Good Eats

Sunday night we are expecting the weather to get pretty bad. It's going to be cold and windy with snow and ice in the forecast. I didn't make it to the store like I was hoping...so I'm trying to be resourceful with my meal planning this week. So, I dug into my freezer and cupboards to find our meals for the week. The following list is what I came up with:

Breakfast options:
toasted mini bagels
cereal with milk
oatmeal with toast
Fruit Smoothies (with frozen broccoli snuck inside)
pancakes (also a dinner option)

Dinner (all can carry over to be lunch options)
Black Bean Soup with corn muffins
Mini Pizzas on biscuits
Chicken Noodle Soup
Simple Turkey Chili
Savory Vegetable Beef Stew
Sloppy Joe's with oven baked fries
Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Chops over brown rice

My grocery list for the week:
bananas
oranges
apples
green pepper
tomato sauce
onion
yogurt

I don't know what this says about me regarding my kitchen organization. All I can say is, sometimes I plan a meal that doesn't get made. When that happens, I end up with a lot of meat in my freezer.

I hope you all are staying warm during this cold winter.

science lessons

Life has been crazy. I couldn't decide if I was going to blog about this or not. The story has the potential to embarrass my lovely daughter one day. However, today she doesn't mind talking about her digestive system, so I'm going to move forward with this story. I'm fully prepared to take this post down when the time comes.

Over Christmas we don't do a lot of healthy eating. Who does? It's Christmas! I become pretty lax when it comes to adhering to any sort of healthy diet. We limit sweets - sort of. And even if I was limiting sweets more than I did, this time of year our meals don't include a lot of fruits and veggies. It's just the way it is. We try to jump back on the healthy eating wagon when it comes by in January.

Christmas night Lily came out of the bathroom and informed me that she had had trouble going to the bathroom. I explained to her that our current unhealthy eating habits could be to blame. I said that healthy fruits and veggies help to make our digestive system work better and all our sweets had slowed that business down. (ha ha)

Lily took this information very seriously. She ran immediately to my grandparents kitchen and demanded some fruits and vegetables. She ate carrots, celery and an orange. That's the thing about Lily. She takes facts and science to heart. If fruits and veggies is what her body needs, then she will do her best to make healthy choices. Now, if I could just prove to her that following mommy and daddy's instructions was also beneficial to her health- we'd be golden.

eating good in this neighborhood

I know that I said that I wouldn't be talking about Lily on here much anymore, but I bet you're all wondering how school is going. Well, I can tell you it's been going pretty well so far. She is enjoying herself and loves her teacher, which I suppose are two of the main goals of kindergarten.

Now, I'm not going to talk about Lily, but I am going to talk about her meals.

I try not to be too obsessed with my children's diet. I try to be mindful and careful with what they eat, but not obsessive. A few weeks before school started I started researching different healthy, protein filled breakfasts to start our days. Why protein? Studies show that protein increases focus, which is a pretty important thing at school! Logically, when you think protein in the morning, you think eggs or peanut butter. However, Lily h.a.t.e.s. eggs. Like, if I gave her an egg to eat, it would make her physically gag to put it in her mouth. So, eggs were out of the question; and, since she has become tired of peanut butter, it was off limits too. I felt like just a bowl of cereal and some juice would not be enough to help her through the morning. Don't you remember being famished by lunch time at school!? I do! I couldn't focus past 10 o'clock! So during my search, I found a great website www.eatingwell.com (I actually found this site on a blog I read) that has been a huge help in not only planning breakfasts, but also lunches and dinners, too.

So far we've had lots of fruit smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt with granola, whole wheat toast or bagels and the one day we did have a bowl of cereal she had a banana to go with it. It's not perfect, but it's a good base for starting our days. After all of my research and making sure she was filled to the brim before leaving for school I find out that lunch is at 10:40! That's so early! I feel like if I'm working so hard to fill her up with breakfast, that she isn't hungry by her early lunch. I can't win!

As far as lunch goes, we decided that school lunch was not the way to go when planning healthy eating. For example today's menu for school lunch: corn dog, potato rounds, cookie, broccoli and cheese, mandarin oranges and milk. They do give the child a choice between chocolate milk and plain - but come on! Given the choice, what child is really going to pick white milk!?

