Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Breakfast 1: Matthew had watermelon and banana

Breakfast 2: Matthew had a Nature's Choice cereal bar

Lunch: Matthew's was eggs and hard salami from the deli on a bagel stick. Our last hurrah before the New Year and lockdown on food AND finances for that matter. Mike and I ate nothing worthy of note because it was crap.

Snack: another banana because I didn't know Mike gave him one this morning.

Dinner: from Outback Steakhouse (the mother of allergenic eating out): Joey Sirloin made with no seasonings or butter and broccoli with no butter. Mike and I had Prime Rib (we split one) with broccoli (no butter), mashed potatoes (likely had milk in them) and coconut shrimp (who knows that THAT had in it)

We always drink water.

OH! Matthew took HIMSELF to the toilet to poop today! Usually, this is something that only results with force or much arguing.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008

Breakfast: eggs fried in EVOO. Our guests also had bagels and cream cheese. Tropicana OJ and the adults had Archer Farms (Target's brand) of Coconut Macaroon coffee with raw sugar.

(Post will be updated through the day as part of my attempt at keeping it up)

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Day, December 25, 2008

We have friends in from out of state. A mom and her 4 & 2yos. Between the holidays and the new baby--it's been really hard to keep up with this blog, but my New Year's Resolution is to go on lock-down with food, get on Feingold by Feb. 15th, and keep the blog daily. ;)

Breakfast: gluten-free pancakes made with Arrowhead Mills Gluten-Free (GF) flour, eggs, honey and I think olive oil (Capitriti Extra Virgin expeller pressed--relatively cheap). If it has anything else in it--likely some kind of milk replacements (hazelnut, rice or coconut milk). With Tropicana OJ (no pulp, added calcium & vitamin D) and pure maple syrup (Maple Grove farms--one of the few that has no corn syrup and available in our regular supermarket).

Snack was Earthbound Organic baby carrots and Capri Sun 100% juice "bags".

Dinner: It was at our house. 12 adults and 3 kids. MIL made a turkey coated with some olive oil and seasonings; and lasagna (which really was for the people who don't live in our house). HER mother made "drunken cauliflower" which is olive oil and garlic--browned a bit and then pieces of cauliflower browned in that, then some vinegar and water added to cook it. Delish. I made mashed sweet potatoes with pumpkin pie spice (they were mashed with a little bit of water, but we could've used some coconut milk). I also made fresh green beans with EVOO and white vinegar and some broiled filet mignon steaks with Montreal seasoning. I'm trying to think of what else. A lot of the appetizers were off-limits to residents of the house. Same for desserts--although I had some meringues for Matthew (Miss Meringue triple chocolate and mini vanillas).

It was a good day!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Morning: cereal bar with water, followed by Taylor ham and eggs

Snack: so help me God, I don't recall. Oh wait--potato chips and Apple & Eve White Grape Raspberry juice box (we were on the run to the Dr.)

Lunch: Nature's Promise Honey Oat bread (gluten=yes, corn syrup & soy=no) with homemade grape jelly (mommy ate Bonne Maman strawberry) and Skippy Natural peanut butter.

Snack: fresh organic pear slices

Dinner: Matthew is having Tinkyada rice pasta (fusilli) with nothing on it. He no longer even likes oil and garlic salt. Mike and I are having fried pork chops and fresh, steamed organic broccoli that Matthew will be forced to eat as well.

Dessert is likely to be smoothies made with organic bananas, coconut milk and some of the organic pineapple that needs to get used. We didn't have them last night. We'll see how late it is.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Monday, December 8, 2008

Okay... we're making our way back to eating properly. And we are definitely starting Feingold after Jan. 1st. In fact, a friend is also doing it so I have some level of support. But today...

Matthew woke at around 4am because I let him sleep from 5pm. :( He had his daily cereal bar and water. Around 6am I gave him something else but for my life I can't remember what. At 8am he had eggs (bought--not from the ladies, who have stopped laying for winter) scrambled with Taylor ham (the brand is actually "John Taylor's Pork Roll" and it's the hunk of meat you cut up). Didn't use oil--I cooked the ham in there first thinking it would give off enough oil to do and it didn't. ;) He also had a very ripe organic banana.

