the occasional trip to Chick fil a at the mall), watching them play together,  reading to them, and just being silly everyday. Today I cut out some pictures that Andrew's teacher sent home and I taped the name of each room of our house onto a recycled container and we put each picture in the correct room where it belonged. It was lots of fun and cute to see how much Andrew pays attention to what's in each room of the house. :)

Now that Andrew is coming close to being 4, he has become so much more independent. It's really nice. Because I have Abby in her "tough age" right now, I really don't feel sad that Andrew is growing up …I'm actually kind of relieved!! The potty training has really come along the last few weeks. I am so happy! He is now wearing underwear to school and has only had 1 accident! We had lunch at Panera Bread the other day and he actually told me he had to go potty! I'm telling you….it's been a long road, but we are finally getting there! 

wearing "underoos" and daddy's boots :)

       stamping and drawing pictures 

And now there's Abby who thinks it's her turn to potty train. She is so smart. Yes, I'm her mother and it's my job to say that…..but she is scary smart. We were having lunch in the mall yesterday when she looked at me out of no where and said, "Go potty!!" and made a bee-line toward the bathroom….yes, she knew where the restrooms were. We went in there, she sat down (I don't really know how that works at such a young age because those toilets are WAY too big for her little bottom), and then said, "Wash hands." She's 20 months old so I'm going with it…but I think it will be a few more months until she's really ready. She had her diaper off the other day (right after attempting to potty), and went #2 all over the floor. :/ YIKES! Mommies must naturally have a strong stomach because wow I clean up a lot of bodily fluids daily around here!! EEK!! Then last night I asked her if she was ready for underoos, she said "Yes!" and ran over to the closet to pull out a pair of Andrew's underoos and tried to put them on!! I don't even think Todd knows where I keep them so I have no idea how she knew which drawer they were in! I'm telling you…she is going to be too smart for her own good one day. ;-)

One other amazing Abby moment- She said, "I love you mommy" clear as day yesterday!! Sweetest moment ever. I still don't think Andrew has come out and said those words as clearly as Abby did. I think she knows the grey hairs she is giving me and that I've earned a good "I love you mommy" from her! haha! Oh that girl. She can be oh so sweet and then viciously mean at the drop of a hat. Man I sure do love those 2 babies more than life it self. We are blessed. 

Baking Success...sort of..

My So, I made another loaf of sandwhich bread that is gluten and dairy free. I was so proud of myself because I dedicated a lot of time to research types of flour, the ones that are best for baking bread, healthiest, taste the best, etc. I made my own flour mix using a scale to get my ratios of starch and protein flours just right (40 60), and then realized the recipe I was using (from the cook book Gluten free on a Shoestring by Nicole Hunn) was NOT dairy free. That has been the biggest challenge- finding a recipe that is BOTH. Well, I used almond milk and Earth balance dairy/soy free butter spread instead and it looked and smelled REALLY good. Well...the texture was goey (like the first pancakes I attempted) and didn't taste real great. :/ Such a waste of flour and ingredients. I have been successful at baking delicious muffins, perfecting apple cinnamon pancakes (that are amazing!) and even make flour less brownies using nondairy butter/milk and they were amazing. The bread is taking lots of experimenting, but I know I will get it down eventually. 

                       My work space 

                Yummy pancakes!! 

This stuff is so delicious on pancakes. Even if you aren't dairy free, try it out. Yummy! 

A few websites I've found really helpful are Once a month mom: http://onceamonthmeals.com 

And http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/?m=1

And http://glutenfreegirl.com

If anyone else is going on the same diet journey, these are some resources I've found most helpful. And the kids have approved most of my recipes 

                He ate my soup too! 

            Little Alex approved too :) 

            Happy cooking everyone! 

"Diet Training" a 3 year old boy

The title of this post seems cruel really. But I have to give myself a little credit for attempting this new, extremely challenging diet that has already shown a few improvements in Andrew's sleep and mood.  It will all pay off...I just know it will!

So the question I have for today: should I let him go ahead and cheat on his diet tonight? It is Halloween and he's going to be all dressed up "working" for his treats, so I would feel so mean if I had to take them from him. :( At the Halloween parade on Sunday, I just took out the dairy/ gluten candies (I actually had a handout with safe candies in my massive packetS o' nutritional info.) and let him chow away on those leftover (gummy bears and sweet tarts are some of his favs). But he LOVES chocolate...as much as I do.  And I can't imagine as a 3 year-old understanding my mom allowing my sibling to eat chocolate and not me. :( So that's the dilemma today.

I WILL say Andrew has been SO good about understanding what he can and can't have. He has even started saying, "No that will hurt your belly," if he sees us eating a glutinous/dairy item (I gave up my bagel in the morning for about 2 weeks, and gave in when I saw pumpkin cream cheese at Trader Joe's. ;/ So no- the whole family is not following the diet very strictly). If it were Abby being forced to give up certain things that she saw Andrew eating...O...M...G....DRAMA would take over our house-hold. That little girl of mine is a drama queen when she doesn't get what she wants. Andrew gets over it pretty quickly (for the most part), so that is REALLY nice.  Andrew has grabbed Abby's snack cup of Annie's bunnies or cheerios a few times (2 of the many things we loaded up on at Costco a week before Andrew's diet changes), but he won't usually get too angry once I take it from him.

