We're not nuts after all.

My family thinks I've gone nuts.  They are all supportive of our new nutritional ways.  But some of them don't want to hear the details, others don't understand the severe change, and everyone is panicking about Christmas.

My parents and grandmother were able to come visit us this past week, and we had a wonderful visit!  I think they may have been dreading the visit just a little.  Along with the 4 crazy kids, nonstop schedule, and too-early wake up calls, they were afraid I would be serving carrots and tofu all week.

I'll admit it.  Implementing a diet overhaul is very daunting and overwhelming.  It can affect everything -- playdates, picnics, weekends, travel plans, parties, guests, and definitely holidays.  

But what began as a month-long challenge has now morphed into our new way of life.  As my husband said, we would eat dirt every day if we knew it would help our kids.

And help is an understatement.

This sweet little boy is GREATLY benefiting from these changes. 

He is definitely still a little boy, but his ability to reason, focus, 
communicate, and cooperate has improved so much.

I was interested in my parents' view of our diet and our children's behavior.  I didn't want my personal reports or observations to be products of mere wishful thinking.  But they all commented on the big change in Caleb's behavior. (And they even enjoyed the food....or, at least that is what they told me. =)  

From the beginning, we felt God was leading us to implement these changes.  And now I am humbled to see how He cares so much for our sweet Caleb (and the rest of us) that He opened our eyes and hearts to these ways to help him.

So what have we been up to?

Baking.

Baking.

And more baking.

Throw in a little Clifford.

Some big messes.

 

A homemade castle.

  

Beautiful fall weather for a pumpkin patch visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I think our family is doing quite well.

We're still working on getting the right Christmas card picture.

But I think that's going to take a Red Sea miracle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Wish this sugar-free mama "good luck" on Halloween.

You Know What They Say

You know what they say.

Put a southern girl on a diet, and she will still find a way to eat bread.

Well, maybe that's not a popular saying.  But it's the truth.

I love me some bakin'.  Cakes.  Bread.  Pies.  Brownies.  Cookies.

I have always had physical success upon cutting white flour from my diet.  More energy.  Less brain fog.  Flanks disappear (my lifelong nemesis...)  But I so miss my baked goods.

By cutting out processed foods and taking more control over what  our family eats, I was somewhat expecting to have to gear up for this mental battle once again.

Boy was I wrong.

We are in week 3.  No gluten.  No sugar.  No dairy.  We were not changing our eating habits to lose weight.  That was truly one of the lower priorities in this food journey.  But I have lost 6 pounds.  Bob has lost about the same.  We are all feeling good and not the least bit deprived.  The kids are doing very good on this, and even Eveley (our biggest skeptic) is coming around now.  Caleb is doing amazingly well with his new food habits.  I had a feeling that this food change would make his potty training experience look easy.  I'm glad I was wrong about that too!



I have been so surprised at the number of people who have been encouraged to do something similar or to just re-examine their food choices.  So cool.  Let's encourage one another in this process.  I'll be honest with you.  If I cheat, I'll tell you.  (By the way, I still use organic milk in my coffee.  Dairy was not a concern for me, but we are cutting it out due to Bob's - and possibly the other boys' - sensitivity issues.)  When it's hard, I'll tell you.

....like that time I decided to fry a week's worth of chicken tenders while helping with homework, dealing with boy's stomach bug, and having 2 little rascals hanging on my legs.  Not my best idea.

Here are a few things I am learning:

1.  Don't take the kids grocery shopping with you.  Ever.  Period.  It will remind them of all the wonderfully sugary and colorful things that they have been missing.  Big mistake!  You will become the evil, horrible monster mother who never lets them have anything.



2.  Moderation is still the key.  Just because baked goods (with almond flour and honey) are legal, doesn't mean you can eat as many of them as you wish.  Even if they are warm delicious chocolate cupcakes.  Or else you will get really sick.  Just saying.

3.  Don't take the easy way out -- As much as I am tempted to do so, I cannot clean out our pantry of processed goods and simply refill it with "gluten-free" products.  Those items can contain just as many weird ingredients as the other, more familiar gluten-containing products.  I promise you can make some of these things very easily just using a few simple ingredients and a really snazzy cobalt blue Kitchen Aid.

4. Let your kids get involved with making their dinner - as much as possible.  This gives them some responsibility and ownership for the food and has seemed to make them a bit more eager to clean their plates.

5. Get your spouse on board.  If you are a mom and trying to cut processed foods, you will find yourself in the kitchen a lot!  And you will need to grocery shop more often.  At least in our house, the fresh fruits and veggies don't last much longer than a week.

And to answer one question:  we buy our almond and coconut flour here - www.honeyvillegrain.com

There are tons of great recipes out there, and I am enjoying trying many of them!  Eveley and I have started a tradition of baking something when she comes home from school.  This is our time to chat about her day without the stress of homework or the other kids distracting us.  So far, we have made bread, cookies, muffins, fried chicken, butternut squash fries, and tonight it was chocolate cupcakes.

 2 Thumbs Up.

 

We believe this diet food journey is here to stay.  I don't see myself feeding my kids some popcorn genetically modified to include a bit of roundup anytime soon.  I know I'm not a scientist or very smart in this area, but that seems pretty clear.

I guess the proof will be in the pudding...or the pumpkin muffins.

