We’ve headed back
in time. That’s right, folks – we’ve
turned the clock back somewhere between 10,000 and 200,000 years, to what was
known as the Paleolithic Era. Or, as it
is fondly referred to by the passionate online community of culinary
followers: Paleo.
Cue the appropriate caveman grunts and Neanderthal
jokes.
Before you worry
that you’ll find us wearing animal hides and making rough tools from stone, let
me reassure that our interest in this time period is strictly about the food: meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts & seeds
and healthy fats.
No, I don’t think
grains are evil. If you know me well
enough, you’ll already know that I’m not one for fad diets. Heck – I’m not in favor of any “diet”
anymore. I’ve unintentionally messed
with my metabolism too many times in the past to be on board with the idea that
there is some “quick fix” or “magic pill” that will help me shed the pounds
once and for all. And that’s not the
focus of this food experiment or post anyway; this is about making food choices
in the hope that we can find a better quality of life for kiddo (and us), and
have more peace in our home.
If you’ve read any
of my earlier posts, you already know that we’ve pretty much exhausted the
options available to us from the medical community to try to get a handle on
kiddo’s neurological dysregulation and resulting explosive outbursts and unpredictable
temper. We’ve seen psychologists,
psychiatrists, behavioral specialists, neurologists and more. And we’ve tried so many different approaches that,
most times, it feels like we’re throwing spaghetti to the wall to see what
might stick. We try to keep open minds
and willing spirits, but we’re often left feeling frustrated, deflated and
hopeless that things will get better when the current strategy doesn’t make a
difference. “Back to the drawing board”
has become a mantra with which we are far too familiar.
So we have decided
to take a good, hard look at the fuel we are putting into kiddo’s body as well
as our own. I’m no stranger to the
online communities that have been built because of health/behavior challenges,
and have heard many people share first-hand success stories about how kids’
behaviors have changed for the better by eliminating processed ingredients, grains,
sugars, preservatives, dyes and more.
And that’s the direction we’ve decided to go for the next few weeks,
with the hope that we will see positive changes as well.
I’ve always
prepared what I consider to be fairly healthy food, and I know we balance our
diet well. Our fridge is always stocked
with fresh fruits and veggies and it’s not unusual for any of us to grab carrot
sticks or an apple for a snack over something processed; however, hubby and I
both have bought processed foods and snacks for the family, and kiddo has
gotten a fair share of them since going to school full-time in November.
We’re in the
process of working with a specialist in Colorado (thank goodness for phone and internet
communications!) to help us through this process, and still have some pieces to
put in place with her. But, in the
meantime of getting some specific tests handled and supplements in place, we
wanted to get started with whatever we could.
So, after meeting with kiddo’s psychologist last week (who works in
conjunction with the gal in CO), we decided to do a “quick and dirty”
elimination of all processed foods, additives, preservatives, grains, sugars
and dyes from our diet.
Enter the Paleo
perspective on food. And, my – oh, my –
is there ever a strong opinion online about what qualifies as Paleo food, and
how one should prepare it! And, for the
record, you will not hear me utter the word “diet” through this process. We’re engaging in a food experiment. For me, that is a very important perspective
to keep, since I’m the one who is the primary food-preparer in our home. (More on my own food journey another time…maybe.)
I’m grateful for
the plethora of information at my fingertips and thankful for the handful of
friends I have tagged to help me make the transition as smooth as
possible. It’s such a blessing to have
friends who forward recipes and willingly share websites as well as their own
trials and errors so I’m not reinventing the wheel.
Wait for it. (Sorry…couldn’t resist a little Paleo humor.) J
Since kiddo has the
next two days off from school for mid-winter break, we thought this weekend was
as good a time as any to make the full transition. We eased into it a bit last week by asking
the school staff to avoid giving him anything processed for a snack and sent choices
with him that fit the Paleo profile. He
did really well, even with a Valentine’s party, and didn’t seem at all bothered
by the change. And since we already pack
his lunch, we began tweaking that a bit more as well.
We’ve been
strictly Paleo for two solid days now, and I have to admit it’s much easier
than I thought it would be. We’re
tracking kiddo’s food consumption (ours, too; we’re all eating the same meals)
so we can monitor his behavior and see if anything changes. So far, everyone has reported feeling fairly
satisfied, though our bodies are definitely clearing out the junk. Hubby admitted being “a little headachy”
yesterday. I developed a sore throat
last night and have some sinus stuff clearing today. Kiddo had a low-grade temp and some sniffles
today and said he “didn’t feel well” this morning, but was more like himself by
this evening. From my perspective, that
means our bodies are clearing what they no longer need, and making way for
better health. I’ll be interested to see
how these little things play out over the next few days. I’m betting they won’t stick around long.
And I have to
admit…I’m having fun with the process of figuring out how to feed us according
to what is allowed, while not sacrificing flavor in the process. Our psychologist told us most people just
bite the bullet and go with plain chicken breasts and steamed veggies for a few
weeks. I laughed and told her, “No plain
chicken breasts in my house!” I really
enjoy cooking and baking, and love to mess around with flavor combinations and
textures. This experiment is requiring
me to raise the bar and I’m ready for it!
So far, I’ve made
my own sausage, ketchup, mustard and strawberry sorbet that all fit the Paleo
profile. Kiddo reported that he liked
all of them. There’s nothing like
hearing, “This is good, Mom!” to spur me on when it comes to meal prep for my
loved ones. And it’s been great to see
that a lot of the foods we already eat – grilled burgers, roast chicken, lamb keema,
scrambled eggs and more – already qualify.
It sure makes this process more doable.
My “to try” list
for Paleo recipes this week includes homemade mayonnaise, sandwich bread, some
type of breakfast option (blueberry muffins and waffles are kiddo’s top two
requests) and, of course, something chocolate.
That’s probably the only thing I’ve had a craving for in the past two
days and I know there are Paleo-legal ways of using cocoa to handle that. Now I just have to find the right mix of
things to make it happen. Thank goodness
I have a couple of well-stocked health food stores in my area, and a couple of
others in the community where I work!
I really hope this
option works for us, because the only thing left at this point that we haven’t
tried with kiddo is major psychiatric drugs.
And while hubby and I are not anti-pharmaceutical, there are a lot of
risks and dangers involved with using what has been recommended. We’d much prefer to handle this in a natural
way, if that is at all possible. So if
you’d send us some extra light, love and positive mojo while we sharpen our caveman teeth, we sure would
appreciate it!
And if I’m a bit
more absent from social media this week, or you start noticing more Paleo “food
porn” on my Pinterest page, you’ll know where to find me: in the kitchen.