Speaking of eating- I seriously feel like my kids eat ALL DAY LONG....it kinda drives me crazy sometimes (bad parent alert??) ;-) But seriously...I will be in the middle of preparing a meal and all I hear in the background is: Snack!! pop sic (what Abby calls popsicles), APPLE!!!! berries!!!! With both kids pulling every snack cup out of the drawer, containers of berries, milk cartons, and bags of chips from the cupboard and fridge. I HAD a rule where they can only eat at the bar or table...but Andrew has figured out how to climb up to the bar and take cereal bars, bananas, apples, muffins...what ever he can find..that I normally had up high enough for him not to scavenge and find and so now I'm constantly finding half-eaten fruit, cereal bars (gluten free of course), and chips spilled all over the house.  I even locked the "snack cupboard" so they couldn't get to it and Abby has figured out how to shove her tiny arms through and pull out bags of chips. Nice. At least they are good eaters, but my house is never clean (and I sweep at least 4 times a day).Thank goodness for a dog to clean up after most of it. ;-) haha!

Aside from diet changes and eating around our house, there are a lot of changes going on with little personalities! Andrew actually called me Kristi today...seriously?? He yelled, "Kristi, Sadie needs to go to time out! She's barking!" I laughed so hard and can't even figure out who he heard calling me that. I mean, it IS my name, but Todd usually calls me "babe." He had a friend over to play yesterday and probably heard his mom call me Kristi...cracks me up! I give it 2 weeks before Abby starts referring to me by my first name too. ;-)  As far as personalities- Abby has been extremely moody lately.  I felt really bad because both kids got sick with fever and coughing and Andrew got over his pretty quickly while Abby's lingered. I took her to the doctor and found out she had an ear infection (opps...) Andrew never had one before, so I really wasn't even suspecting it with Abby. They prescribed her an antibiotic (go figure), and I gave it to her for the first few days and then I felt uneasy about giving it to her.... she did actually seem much better after 2 days, but I read some things (I won't go into it), and decided to stop antibiotics and use lavender oil and give garlic and mullein oil a try if it keeps hurting. Well, she's back to the angry little girl that cries 75% of the day and is not sleeping at night, so off to whole foods tonight to see if I can get some mullein oil. Hopefully it will get better soon. Until next time!

Winter Gear! (she doesn't look like she's wearing a shirt!) 

Andrew getting in touch with his feminine side (heels and a pink blow dryer)

 

Halloween Parade in Woburn! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! :) 

Gluten free, dairy free baking....Oh my!!

My mind is full of so many theories, medical terminology, new flours that I've never even heard of, supplements, therapies...etc. etc. Andrew was tested for Autism a year ago this weekend. He was diagnosed PDD-NOS a month later. It's been a crazy, life-changing year but I really wouldn't change it for the world. God put us right where we needed to be with the tools and guidance we needed to help our son feel and act like himself.

With that said, I'm still trying to figure out these diet changes.  We recently went to a nutritionist to run a casein protein intolerance test. Make a long story short- worst day EVER (3 year olds do NOT understand the idea of fasting for some stupid test), and it was decided that we would go ahead and cut everything dairy out of his diet. Next step (a few weeks later): gluten. I was actually the one who suggested this to the nutritionist (I have done lots of research and heard so many success stories that I thought it was worth a shot).  It's been a challenge because some of Andrew's favorites are bagels, breads, doughnuts, ice cream (please don't get the wrong idea: we definitely don't feed these things to him 24/7...but every kid deserves a treat every now and then). And pretty much any snack food known to every kid (goldfish, graham crackers, cheerios) is now off limits. It is such a better life style change....its just tough when you have another child that can eat anything (and still WANTS to eat everything). Here is a prime example of how my gluten free road is looking at the moment:

This is supposed to be a loaf of bread. Same recipe I used a few weeks ago (with regular flour), and the bread was amazing. I figured, "It shouldn't be that different with my Better Batter flour blend...only it DOES say to add half as much more liquid to the recipe when using the alternative flour). Definite FAIL. It smelled good while it was baking....but the whole loaf sunk into the pan and even seeped into my oven. :( EEK! So...I guess it's on to pintrest for some  Gluten free bread recipes because buying the Udi's all the time is getting expensive. Any tips/advice are definitely appreciated (if anyone is actually reading this). ;) And I have definitely had success with this same flour (I made some delicious muffins and pancakes using this same flour), so it could be one more ingredient I'm missing. 

I have always been passionate about nutrition. It's something that has always interested me. Well, after researching so many biomedical factors that come into play when trying to "cure" Autism, it is quite fascinating yet heartbreaking at the same time.  Because Andrew's colon/ GI system has never quite been right, he's not absorbing the nutrients and digesting the food he needs meaning supplements and probiotics are a big part of his diet now (I've already been giving him a multivitamin and probiotic...just had to switch to a different type which wasn't too bad). Well, his liver is also having problems detoxifying meaning he has a build up of toxins in his little body. Again, more supplements (vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid play a big part in this process) to bypass the liver's process and get those "naturally occurring" (in most people's bodies) vitamins right where they need to be. It's crazy. It really is. I am seriously considering going back to school for nutrition after this journey that we have started with our little Andrew. The next culprit to my little Andrew's tummy problems could be phenols and salicylates. I still have a LOT of learning to do with these 2 things and honestly, they seem like taking a step backwards certain fruits and veggies contain salicylates). 

These things have been on my mind day and night and I REALLY wanted to write it out in order to remember this time in our lives when it was all so new. I know in a year it will all come so naturally and our family will be happier and healthier. I also hope this blog will be eye-opening to anyone who has a child suffering from tummy problems, behavioral issues (even ADHD kids could benefit from significant diet changes), or anyone else who has a child who was recently diagnosed.  And it's time to get Andrew so I'm out! :) Have a great weekend!!