Dismount

Yes, I am coming off my high horse and pulling the reins on my rant about our nation's food habits.  But our family's journey continues.  I am so grateful for all of your comments and emails, and I genuinely appreciate all of the advice and suggestions.  Thank you!

While this blog will never become a "foodie" blog, let me just say that we are excited about the changes we are seeing (and feeling).  But we are not leaving God out of this journey.  It is our prayer that He will pour out His wisdom on us as we make these big decisions that will affect our family.  We want to be good stewards of the things He has given us.

I received a few requests for the almond cookie recipe and also wanted to share the unbelievably simple recipe for peanut brownies that we made this afternoon.

Almond Cinnamon Cookie
{Source:  The Comfy Belly - www.comfybelly.com}

CINNAMON COOKIE

Ingredients (makes about 22 cookies)

• 1/3 cup of honey
• 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 cups of blanched almond flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter.
3. Combine the butter with all the other ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend the ingredients until well combined.
4. With a spoon or your fingers, create small, balls of dough, about an inch in diameter, and place them on a buttered baking sheet (or a baking mat on a baking sheet).
5. Press each cookie to flatten it using either the palm of your hand or the back of a fork or knife. I criss-cross the top of the cookie with the back of a fork to get the hatch pattern. Optionally, you can sprinkle some cinnamon on the top of each cookie.
6. Bake for 15 minutes.
7. Turn the cookies over and lower the temperature of the oven to 175 degrees F.
8. Bake the cookies for another 10 minutes. (For a crunchier cookie, leave them in the oven at 175 degrees F for another 15 minutes or so).
9. Cool and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Brownies

These were a fun treat; super simple to make; and were unbelievably filling.

-1 cup peanut butter (natural kind consisting of only peanuts and a pinch of salt; I used crunchy)
-1/2 cup honey
-1 egg
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix all ingredients together well and pour into square pan.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

The kids made these after getting home from school.  They ate one (and I ate two) and no one asked for anything else before dinner.

Our large shipment of almond and coconut flours arrived today from Canada.  I'm looking forward to trying out a few different recipes this weekend and will let you know which ones make the cut.

And, to close, I'll leave you with a few glimpses of our little bunhead.

Back to School

Just a little double rainbow to brighten your day! 

Well, it seems that I am returning to my roots and heading back to the classroom.  No, not literally.  But definitely figuratively.

I was one of those weirdos who enjoyed school.  Maybe enjoyed is not the right word.  I really loved school.  I am a curious bird and loved the challenge of following unknown paths to arrive at a breathtaking waterfall.

I admit -- this isn't something I was doing in 3rd grade or even as a junior in high school.  There, I was frankly only obsessed with sports and boys.  But by the time I rounded out my college years and all through law school, I developed an interest and curiosity for deep research into many different areas.  And I spent most of my legal career performing complex research for an appellate judge.

One surprise for me -- law school radically changed how I read my Bible.  Beforehand, I read it almost out of obligation or responsibility.  I picked up the surface applications and went about my day.  But in law school, we learned (and were required) to dissect and scrutinize every single word.  What is the background?  What are the rules of interpretation?  Why did the author choose NOT to say something?  Asking questions such as these helps us get a stronger and more beautiful understanding of Scripture.  As my history professor always reminded us, "Truth Never Fears A Challenge."

{I have just begun Beth Moore's study on James, and she is doing just this -- digging and digging through each and every word of Scripture to try and gain a better understanding of Jesus and the Great Story He is writing.}

And now, my curiosities have been piqued again, and my mind's researching wheels are a turning!

What am I eating?  What am I feeding my kids?  Where did it come from?  How did it get into my home?

Just a few basic questions that have prompted me to begin the dig.

And I'm uncovering quite a bit of stinky stuff.

I would have labeled our family's eating habits as "pretty healthy."  We ate whole grain bread, kept fruits and vegetables as part of every meal, handed out granola bars and "nutri" grain bars as snacks, and ate popcorn with no butter.

We live in the United States of America, for crying out loud.  Stores are surely not allowed to sell food that is bad for us, or harmful to our kids, right?  And with all of these labeling requirements, and the good 'ole FDA, we would surely know if they did so, right?

Well, if you want to have your world rocked a little bit, just start googling "genetically modified organisms."  Or better yet, watch a video explaining what "xantham gum" is (one of the regular ingredients in "gluten free" foods sold in stores).  And if you're wanting some extra credit in today's class, take a look at this video.


(I'm not taking any credit for these things.  I am definitely not the original source.  But, again, thank you to those who have been educating me on some of the basics and pointing me down the right paths of research).

Learning some of this makes me plain mad.   And, at first, it made me almost start to hyperventilate.  What in the world would my 4 growing kids, marathon-training hubby, and food-loving self eat??

Well, tonight, for example, we had a delicious chicken and veggie dish, and I made the kids "ice cream" for dessert.  (coconut/almond milk, frozen banana, frozen strawberries, 2 spoons of honey)

They approved!

(she was giving it "2 thumbs up"  =)

And I am munching on yummy frozen grapes right now.

It would have been a perfect evening.  Would have been.

But it concluded with sweet Caleb running through the playroom (while playing a game with daddy) and ending up like this.

There was blood everywhere, and we will be making a trip to the doctor for sutures in the morning.

My new motto for this stage of life:  Embrace the Crazy.