I think we must've skipped snack!

He had Wendy's for lunch... burger with no ketchup--just pickle and tomato... plus fries and water. I had the Grilled Chicken combo with water and mandarin oranges (but I eat the half of Matthew's fries that I remove from his container).

Afternoon snack was Lay's Kettle Cooked potato chips (and I had some Cedar's brand garlic-lovers hummus with that) and water. Only the Kettle Cooked version of Lay's is soy/corn free (it's made with sunflower oil).

Dinner: skirt steak with Montreal spices, organic spinach wilted in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) with garlic and pignolis, and oven-roasted potatoes (coated with EVOO, sea salt, pepper and organic rosemary).

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sorry--after the last entry, we got a call for an adoptive placement of a 1-week old baby girl. She was in our house 5 days later and it's been a little chaotic ever since. Needless to say, our diet has been even worse. We'd already been on a downward spiral. In fact, we took Matthew to the movies twice and tested out popcorn on him. He only got about 10-12 pieces, but he seemed alright. Starting to wonder if there's a threshold he can tolerate, if it's just corn SYRUP that's the issue, or if the issue has resolved.

Today, Matthew had a banana as his first breakfast and then we all had scrambled eggs with Taylor ham. I have no clue if the Taylor ham is safe and as I type this, I'm AGAIN reminded that Matthew's recent behavioral issues are likely tied to this lack of discipline with his diet--which we know damn well is related to food. Mike & I had decaf coffee.

Mike comes home with Dunkin Donuts and Matthew gets an Old Fashioned. Mike makes a chocolate coating with Skippy Natural peanut butter and either Nesquik syrup (which should've been thrown out because it has red dye in it) or these dark chocolate mini coins I bought from Whole Foods.

We had lunch... Nature's Promise Honey & Oat bread with Skippy Natural peanut butter and my homemade grape jelly. I had McCutcheon's strawberry jelly. We all drink water.

Somewhere along the way, Matthew grabbed an Apple & Eve fruit punch juice box.

We ate pink lady apples for snack.

And we had Tinkyada spiral pasta for dinner with some Nature's Promise frozen organic broccoli. Matthew takes his pasta with absolutely nothing on it. He won't even allow olive oil anymore. Mike and I take ours with a new sauce--Nature's Promise, but it was too spicy for me.

Matthew went to bed with a Whole Foods vanilla meringue; and of course I was starving so Mike got us shrimp chow fun and a shrimp egg roll.

Everything is out of control with the new baby. And it was already not going well and in need of lock-down. :(

Friday, November 14, 2008

Friday, November 14, 2008

6:45am... Matthew gets a cereal bar.

9:45am... we eat eggs scrambled with Wellshire Farms chicken apple sausage (and water).

I tear apart our living room which is a haven of dog hair and dust... so I forget to feed him again until 12:15 when I drag him to the local deli (thinking, "OMG, am I going to do this?") to have genoa/hard salami on a bagel stick with Tropicana OJ. I have my usual.

We go run around for a bit--looking for a new carpet for his room and getting the oil changed. He has his Edward & Son's veggie flavored crackers and some 365 organic fruit punch (juice box) before falling dead asleep.

We miss speech therapy.

My cousin and his son come over for dinner. The little guys have hot dogs (Nature's Promise) and french fries (frozen Alexia) while the adults order chinese food because I screwed up my cooking schedule with the corned beef.

The little ones also proceed to eat Whole Foods brand vanilla & chocolate meringues, and peeled organic baby carrots. Matthew opts out of the natural black cherry soda (I think it's made by Whole Foods).

Of course, I'm realizing the he didn't take any of his supplements today.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Breakfast... Mike makes Matthew what HE calls "egg in a hat" and I call "egg in a house". It's a slice of bread (the frozen GF Aleia brand) with a hole in the center (compliments of a cup used as a cookie-cutter) and then fried with an egg in the hole. I'm sure this involved ketchup (Whole Foods 365 Natural).

Since Matthew eats early, he rushed through a second breakfast (as usual) of scrambled eggs made with canned organic peas (fried in actual olive oil).

