We have changed so many food habits in the past few years that it is hard to explain it all; but since becoming a gluten free family, the changes have become even more healthy and natural. In the last month, we have been focusing on natural, organic lean meats, Organic fruits, and organic vegetables. This is a huge change from our healthier but highly processed diet. Whereas before we focused on whole wheat breads, noodles, and quick (and cheap) additions to meals such as canned vegetables and fruits, now we are doing more fresh, all natural foods. Summertime in the Northwest enables us to do this easily and not much more expensive. We have been hitting up natural food stores, farmers markets, roadside stands, and searching the outside aisles of our local grocery stores for yummy meals. One of the biggest challenges of having 3 year olds and a 12 year old is getting in the amount of veggies and fruits need especially when we are cutting out the highly processed crackers and grains they were having for additions to meals. Additionally, our naturopath and neurologist suggested a whole list of supplements (a whole other post!) to add to Adeys diet in order to reduce inflammation from gluten and regulate her poor digestive system. All these things have led us to making daily smoothies for a replacement to their past afternoon snack. For the last two weeks, we have been mixing protein, complex carbs, fats, and supplements into a yummy smoothie that all three kids have been enjoying. Low fat, organic milk, greek yogurt, protein powders, bananas, frozen blueberries, spinach, kale, tomatoes, coconut oil, fish oil, and pr obiotics are just a few things we have been experimenting with. Miss Adey hasbasically l oved each and every concoction while it's been more hit and miss with Devanne and Jocey. While we have noticed a huge improvement in Adeycakes, we have noticed that her tummy seems to be a bit distended still which makes us think that all the dairy she is consuming could be contributing to the inflammation. So starting this week, we will be experimenting with a little dairy diet for her. We arent going to be very strict. She will still have little amounts of organic cheese, just because she doesnt eat much in the first place but we are going to switch out the greek yogurt and milk for almond milk. She doesnt mind, so hopefully we will see an improvement.
Ever since Josh and I watched the documentary, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" we have been discussing how juicing can become part of our lifestyle. We have a pretty strict grocery budget and I always felt that it would be way to expensive to even consider. After seeing how much the kids enjoyed the smoothies and considering how dairy may be affecting Adey, we decided to give it a try. After borrowing a juicer from our amazing friends, Holly and Josh and taking a very expensive grocery shopping trip, we attempted our first family juicing event today. All the kids joined in and we juiced a combo of cucumber, celery, tomatoes, apples, plums, kale, beets, carrots, and lemons. Adey was in hog heaven! She drank an entire sippie cup in about 5 seconds flat. Jocey took a bit more convincing but after giving her a spiffie straw, she drank her while glass too! While our weekly grocery shopping trip was about $100 more than what we have been spending, I did not expect the produce to go so far. We still have a ton left and we juiced an entire pitcher for the next couple of days. I think after I do some research, I'll be able to find some cheaper juicing options. Overall, it went great and were excited to see what the non dairy, raw juice will do for Adey (and the rest of us!) during our next two week trial.
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