Feingold week 1 recap

Yeah... because it was way too chaotic (not the diet, just our lives) to try to do daily.

We found out that our sushi was off-limits because they use food coloring. Likely in the fake crab meat in the California rolls that we give Matthew. Shoot me now--because this was our fast-food alternative.

We did okay otherwise, though. Our snacks were the biggest problems. Our favorite vegetable-flavored Edward's rice crackers have been replaced by potato chips. And our regular Lay's Kettle Cooked changed formulation such that they now use corn oil--so we had to switch over to Cape Cod brand kettle cooked. I haven't fully checked out the hummus, but Matthew doesn't eat it--so I didn't tend to that IMMEDIATELY.

Apples have been replaced with melon chunks. Carrots and celery are taking a way more active role in our snacking. Orange juice and ketchup have been really hard. Thankfully, we don't drink OJ often; but ketchup... holy moly. Now we kind of HAVE to make our eggs "with" something for flavoring. Usually the natural, uncured bacon from the farm co-op.

And removing grapes and all berries renders us without an option for jelly. Peaches & oranges aren't even an option on Stage 1. But there's a natural deli meat that's on the approved list for Stage 1. It's not the lowest sodium option--which is quickly becoming a problem for me (if not for the sodium content alone, then seriously for it's taste) so I need to look into that a little further. But that's been our PB&J replacement: deli meat--with GF bread or just rolled up. Plus some canned organic green beans or some carrots.

Dinner has remained relatively unscathed. THANK GOD! We don't do pasta often because rice pasta is so expensive so that's really non-issue. Otherwise, it's usually meat and veggies... sometimes rice or potato... always without "stuff" so it's really not an issue there.

Onward to week 2...

So I've been on hiatus...

But fear not: Monday we go on lockdown. No, no--I mean it this time. SERIOUS lockdown. STOP CHUCKLING! GAH!!!

Starting Monday we are going fully gluten-free in addition to our corn, soy & dairy PLUS starting Feingold Stage 1. Feingold is most noted for dealing with ADD/ADHD; but in truth, it has the potential to resolve countless issues... sensory problems, irritability, migraines, bedwetting... even things people wouldn't realize COULD be fixed (because they're assumed to just be personality traits) like excessive talking. Entire families often go on the diet together to keep the family member in need from feeling ostracized only to find that everyone gets relief or resolve from some issue or another.

How bad is it?

Well, on the list of things to eliminate for 4-6 weeks (the Stage 1 period--which we will do for 6-8 weeks) are tomatoes, apples, oranges, grapes/raisins and all berries.

Have you read this blog? Are you already sensing the panic?

No... I've been reading and preparing for a few weeks. I've even had a trial run here and there. But we've been waiting for a clear streak of weeks--a period of time uninterrupted by holidays or travel. So after Easter, game on. I have to carry the full list with me, but the ones I listed above are the ones that are HARD on us.

To be honest, Feingold really only DRASTICALLY affects snacks for us. Ketchup has been kind of hard with our eggs because I'm trying to steer clear of Taylor ham because of the nitrates & nitrites in it. I've been getting natural, uncured bacon to use in lieu of and it's working.

Orange juice won't be HORRIBLY missed. Tomatoes and apples are huge staple snack items here. So we're now eating more carrots, celery and lots of melon (which is getting expensive and impossible to find organic). I also bought some mangoes, kiwi and pineapple for vitamin C.

See, the thing with dietary intervention is this: on one hand, you want it to work. On the other hand, you dread the idea of eating that way forever (or for many years). But in reality, you get used to it. And in a few months, you realize how easy it is because you're already used to it. I'm actually almost at that point just trial running it for 2 weeks. I'm still in the "carry the list" stage, though. For instance, while we don't like to have anything with nitrates or nitrites in our food, we've always made an exception for Taylor ham. I only didn't buy it yesterday because I didn't remember if those were preservatives that were not allowed on Feingold.

It will get easier.