Snack en route to his class: peeled baby carrots.

Class teacher reports that Matthew is having trouble using an "inside voice". Considerably difficult for him today.

Lunch at Panera where he has a Kid's Deli sandwich with turkey and ham instead of something and cheese. The bread has not just wheat, but soy flour AND soybean oil. The meats do NOT have corn syrup in them (surprising) but are loaded with preservatives. He gets a side apple and splits my chips (which are cooked in a safe oil, but can't remember which one). He gets orange juice, but nobody can tell me if it has corn syrup in it. I'm hoping that their dedication to healthiER foods means "no". I'm more so hoping that it's not listed because it's JUST orange juice.

He goes from lunch to swim class (this is why we eat out on Thursdays--we leave early from home and I forget to pack lunch and we only have about an hour before his next class... no time to drive all the way home for lunch if I forget). He does okay for the first 15 minutes and I watch as he gets slightly aggressive in his play with the other two kids. He's being playful, but it's not nice and could be dangerous. Coach Rob sits him out for a bit.

Needless to say, the need to go on lockdown for food is crystal clear now. He's not listening to me or anyone else. He's getting back to being in a bubble and it's really bad. I think the lack of "inside voice" at class this morning could be a combination of what I already think is a hearing problem, and the foods causing sensory issues.

Tonight, we had Wild Caught salmon baked with garlic, gluten free breadcrumbs and olive oil, plus 365 brand frozen crinkle cut fries and canned organic green beans. Then we went to the movies where we allowed Matthew to try about 15 pieces of popcorn (with butter flavoring--so I won't know if it's the corn or the flavoring that sets him off). We agreed that truly, we don't know if his issue is corn or corn syrup--so why not try it. He only has speech therapy tomorrow so we can be shut-ins if need be.

We also had some Matthew-safe pieces of chocolate and organic white seedless grapes that I snuck in. Oh--and bottled water, of course.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008

Breakfast was gluten free bread bought frozen at Whole Foods (Aleia brand) made into French Toast with 100% maple syrup (bought at the grocery store, but really hard to get sometimes!)

We had close to nothing to do today. Snack was peeled organic baby carrots.

Lunch...? Oh, again... the local deli. Now Mike is getting concerned about the money being spent on this and Matthew's behavior is really starting to show the effects. Matthew has tuna on a bagel stick and Tropicana OJ. I have tuna on a roll with lettuce, tomato, oil (that is unquestionably soy even though it says "olive oil"--check yours) and vinegar plus water and coffee (AGAIN with white sugar).

Snack... I believe it was crackers.

Then macaroons (which are now gone so I can't check the brand, but they're safe and Whole Foods sells them).

Dinner was Wellshire uncured hotdogs and canned organic string beans for Matthew. Mike and I had the remains of the chili he made a few days ago. I proced to get VIOLENTLY ill.

Matthew stalls bedtime looking for more food and we give him more carrots.

Of course, Mike and I eat some Arica chocolate chunk gluten-free (and all other stuff-free) cookies after his defrosting a banana proves to be disastrous.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

6:45am: Matthew eats a Nature's Choice Triple Berry Multigrain Cereal Bar

8:00am: Mike gives Matthew either grape tomatoes or grapes (both organic)

8:45am: Matthew eats an egg fried in olive oil while Mike and I just down some Good Earth decaf Chai tea with honey as I bolt out the door with child to his class... late. As he washes his hands before leaving, I manage to get a tsp. of Nordic Naturals 3-6-9 Complete fish oil into him (no, not the kids version) and a tsp. of Sambucol into all of us plus his probiotic (Nature's Way Primadophilus Kids) and two of the new chewable vitamin C wafers (Big Friends 250mg Tangy Orange flavor). We skipped the multivitamin today. Of to his open play session at the Y.

10:30am: Matthew declines Edward & Son Original Brown Rice Snap Vegetable crackers but drinks his 365 brand organic fruit punch juice box.

