Real Food

Around the time this all began I was at the grocery store in the "natural foods" section browsing for items that might fit into our new diet. An employee (whom shall remain nameless) approached and asked if I needed any assistance. When I told her what I was searching for she said "What do you eat instead of sugar?" "Apples" I said.

At another small "natural food store" I visited I asked an employee if she was familiar with with any products that might fit and she directed me to the freezer where there were all sorts of frozen breads. All of them looked very tempting. Most were whole grain breads but a couple were gluten free ... they all, however, had some sort of refined sugar in them. When I explained to my "helper" that they were not an option for us she said "you know, your children need whole grains." She seemed to be under the impression that the only way to get whole grains in our diet was through bread...

This is how I decided that in order to make this do-able we were going to need to change the way we eat not just find substitutes for the old things we loved. This is not to say that we don't enjoy the occasional baked good, or gluten free pasta because we do. But, as a rule we eat beautiful, real foods and we are loving it!

New ingredients for my Omelet

Not long ago I found myself in a Children's Hospital Neurologist's office with a pretty depressing diagnosis for my precious Omelet . . . ADHD, a Turret's Syndrome sort of tic, and severe anxiety. Pretty steep for such a little guy. The only solution we were offered was a trip to see the Children's Psychiatrist to get a Rx for anti-anxiety medication. That was the last thing I wanted to do. I was grasping at straws when I made an appointment with a Naturopath. The naturopath suggested we try this crazy new diet to see if we could help Omelet without the drugs. I was sceptical but so willing to give it a shot.

We set a date and spent a week or so preparing for a huge purge. Not much stayed in our pantry. We were starting at square one and I was off to the store. Recipes and guidelines in hand I started what turned out to be the longest grocery trip I had ever taken. I knew that this new way of eating was going to require some additional effort on my part, but I had no idea how much reading was involved. The amount of labels I read that night and since that night is pretty awesome. Gluten, dairy and refined sugar go by a lot of different names.

Our pantry is now beautifully packed with yummy food and ingredients to make more yummy food. We are eating like kings (and princesses). But, most importantly my Omelet no longer has a tic and is sleeping like an angel. His ADHD is under control without medication and he is a "normal" 9 year old boy. All this with food. Yummy food!