Thursday, November 1, 2012

Our journey to a healthier and happier life

For years (like 15!) I have had digestive problems. The doctor has told me it is IBS. We have tried medications but the only time I have ever really had relief is when I restrict my diet. My chiropractor and naturopath have been telling me to take out grains but this seemed like way too big of a jump for me from my whole food diet. How do you not eat grains? Our whole lives we have been told that we have to have grains in our diet to be healthy.

My 4 yr old son has been having adverse reactions to food and we don't know for sure what it is. Some days it is like he can't sit still (no not like a regular 4 yr old) he actually will shake his leg and not be able to stay still. It is like he loses control, we have seen it with dyes for sure. I figured that we will both go on a sort of elimination diet for 30 days and see how things improve with us. We will reintroduce foods in December and see if there is a reaction at that time.

Our diet is based on the Paleo way of eating. I say "based" because we have changed some things. I am  doing our first 30 days of meals based on a meal plan from Practical Paleo. I am loving this book and all the information Diane Sanfilippo includes. I have read several books about Paleo and this one of the easiest to understand. I also really enjoyed It starts with food. I have looked at what feels like hundreds of websites and hours of reading before we decided to do this.

In December 2010 we made a plan to change the way we eat. We gave ourselves until December 2012 to make major changes in the foods we eat and how we cook. I think we did really well and I am happy with the changes we made. There were too many changes to list but we try to eat as whole and natural as we can.

I think the biggest problems we are going to have are: 1) when W is at preschool they have a snack and I will have to send one for him, he has always been able to eat what everyone else does so I don't know how he will react. 2) other people giving W food, like family or at the gym (yes the cafeteria lady loves to give him treats) 3) My husband travels so the week he is home will be harder for us since we are usually on the go more (I eat more convenience food when he is home).

I will be posting some of our meals, ideas, struggles and improvements along the way.

I would like to add that we have done research and we are working with a naturopath while we do this. I know it is not for everyone and I appreciate comments and advice, please keep it polite.

I understand that these posts are not really what this blog was intended for but it is still about what we do in our house with our kids :)

 I have so much more to write and will try to post once a day. Tomorrow is the first day at school for W with the new restrictions .. wish me luck.




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