July 29, 2022
Well, here we are. It has been confirmed that we are dealing with a food allergy; now what? How exactly do we proceed with life?
What about the other reactions that have been deemed “only a sensitivity?” Is it “only” a sensitivity? If a sensitivity is ignored long enough and triggered enough times then it becomes a full allergy. That is definitely something that I want to prevent.
Removing the offensive foods from our diets is what was recommended to me for myself and my children. (This has its own problems.) Years later the GAPS Diet became very popular; especially for children. Now there are many diets, many opinions, many routes to take. Which one is the best for your family?
What if you have family members that are not supportive? What do you do when you have to work and cooking specialized meals is so time and energy consuming? What do you do when you have multiple children, all with different needs? I know one family with 5 children; each child had varying degrees of reactions and to different foods.
I know that as I dealt with all of these complications I would become exhausted, frustrated, confused, incredibly stressed and sometimes even felt like giving up; however, I knew that my child's life was literally at risk. So, I stuck with it and fought the fight.
What worked in my family was two things.
1. I developed what I called food rules.
2. I constantly asked myself: “What did Eve do?”
Meaning, I went as basic and natural as I possibly could.
The results were that my children were rarely in need of medical attention, they had energy, health and were able to play with other kids their ages. Also, they are very intelligent because their brains are able to work clearly. My children have also taken control of their own health because now they understand the importance of quality food and the right food. As a parent, this was actually very exciting for me to watch.
Trips to the grocery store became a game. They were also educational because we read the labels. This is one of those areas where a smart phone became a very useful tool. While we were reading the label we would look up anything on the label that we could not pronounce or did not recognize. This was very educational for all of us.
My Food Rules:
1. Does it have 5 ingredients or less?
2. Can you (easily) pronounce all of the ingredients?
3. Were the ingredients naturally made?
Meaning:
How much processing did they go through?
Did they come directly from nature?
If we could answer yes to all three questions then it was an easy decision to purchase it. However, if we answered no to any of the questions then we discussed if it was really something that we wanted in our bodies. Once my children understood the consequences of these foods I allowed them to make the ultimate decision to purchase the item or not. This meant that they were personally invested. It also meant that they were more inclined to eat healthy foods. I am so very grateful for this blessing.
Note: There were times when we cheated. An exception once in a while when our bodies are healthy will be just fine. But, be careful because it is easy to “treat ourselves” increasingly without realizing it.
This is also where we learned what the different numbers on fruits and vegetables indicate.
UPC code deciphering: 9 = "Organic" / chemicals that were used on the fruit meet certain guidelines and are considered not as harmful as other chemicals; (However, experience tells me that a person can still react to the foods grown with these chemicals.) 4 = In the middle; meaning, the chemicals used are not as toxic as they could be but they are also not as harmless as they could be; and, 1 = the most toxic chemicals were used.
In addition to our food rules I started looking into what to do to strengthen our immune systems. This certainly took more effort and sometimes some sneakiness on mom’s part.
I highly recommend a cookbook titled: The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase LaPine. Everything has an adjustment period but I found her ideas and recommendations the easiest to implement.
One thing I did was to have my children make the dinner salad while I worked on the remainder of the food. An excellent side benefit was that my children ate the raw vegetables while they worked. They also kept snacking from it wile I was cooking. They always ate their full dinner. I never heard “I’m too full to eat.” I believe that they actually enjoyed dinner more.
Another benefit was that they were more likely to eat because they found their contribution to be valuable. There was also a lot less fighting or disagreeable behavior and attitudes while I was cooking dinner. Of course, the parents benefited from this as well.
The result was a happy family. Is this not our end of day objective?
In the comments section below let us know what your food secrets are or what ways have you found to sneak healthy things into your family's diet.