"But what do you eat?"

Sorry to those who read this blog as a resource for adoption. My posts have been wandering off to new areas of my life, sorry about that :) But, I've gotten a lot of questions about going dairy and gluten free. Mostly, what on earth does one eat?

I hated cooking before. Now I consider it a hobby! I am sooo excited to get in the kitchen each evening and create that night's dish. The reason being is that the results are just fabulous! And healthy too! Who would have thought that was possible?

Besides referring to my local health food store for basic stuff, there are three main resources I use in planning my weekly menu. Here they are:

Gary Null's Power Foods (cookbook)
Vegan Planet Cookbook
Karina's Kitchen (blog)

The blog is especially helpful for those new to the GF journey. She has some great posts about how to substitute flour, sugar and dairy. Her recipes are so delicious and her writing style is personable and fun.

Ok, enough on that. You want adoption news? Well, gosh darnit, guess what? Riley is on Christmas break and the kids are at each others throats most of the time again. I am realizing that they have no clue how to play together. Sunder takes stuff from Riley which makes her mad, then Sunder yells and scratches to defend herself, then Riley responds by picking on Sunder. So my new thing is to sit down with both of them in a neutral place and guide them on how to play together. We'll see if it helps otherwise summer break is gonna be a real drag!!!

Christmas Shopping with a Kindergartener

Riley and I recently went to the bookstore to get a gift for daddy. Here's how it went...

Riley (grabbing random book from shelf): Here, how about this one?
Me: Daddy doesn't read romance novels.
Riley (30 seconds later with another random book): How about this one?
Me: You can't just grab any old book. When you're buying a gift for someone you want to really think about that person and get them something special. Something they will like.
Riley: (30 seconds later with another random book) I think he'll like this one. Can we go now?

So much for instilling the Christmas spirit into my dear child.

Living Without Pain

Have you noticed since being home with Sunder I update the blog less and less?! Hmmm.

Anyway this post is a little different in that I want to follow up on this gluten-free/dairy-free adventure that I am on. I have been studying health and diets a ton lately and I'm starting to believe that many of our ailments are unknowingly self-induced by the foods we eat.

For years I have suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and a chronic cough. At one point my cough specialist had me on 4 different drugs (at the same time). I figured it's just the way I am and the best I could do is manage the symptoms. Then I heard about food allergies. Now when we think of food allergies we think of dramatic external responses like rashes or hives. But I've learned that many people have "intolerances" to certain foods in which the reaction can manifest itself in any number of ways from chronic fatigue to migraines. I was told that wheat and dairy are typical culprits. I had nothing to loose so I cut both of those things out of my diet cold turkey. The results were phenomenal. My energy level skyrocketed. And I started smelling all these new things I never noticed before when my nose was stuffed from all the mucous caused by dairy.

So then we decided to take the test a step further. To our oldest daughter. She has suffered from chronic constipation since we got her in China. We tried several different medicines to no avail. We tried forcing her to drink prune juice and high fiber cereals. Nothing. We took her off WHEAT and GLUTEN and within 48 hours HER SYMPTOMS TOTALLY DISAPPEARED. I am not making this up. And I wanted to share this becasue I am certain there are others out there who are compromising the quality of their life due to chronic pain and health issues. If you are, I stongly urge you to really look at what's going into your body. Don't settle for a mediocre life. Experiment with your diet. Keep a food journal and notice what is going on inside after eating.

I am not a medical expert, I'm sure there are many many instances where this won't help a person, but I know what has happened for us these last 2 months and it's nothing short of a miracle.

I also want to mention that it's not like I am suddenly cured of everything. I still have the nasty cough and some other things that I am working through with a Homeopathic Practicioner. But for the first time in my life I have HOPE and I have seen dramatic results so far. Here's to your health!!!!