 So, to break down today's school lunch:

Corn dog: The corn dog is something that my children get as a rare treat. We eat them during fair time and rarely when we go out to eat. You cannot call a corn dog healthy! I went to the nutrition information on one of these things. It wasn't pretty. In a corn dog there are 15 grams of fat and 4 grams of saturated fat! Plus, 80 milligrams of sodium. That's a lot - for even an adult!

Potato rounds: Okay, so after that fat intake you'd think that we'd be careful with the side dishes. Wrong. The potato rounds, according to Schwan's- Quick Taters Potato Rounds, have 11 grams of fat and 3 grams of saturated fat and 180 mg of sodium. Yikes!

Cookie: Chocolate Chip, Commercially Prepared, Soft-type: 6.9 grams of fat, 2.1 grams of saturated fat and 10.7 grams of sugar. Obviously Lily would be eating this first. Packed full of good stuff!

Broccoli and cheese: This would be okay if I knew that Lily's liked cooked broccoli, which she doesn't. So, wouldn't it be better for her if I pack some fresh broccoli in her lunch pail for her to eat? I think so! Plus, if you add up all the fat and sodium that she's getting in the rest of this meal with the broccoli and cheese, things do not even out.

Mandarin Oranges: Good, but packed with sugar. 39 grams, to be exact! She actually had mandarin oranges in her lunch yesterday. I packed the ones that are packed in water instead of syrup and have no sugar added. That made for a 33 gram reduction in the sugar content. She ate them right up and it was only 6 grams of sugar!

Milk: Lily's thing with milk is, she doesn't like plain milk if it's not cold enough. I know for a fact that if given the choice it would be chocolate milk every time. Not a huge deal if you didn't know that one of those chocolate milks have as much sugar as a can of pop! Also, not a terrible thing if she wasn't also getting another chocolate milk at snack time.

So, if you're wondering, this is how it all breaks down: 917 calories (she should be getting about 1,800 for the whole day!); 36.9 grams of fat; 10.6 grams of saturated fat; 900 milligrams of sodium (she's supposed to get 1,200 in her whole day); and 85 grams of sugar (she is supposed to be getting TWELVE GRAMS PER DAY!)

I also would assume that you'd like to know what Lily had packed in her lunch box today. Well, it was: fresh sliced strawberries and reduced-fat cream cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread; all natural applesauce with no sugar added; mild cheddar cheese cubes; pretzel goldfish crackers; and V-8 Fusion Lite, juice. Now, most likely she will have not eaten a portion of this lunch when I pick her up from school. However, by the time we arrive home, she has finished off what she didn't eat at lunch (her choice, I do not even suggest it).


Now, I started this by saying that I wasn't obsessive; however, I would agree with you if you said that the research I did for this post IS obsessive. I just can't get over it! I can't believe that they try to sell the school lunches as healthy. After doing this post I am even more convinced that I'm doing the right thing by packing Lily's lunch. I'd be crazy not to!

Day 15: Falling Off the Wagon

I'm not sure, but I think that the diet may have coincided with a burst in maturity for Lily. I hate to say that the diet didn't work; because it may have to a certain degree. But it may have not been the only factor of this awesome behavior. After a week straight of a nearly perfect Lily...we had a backslide. She started having some meltdowns again. They weren't horrific, but noticably difficult. Now, if you read regularly, you know that I've also been depressed for the past few weeks (AT LEAST) so some of the backslide could have been because her mom wasn't fully engaged. Who knows! However, despite strict diet restrictions, her behaviors came back.

That being said, I think that she's really grown up during these past few weeks. She is able to play for longer periods of time. She's also able to play with Drew without being a basket case when he decides to not follow all of her directions. Her outbursts are not lasting nearly as long and not ruining the whole rest of the day as they used to. Her misbehavior has become more sophisticated and age appropriate. She ignores us when we give her directions, she continues to struggle with impulse control, and she is scary good at sneaking things around the house. So, at first I thought all the sweet behavior was because of the diet, but now I'm thinking that some of it could be because she is just growing up.

