A Week Later

I regained motivation to try to stick to the elimination phase. I hope I haven't messed things up, I did let Ruth and Sam have a juice box and kettle corn on Saturday.  A big no no for sure. So once again it's hard to tell if we are getting reactions.  I can say that Sam was wiped out Saturday night, more from a busy day I think with emotions running high because of his birthday party and high maintenance friends. Sunday was not feeling well, tired lethargic, slight fever.  And he didn't eat much of anything his stomach hurt.  hmmm...

Monday morning he was fine. Though he seems to have a cold, or maybe allergies, running itchy nose and sneezing.  Could it be a food intolerance reaction?  He also said something interesting yesterday after school.  He thinks the potato chips make him dizzy.

Sam has been calmer and more focused, it will be interesting to see if he reacts to foods once  challenge foods one at a time over a few days.

Ruth I still haven't seen much change. She is flighty, unfocused, still demanding and still with a short fuse. I"m not sure what I could change for her. 

I will try to keep closer tabs this week on my food journal forms.  I have developed a nice variety fail safe foods for them that is not too hard to stick too. If we can get through a weekend we may get some results.

I'd really like to try to challenge strawberries this weekend...

Day Six and Seven

More of the same, except Friday I got the beef. One-fourth of a cow.  We had hamburgers, we cheated and had ketchup.  I guess that might have set us back, but Saturday, Day Eight we really blew it.  We had a gathering at friends, it was taco night, I thought we might be able to get through unscathed, but there were cookies, and soda and taco shells.  So we cheated big time but really not too much of anything. After a week of being fairly strict with our elimination I thought I might see some change in behavior but really there was no noticeable change in Sam or Ruth.

Well Sam did seem calmer this past week, but I think he was tired more than anything. I haven't followed protocol for time on the diet or specific instructions for the diet.  I guess we'll see how it goes this week and try to stay on the elimination diet for another week. Three to six weeks is best they say before starting challenges.  A day at a time might be best.

My nutritionist did suggest, before we started, that we could wait till school was out. That might be what we have to do as I am finding school to be an added stress. When they come home they are winding down and some of the worst behaviors come out that I don't think have anything to do with food. Perhaps though there are other environmental triggers there, soaps, smells and other things.  It's all so much to figure out. So that is another reason to wait till school is out. I could definitely stick to gluten and dairy free and that would be a valuable trial.

Gee I sound conflicted don't I?  pathetic...

It would be nice to see some results Maybe I'll cut back to fewer foods...or maybe i'll just stop thinking about it for now!

Day Five

It's nice to have eggs on the menu. 

I haven't seen much change in behavior in Sam or Ruth.  Ruth has been particularly unkind, not really out of the ordinary, but maybe a little more than usual.  She does not like to be told what or how to do much.  Whether it's her nutritional makeup or her sin nature is still hard to determine.  Unfortunately, it seems some of her behaviors have become ingrained. So diet does not seem to be the main issue but there are perhaps still some nutritional changes that can be made.  Magnesium may help, she has seemed to be more distracted. 

Here  is our menu for the day:

Breakfast: over easy eggs

Lunch: hard boiled eggs, chips, pears, lettuce

Snack: chips and pears

Dinner: Turkey omelet and lettuce

Ok I  cheated, I made butter chicken with rice and kale to bring to a friend and we had the butter chicken and rice for lunch. It was yummy. Ruth and Sam were at school. I've also cheated by having a cup of coffee with cream and had vanilla rooibos tea today. 

I don't know what's going on with me but I've had diarrhea all day. I have been taking magnesium but not more than usual. It could perhaps be all the lettuce I ate yesterday, or it may have been the coffee with cream.  Maybe I react to dairy. I'm going to wait a few more days and try dairy again and see what happens.

Our 1/4 of beef will be ready Friday, we'll have hamburgers Friday night. Yay!  I need to read up again on what foods are failsafe and how long before adding new foods, I might have to wait another day or so before adding the beef.

Day Four

Ruth is still irritable and demanding. She had a fit last night about trying to memorize a Bible verse, she was extremely frustrated that she couldn't get it on the first try.  This morning she is still hyper OCD about her shoes and just not a patient girl.