11:45am: Going on a trend of horribly unhealthy eating for us, we go to the local deli. Matthew has tuna this is undoubtedly loaded with soy between the broth the tuna is poached in and the mayo the deli uses. Plus the bagel stick he wanted it on. He drinks his own white grape juice box (365 brand organic). I eat tuna with lettuce, tomato and some vinegar on a roll, coffee with the damn white sugar again and a bottle of water. I have a wicked craving for fried food and get a side of fries--stoked in corn/soy oil I know it, but Matthew doesn't even want any. Noticed that the deli bought a new container of the organic ketchup.

Matthew falls asleep en route to his "Rhythm & Rhyme" class and gets to sleep a total of 10 minutes.

2:15pm: we leave Matthew's class and he eats peeled baby carrots that I bought yesterday.

4:45pm: Upon request for food, I lay out grape tomatoes for Matthew and eat them myself since he found a way to turn the TV on (we watch close to no tv here--so this is an event). In the interest of trying to get back into cooking dinner (Mike's done it for a few years now) I let him watch TV and cook the london broil that's been marinated in olive oil, white vinegar, ginger, onion and garlic. I broil it and of course, I burn one side and cook it too long. I steamed the organic cauliflower that was in the fridge and baked some steak fries I bought at Whole Foods the other day but for my life don't remember the brand.

After dinner, we usually have something sweet. Tonight it was the organic green seedless grapes.

Of course, it's now 8:12pm and I'm hankerin' for something completely unhealthy. If I'm not mistaken, Mike has a package of Yodels above the fridge.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Oh! Forgot!

I seriously forgot that I started this blog. What a moron. Today:

6am: Matthew wakes and must be fed immediately. I give him leftover meatballs (MIL makes this Matthew-safe) and broccoli. Breakfast is a time to eat. We eat whatever we have. Often Matthew gets grapes or grape tomatoes or blueberries or a cereal bar--but I haven't gone food shopping yet.

9am: Matthew and I leave Mike sleeping and sick and head out to the local bagel place. Matthew has 2 eggs scrambled (without milk in them) and some hard, Genoa salami chopped up in it. They've offered to cook it on a dry grill since they use corn/soybean veggie oil. He drinks Tropicana OJ. I have an egg, potato and steak wrap with organic ketchup plus a bottle of water and some coffee with sugar only. They carry the organic ketchup just for us. I bought the first bottle and they wound up with a subsequent bottle accidentally. The only downer is the white sugar for the coffee. I keep meaning to put a box of raw sugar in his cabinet below the coffee machines. This is part of why I love my town! ;)

noon: Matthew eats the rest of the meatballs and broccoli; and Mike eats homemade chili with rice. I skip.

4:30pm: I've been out and Mike forgot to snack down Matthew. He now pours some potato chips.

6pm: Matthew wants a hamburger (homemade) and fries (some frozen ones I buy at Whole Foods that are made with some oil other than corn or soy, but have apple juice in them... weird) with Whole Foods 365 Natural ketchup. Mike and I have chili and rice (he doesn't mind having it again). We all drink water.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Breakfast and lunch

So today, we got up and had to go divide food for an organic produce coop. We coordinate two of these groups--but this is another group in a town about 20 minutes away that is new and doesn't have helpers yet. I was feeling so sick that my husband (dh) came with me with the baby (ds--who will be 5yo... notsomuch a baby).

Dh made ds an egg (fried in pure olive oil--check your labels: olive oil is not always just olive oil) to go on the road. Dh and I grabbed a Nature's Choice cherry cereal bar to hold us over and we gave the little guy a Nature's Promise white grape juicebox... and took some Edward & Sons vegetable flavored brown rice snaps (crackers) for ds's snack on the way home.

At lunch, we had tunafish. We go to Whole Foods to buy tuna that is not poached in soybean oil (and really, who'd think to look at the ingredients label of a tuna can that says "packed in water"--but it's cooked, and often it's cooked in soy broth). We use a mayonnaise that is made of canola oil. I think the one we have now is Hain's. And then pickles thrown in. Often we'd put this on gluten-free bread for the little guy and dh and I would cheat--eating regular bread. But dh is trying to go gluten-free, too, to see if we can get him off of ADD meds. So he got creative and seeing that we had lots of potatoes in the house, he melon-balled out the centers, steamed them (whoda thunk it?) and then we put the tuna in the little hollows. The potatoes needed salt IMO but it was a huge hit. "Tuna pods".