I do think that her energy is a healthier more focused since the diet began. And I think that I'm going to keep her on a gluten-free diet for awhile longer. I am also going to continue to restict sugar from their diet. It can't be a bad thing to this way and my children love eating healthy, fresh, natural foods.

The biggest lesson is that there is nothing that is not worth a try for the sake of your kids. I would not consider this diet a waste of time. It has expanded my knowledge of health and wellness. It has given me new ideas for healthy eating. Opened my eyes to an entire world of yummy sugar-free options. I just don't think it had quite the effect on Lily that we originally had thought. However, it does make her one healthy girl. So, as far as the diet goes, I hope to stay sitting on the wagon with my feet hanging off the end for a pretty long time.

Day 4 and 5: Snacks

The diet is easy as pie to follow at home. We have no problem following the guidelines here. However, it's become difficult when the kids are out and about. Today the went to Parents Day Out and there was a snack. It was a perfectly healthy snack, pretzels, which are fine. But, when you've eliminated gluten from your diet...pretzels don't make the cut. I'm not really sure how to handle this. Lily is old enough and observant enough to notice if I try to send a special snack with her. She would be none too happy if the kids were eating something that she wasn't having. I'm at a loss for how to handle this.

Yesterday, after dinner Lily asked me for an Oreo of dessert. I really wanted to give her one. I wanted to sit down with her and have Oreos and milk. I love rewarding her spectacular behavior over the past few days. But, I know that the Oreos may be one of the things that make it difficult for her to have the spectacular behavior. Following this diet may be even more difficult that I originally imagined. I'm going to have to make some tough choices. Limiting treats is not always a good thing. If you eliminate them too much...when the kids do get them, they over eat. I'm speaking from experience on this one! When I was in 4th grade I went to 4-H camp. My mom left me with some of my VERY OWN CANDY!!! This was unheard of at our house. I ate an entire ONE POUND bag of Skittles in one sitting. I will spare you the rest of the details. But, I will say that I was an adult before I ever had Skittles again.

Day 3: Menu

Some of my readers have been wondering what else my children have been eating since we started the crazy diet. So, I thought I would share with you a bit of what they've been eating. However, I can't remember everything because Lily eats nonstop these days! I swear she must be growing.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal both days (Although, I've learned of some new breakfast ideas. Thanks Hilary!)

Snacks:
Rice cakes, Bing Cherries, Pumpkin Seeds, Soy Yogurt, Apple with peanut butter, Carrots, Apricots, Walnuts

Lunch:
Yesterday they had peanut butter on corn tortillas, rice crackers, frozen peas (my kids really like to eat their peas right out of the freezer), and oranges
Today they had leftovers from last night.

Dinner:
Yesterday they had Bean/Corn Casserole. Corn chips layered with refried beans, corn and soy cheese. They inhaled it!
Today we had roasted veggies. Asparagus, Carrots and Potatoes tossed with olive oil and Italian seasoning.

I really like experimenting with recipes. This is fun for me to try and come up with healthy ideas that my children will enjoy. Only once since we started this diet have they asked for anything sweet. Drew asked me for a cookie today. But, he was perfectly happy the the alternative that I offered him.

Let me stress that I think that this diet is working is ToTaLlY cRaZy!! I can't get over the changes that I've noticed in Lily. It has been easy to follow the diet at home; however, I'm concerned how it will be when Lily goes back to school and has snacktime. I assume that I will be able to plan something with her teacher. However, I KNOW that there are snacks that Lily will want to enjoy with her friends. So, maybe she'll be getting a smaller helping of those sweets in the future.

Day 2: Is it a fluke?

As you know, yesterday was the first day of our sugar-free, gluten-free and dairy-free diet. I had read that it would take about 7 to 10 days to notice results from the diet change. They said that if you eat a lot of processed food, then it might happen faster. But, we don't eat a lot of processed food so I was prepared to wait a week before I noticed any changes.