We will go ahead and add eggs this evening anyway because I can't see going another day without food. If she is sensitive to eggs I hope it shows up quickly. We are not going to challenge salysilates or amines until later anyway.  So I'll just add failsafe foods for now.

so today
Breakfast: potatoe pancakes and turkey
Lunch: cabbage and turkey soup, chips and pears

Dinner: Omelette! with potatoes

Day Three

I feel much better this morning!  The fog has cleared.  In Ruth and Sam I don't see much change but they did seem more accepting of the diet.  They ate their potato cakes and turkey completely and thankfully.  I packed their lunch and was happy to think I would not see them eat it today.  Cause if I was there they would surely complain.

Ruth was her usually OCD sock and shoe self...But they were both generally happy and compliant.  Though Ruth, as usual had some sharp words.

So the menu for today...same as it ever was...
Breakfast: Potato pancakes, turkey

Lunch: Ruth: turkey wrapped in lettuce, potato chips, pears
             Sam:  turkey soup, pears, potato chips

Snack: Chips and pears...

Dinner: one last day of turkey and cabbage.

Tomorrow for dinner I'm making an omelette!  a just egg omelette w/ hash browns. That way I'll be around to see any reaction to eggs and we'll have a break from turkey...

I'll report later on any behavioral changes I notice in Sam and Ruth.

Day Two

Yesterday closed with family movie time.  And everyone went to bed.

This morning we decided to skip church and any food temptations that might be there.  Ruth woke up and found her last piece of Easter candy which I had meant for her to eat on Friday...so I just let her eat it.  I guess that might set us back but it was easier than making her wait.  We all seem to be our usual selves so far.

I am feeling tired and lethargic with some muscle weakness and a mild headache.  The rest seem fine maybe this will all be for me...

Here is the menu for the day:

Breakfast: potato pancakes/hash browns, left over turkey from yesterday and two peeled and sliced pears between 5 of us.

Lunch: turkey meat with oil and salt in lettuce leaves and pears

Dinner: turkey and cabbage...again!

Melodrama alert...

This is going to kill me!  I like food, I like good food, healthy food, flavorful food with spices and variety, I like to cook interesting things in the kitchen. I like almond flour and coconut flour and all variety of vegetables and fruits and the thought of eating boiled white meat turkey for days on end is disheartening...

OK, I'm done.  I need to find some purpose in this though, I need to tough it out knowing that this will help Sam and Ruth and maybe all of us to determine what foods affect us in unfavorable ways.  My real hope is that Ruth will find peace and calm, Sam will find confidence, clear thinking and will be able to learn more easily especially for reading.

I am reading the book Brain Allergies recommended by my nutritionist. It is a fascinating study about how allergic reactions, which sometimes become addictions, to food and environmental chemicals cause all manner of mental disabilities.  Mostly focusing on different psychosis. The method of treatment is then focused on trials of reactions to foods and chemicals after a 4 day fast.  Once reactions are pinpointed a rotation diet is implemented along with vitamin therapy, supernutrition, designed for the individual.  Truly fascinating case studies with remarkable results.  The approach is called orthomolecular psychiatry.  The amazon  link has great excerpts for the book.

Day One

The Elimination Diet begins.  

Breakfast:  boiled turkey breast, potato pancakes and lettuce chunks. The potato pancakes were made by boiling potatoes then making little pancakes frying them with sunflower oil and sprinkling lots of Real salt.  Ruthie loves her salt.

A boring a rather unsatisfying meal for me. Thankfully the kids did not complain and ate everything on their plate.

Lunch: More turkey chunks tossed in oil and salt on leaves of lettuce. Potato chips on the side.

Snack: Peeled Pear slices

The kids so far today have been playing nicely no noticeably different behaviors either. Saturdays don't bring any stresses into our life so this is not unusual they are doing what the like to do. Play.  Ruth did pack her suitcase for Hawaii...we are not going to Hawaii but apparently she is.

for Dinner we'll have,  hmm let me think, Turkey with lightly sauteed cabbage and sliced pears.

This is gonna get old quick. 

So far though it seems it will be harder on me than them.  I did have a cup of caffeinated tea, no sugar or honey, maybe I shouldn't have. I have a mild headache now.

God give us Grace.