Dinner is easy enough: meat, potatoes/rice and a veggie... usually fresh because when they're canned you either have stuff added to them or you have BPA from the can lining. We like frozen, too. But with the produce coop, we usually have fresh stuff. I'll post what we ACTUALLY eat later. I'm going out to eat with my brother--so all bets are off.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

About this blog...

We started with limited dairy consumption when our son still had "colic" at 5 months old. Turned out, he had an intolerance to dairy protein. Not uncommon. I STILL cringe at how long he had to suffer because his issues were blown off to colic. I shudder all the more when I see message boards full of moms with "colicky" babies and then a handful of them remove dairy from their infant only to find the "colic" disappear.

Later that year, our son was diagnosed with a few pretty severe developmental delays that nobody understood. They did suspect mild cerebral palsy. He was about 9 months old and started suffering rather severe constipation that grew worse and worse.

He was evaluated by the state's birth-to-three/Early Intervention (EI) team. They had no idea what the problem was, just that there was DEFINITELY a problem. We then took him to Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI) in Baltimore at 11 months old and they agreed--definitely some major problems.

Our son didn't know we were in the room. He didn't make noise. He didn't have a "hungry" cry vs. a "tired" cry vs. a "dirty diaper" cry. I know what that means now that I have another child who is neurotypical. I was a stay-at-home breastfeeding mother and if I went grocery shopping, my son had no excitement when I returned. Nothing. Getting him to smile was the most incredible challenge.

Grasping for straws and using the internet to do so, I came across the gluten-free/casein-free diet. The concept of food having such a profound effect on behavior and development sounded ludicrous; and more as a means of proving it was wrong, I eliminated what tiny amounts of dairy protein remained in our diet.

One week later was the first time he ever laid his head on my shoulder. A few days after that was the first time he ever looked me in the eye. He was almost one year old. He had just been to an allergist the month before and just to have an objective opinion of the perceived changes--we went back. He said "Yup--different child. Probably took 7-10 days, right?". It was January 2005. We had no idea what we were missing. And having seen how that TINY amount of casein in his diet changed him, we were willing to try removing gluten... horrifying as that sounded.

In the meantime, his constipation got so bad that his ped wanted to send him to Hershey, PA to some kind of inpatient feeding clinic. Her concern was that if he continued to have constipation this badly (we're talking a 2-adult task at every poop) that his nerve endings in his little anus would be permanently damaged and he'd never feel an oncoming bowel movement. I begged for 1 month more because Early Intervention was starting feeding therapy. Ultimately, I was the parent so I got to make the decision. We removed gluten from his diet (so pretty much just some of the cereal, whatever pasta was in the purees, crackers, and Puffs) and voila... no more constipation. We were floored. That was Feb. 2005.

We continue on with evaluations at KKI. In July, the neurologist there tells us to refocus ourselves on food irritants since they are clearly affecting our son in a major way. Two weeks later, we remove soy. Eight weeks after that, he shows 10 months worth of developmental gain. We went soy-free in late July 2005.

In the meantime, the therapies were catching up his development now that the barriers were removed.

I honestly don't recall when we removed corn. I used to keep a blog on our son so I'd have to pick through that to find out. But corn was a MAJOR behavior factor.

We were not particularly UNhealthy eaters before all of this... or so we thought. We now realize what this country considers "healthy" eating is not necessarily truly healthful eating. They focus on fat content, sodium, calories, portion control, sugars... but not the actual FOOD. Is it fresh? What are the ingredients? Are the ingredients altered in some way? (genetically--such that our body may not recognize the substance and therefore break it down properly? or via pesticides--which can cause the same problem in addition to their potential for toxicity?).

Our family is grateful for having had these problems. And having eaten this way for nearly 5 years, I'm now horrified when I hear "What DO you eat?!?"--because I realize how unhealthfully the person asking is eating; and they likely don't even know it.

So here's some help for those trying to eat healthier or around multiple allergens. You think you eat well now? Read the ingredients on the labels of your food. ;)