Last night, as Tom and I were going to bed, he asked me how long the "super diet" was supposed to take before it started changing behavior; because he had noticed a difference in Lily that night at dinner. I agreed with him. We are both skeptical people (him more than me) so it's a huge deal that we even think that this might work. If someone else was telling us that they were trying this diet, we would smile and nod....and talk about them behind their back. Telling each other how crazy we thought they were. So, for us both to notice a difference on the first day, we're shocked, to say the least.

Today was no different. She is a completely different child. As I type this I am still unbelieving. I just think any minute she's going to crumble into a state of her normal bedtime hysterics. Instead, she's sitting on the chair with Tom and having a normal four year old conversation.

Let me just give you some comparasion stories. Normally dinner time is not fun at our house. No matter what, by that time of day, Lily is spent and unable to function. She was constantly moving, playing with her food, spilling her drink, putting her feet on the table, unable to sit down on her bottom, and generally screaming and yelling and doing nothing socially appropriate. On a good night she was able to eat her meal without spilling and possibly tell us what she did that day. However, last night and tonight at dinner, she was sitting with her feet under the table (without kicking), she was using a spoon (and when she didn't, it took nothing but a reminder to get her to start using it again), she didn't spill. And even when I told her that we were having the new milk she didn't like, she suggested by herself that maybe she should try a bit and see if maybe she likes it today. At dinner she is now having a conversation with us, instead of talking at us or just screaming and arguing with us.

I still don't know what to think about all of this. What a huge change for Lily. What a huge change in our way of eating. But, if I had know that this diet would have even helped half as well as it seems to have, I would have worked twice as hard to make it happen. I am for the first time in weeks, maybe months enjoying my sweet daughter for most of the day. She and I have a renewed relationship. I have no idea what it will be like next week, or in a month. I know she is four and will still do four year old stuff, but, if this four year old's behavior continues the way it's been going....I'll take it!

Day 1: I think I'm crazy, too.

I have officially began a super healthy, super restrictive diet for our family. (Tom is participating by eating what he wants at work and after the kids go to bed; and eating whatever I fix for dinner without saying a word.) So, we are on a sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free diet as of this morning. I thought I would use this blog to keep track of what I notice as we make this transition.

You may be asking why on EARTH I would be doing such a crazy thing. I'll just say that living with Lily, you might, too. Without going into too much detail, Lily is really struggling with impulse control, listening, and is, shall we say, hyperactive. After a lot of reading and research on the Internet and at the library, I have found a plan I am comfortable with trying. It really breaks it down for me and has given me many recipes to work with. (The ADD an ADHD Cure The Natural way to Treat Hyperactivity and Refocus your child) I have also found several sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free websites that I think will be very helpful when planning my meals and grocery list every week. Why this diet? According to my research, it is estimated that 30-35% of people have sensitivities to gluten and 50 to 80% of people have a sensitivity to dairy. Crazy, i know! In most people, dairy intolerance and gluten sensitivity cause mild discomfort. However, the effects on people with ADHD are worse. So, going on this diet is assuming that there is a possibility that she has ADHD and also may have a sensitivity to one of these things. I'm going to try it for 30 days and see if we notice a difference. If nothing else, we will be eating really healthy for at least 30 days!

I'm sure some people (Hi, Ann!) wonder what the heck I will be feeding the kids. Well, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables; lots of things made from corn and rice (tortillas, chips, crackers, cereal, etc.) can all be found gluten-free. We'll have lots of fruit smoothies, oatmeal, and pancakes for breakfast. They also have easy to find rice milk or soy milk to make up for the loss of cow's milk in their diets. For those of you who are really curious, this is what we've eaten today.

Breakfast:
Bowl of oatmeal with a tiny squeeze of honey on top, with grape juice to drink.

AM Snack:
Fresh pear halves, rice crackers, and water to drink. (Although, Drew was none too happy about the choice of beverage!)

Lunch:
Corn tortilla with soy cheese melted on top. A banana wrapped in a corn tortilla, with peanut butter and honey. Grapes. Soy yogurt. Grape juice to drink.

On the menu for dinner tonight? Gluten-free pasta with tomato sauce and a veggie on the side.