Back to the Future

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.